I have been out and away from the computer all day today, but I have been able to keep up with most of the news regarding UofL sports. So apparently Vegas set the odds for the next head coach of the Texas Longhorns, and Charlie Strong was the favorite at 2-1, which are great odds. Las Vegas is full of money and casinos for a reason, the odds-makers are usually right, and the betting public is usually wrong. For me on this one, there is no way I would bet on Charlie Strong going to Texas.
First of all, he has to be offered the job, which we aren’t sure will even happen. But more importantly, I don’t think it would be a good fit at all, and a big reason is the Longhorn Network. Coach Strong has his weekly radio show for UofL during football season where fans can call in and ask him questions. The show lasts 1 hour each week. Have you ever listened to it? Strong sits in for about half of it, and then another coach or player from UofL gets the spotlight, usually someone from another sport like soccer, field hockey, tennis, and so on. If he were to be the head coach at Texas? He would have to do about 3 coaches’ shows per week. If you don’t think that’s a big deal, you don’t know Charlie Strong. He has gotten a lot better about his public speaking since he got here in 2010, but talking to the media is still nowhere near his favorite thing to do.
Louisville football is about to enter into a brand new era, the Atlantic Coast Conference. The schedule each year will be unlike anything we have seen in many years here. The way that Strong and this staff recruit, they are made for the ACC or even the SEC. Texas and the Big 12 would be foreign ground. It’s like when his name came up for the USC (Southern California) job. Could you really see that happening? They have not worked this hard to build up a program to suddenly leave it when it is at its peak. They want to be in the ACC and see what happens there.
There are some jobs in college football that stand out above the rest, and Texas certainly is one of them. But sometimes it just isn’t the right fit with certain coaches and their personalities, and for me, this is one of those times. I am not worried at all about Texas getting Charlie Strong from the University of Louisville.
