Job Functions and Cesspools
Amazingly, there are some folks out there who think the Longhorn fan and blog community’s current displeasure and criticism of Charlie Strong is unfair. To those folks, this blog is for you.
Do you think 13-17 is acceptable for a football coach who is paid $5 million a year? Really? If you were told in January of 2014 that Strong’s record after 30 games would be 13-17 you would have said, I’m down with that? By what objective standard is 13-17 beyond criticism? Why should Strong’s job not be in jeopardy?
And it’s not just the won-loss record. It’s also that 9 of those 17 losses have been by 24 points or more and that doesn’t include the 18 point loss to Oklahoma State two weeks ago. Let’s review some more fun facts and figures. In 2014 Texas finished with the 109th ranked offense in the country, in 2015 the offense finished 84th and the defense 87th. Currently, Strong’s defense ranks 118th giving up an average of 48 points over the last three games.
What would you say you do here?
Office Space—which was filmed in Austin—is one of my all-time favorite movies. It’s a comedy written and directed by Mike Judge about a fictional high-tech company that has hired a couple of consultants to interview employees about their job functions and then recommend who to layoff. In one of the many very funny scenes the consultants—who are both named Bob—are trying to get a middle-aged employee to describe and justify his job function. Dissatisfied with the employees’ explanation, one of the Bobs finally asks, “What would you say you do here?”
I thought of this scene a couple of days ago when thinking about Charlie Strong’s current job situation. Strong’s background is on the defensive side of the ball. He became well-known nationally as the defensive coordinator for Florida’s teams that won national championships in 2006 and 2008. When his Texas offenses were failing in 2014 and 2015, he didn’t assume play calling duties as he has for his failing defense this year. In fact, as evidenced by his surprise by what kind of offense Shawn Watson rolled out in the first game of 2015, and the urgency of which the UT president and athletic director became involved in the hiring of Sterlin Gilbert, we can be relatively certain that Strong has very little input with the offense. Strong’s biggest contribution to the offense that I’ve seen was his insistence that “J Gray” and his 3.9 yards per carry average start ahead of D’Onta Foreman’s 6.9 yards per carry last year.
So, in Strong’s first game calling the defensive plays, Texas surrendered 672 total yards and 45 points to Oklahoma. So, one might ask Charlie, “What would you say you do here?”
Iowa State
It’s hard to envision a scenario where Texas loses tomorrow to Iowa State and Charlie Strong is the Texas coach in 2017. If Texas loses, it’s more than likely they won’t win more than seven games and seven would be a tall order with Baylor, TCU, and Texas Tech—which in Lubbock—left on the schedule. Reading the tea leaves today, seven regular season wins will not be enough to save Strong’s job. Therefore, as much as I avoid calling mid-season games must-win, this game is a must-win for Strong if he wants to keep his job in 2017. That adds excitement to a game pitting a 2-3 team against a 1-5 team. Be sure to tune into the Longhorn Network whose execution of game broadcasts can be almost as funny as Office Space.
Herbstreit
Hey, Herbie, you Buckeye dunce you. Wanna see a cesspool? Put on the visiting team’s t-shirt and hat and walk around Columbus on a Saturday prior to an Ohio State game. After all Herbie, it wasn’t the UT president who felt compelled to write a letter to the editor of a visiting team’s local newspaper apologizing for the widespread loutish behavior of his school’s students and fans towards a visiting team’s fans.
Oklahoma Over/Under
My apologies to contestants and readers for my trady reporting of the results for the Oklahoma Over/Under contest. Tom Yoxall was the winner with nine correct answers. Way to keep plugging away Tom! Tom has been a very regular Over/Under contestant since the beginning and this was his third or fourth all-time win. As you know, you can’t win if you don’t play.
Thank goodness Tom came through with a nine because David Frink, David Bergstrom, John Scott, and Reed Ramlow all tied for second with eights. I’m sure glad I didn’t have to go to a four-way tiebreaker to determine the winner. By-the-way, those four would have made a helluva good pickup basketball team at Gregory back in the day.
Hook “Em,
W.E.
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