3 reasons why Texas should fire Charlie Strong
Following another embarrassing loss for Texas at the hands of in-state rival TCU on Saturday, a Texas Rangers employee tweeted that Longhorns' head coach Charlie Strong should be fired.
While the message may have been in poor taste coming from the Rangers' account, it wasn't wrong. The Longhorns are now 7-11 under Strong, and he has been anything but the breath of fresh air the program envisioned when he took over for Mack Brown. Texas may have been heading in the wrong direction under Brown, but at least he always kept the program competitive and serviceable.
The 2015 version of the Longhorns have become a laughingstock and the punchline for jokes around the nation. When asked about Texas on Saturday, TCU head coach Gary Patterson remarked: "We've beaten better with less." That should have lit a fire under the Longhorns; instead, they lost by 43 points.
Here are three reasons why it's already time for Strong to go:
Poor Decisions
It's amazing how ill-prepared Strong and the Texas offense was to start the season.
Strong went with Tyrone Swoopes as his starting quarterback to begin the year, in a shockingly bad call. After an opening night disaster where Swoopes went 7-of-22 for 93 yards in a blowout loss to Notre Dame, Strong made drastic coaching changes. He demoted co-offensive coordinators Shawn Watson and Joe Wickline, while giving play-calling duties to wide receivers coach Jay Norvell.
Strong made the switch to Jerrod Heard against Rice with Norvell ready to give the freshman a shot, something Watson wasn't willing to do. That move should have happened in August, as Heard has clearly been the superior pivot and has at least given the Longhorn offense some life.
Why weren't these changes made in the summer? Strong should have been better prepared.
Special teams nightmare
It's hard to blame Strong for some of the debacles Texas has had on special teams in recent weeks, but you can fault him for doing nothing about it.
The Longhorns have now been embarrassing on special teams for three straight weeks, costing them two victories. Texas kicker Nick Rose missed an extra point two weeks ago against Cal that would have tied the game at 45 in the final two minutes, and punter Michael Dickson fumbled a routine snap last week, leading to a game-winning Oklahoma State field goal.
Rose missed two makeable field goals against the Horned Frogs, while Dickson shanked one punt and watched a snap go over his head for a deflating safety. How long can you continue to allow these blunders to cost you games? Texas has other kickers and punters on the roster that could get a shot. Things can't get any worse.
No control
Texas had 16 penalties for a whopping 128 yards in last week's aforementioned loss to Oklahoma State. That included a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty from Strong himself during a crucial drive that led to a tying field goal for the Cowboys.
There have also been other instances of Longhorn players exhibiting a lack of focus and discipline recently. Texas offensive lineman Sedrick Flowers called out Marcus Hutchins for a lack of preparation last week, and on Saturday it appeared that corner Kris Boyd was tweeting during halftime against TCU. He retweeted a fan's request that he transfer to Texas A&M. That's not the message you want your players sending, especially at halftime of a game in which you are being dominated.
Strong isn't a bad coach, but things clearly aren't working in Austin. It's time for the Longhorns to admit they got it wrong where Strong is concerned and make a move sooner rather than later. This season may not be salvageable, but the respectability of the program's future is.