Texas Football: Another Reminder Why Core Values Matter

The Baylor scandal shows why core values are important with the Texas football program.

Many have scoffed. They have been the butt of jokes. They’ve been used as a negative recruiting tool by other schools. Some have labelled them controversial. However, in the wake of yet another college athlete behaving badly scandal, Charlie Strong’s core values sure do look good right now.

The latest school to fall into the muck is Baylor, which is busy trying to cover their green-and-gold rears after DE Sam Ukwuachu was found guilty of the sexual assault of a Baylor soccer player earlier this week. While Art Briles tries to blame anybody and everybody he can, Charlie Strong and his staff are simply getting down to business in Austin.

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Strong wasted no time installing his core values upon his arrival last year and several Longhorns have become former Longhorns since then. Detractors have taken that opportunity to paint Strong as a hard-line dictator. Specifically, there is a certain Swagcopter flying coach southeast of Austin who has painted himself as the “anti-Strong” for recruiting purposes, an approach that is proving successful.

Strong will tell anyone who asks that his core values aren’t about railroadin players out of the program. He’ll talk about how much he wants his players to succeed in life, but that message never really seems to penetrate outside of Longhorns fandom.

Unfortunately that’s because all that really seems to matter is winning. Baylor has a black eye right now, but if Art Briles puts another 10 win team on the field this season, Ukwuachu’s story will quickly fade. Oklahoma chose to sweep Joe Mixon and his face shattering punch under the rug with a one year suspension and if Mixon lives up to the hype that accompanied him out of high school, the Sooners will come out winners. Florida State has seen several players wind up on the wrong side of the law recently, but success on the field has overshadowed the fact that there are clearly character issues within that program.

Texas Longhorns /

Texas Longhorns

Meanwhile, Strong and his core values are scoffed at in the light of a disappointing 6-7 season. The focus is always on the sheer number of players that he kicked out, not about the culture change that he’s trying to instill. The underlying message: winning is all that matters.

Strong should be lauded for his core values. After all, he’s not asking his players to walk on water or to not make the stupid mistakes that young men make. Terrell Cuney, despite his recent shoplifting arrest, wasn’t immediately tossed out of the program for breaking a core value. He may never see the field as a Longhorn, but if Charlie thinks that h can help Cuney become a better person, and if Cuney shows that he is willing to do what it takes, Strong will stand by him. Strong has repeatedly stuck by troubled Daje Johnson, even when everyone else has been ready to write him off.

Daje Johnson has vowed to pay Charlie Strong back for the faith he has shown in the troubled senior. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY Sports

Strong’s core values are unrealistic or unreasonable. They are simply an attempt to instill basic moral values that we should all live by every day. Strong wants his players to succeed and he will give them chances to do that. However, if Strong doesn’t win and win big, he will simply go down as a strict disciplinarian who ran off talented players who could have helped him win.

Regardless of how Strong’s tenure in Texas ultimately plays out, there can be little doubt that he is doing things the right way. History shows that programs that play fast and loose with the rules, and allow their athletes to do the same, will eventually fall. Lack of strong leadership and discipline ran Barry Switzer out of the game and caused damage that took over a decade to repair at Oklahoma. Miami still hasn’t recovered from sanctions that crippled that school, and don’t even bother bringing up SMU and the best team money could buy.

Sadly there will always be schools that are willing to overlook potentially, or some cases, demonstrated serious character issues if it means squeezing out a couple of more wins. Baylor isn’t the first school to take a flyer on a troubled case and they won’t be the last. Until we as a society truly begin to demand long-term accountability and place emphasis on something other then just wins and losses, that will not change.

Just be thankful that in Austin, we’ve got a coach who doesn’t need to be forced to do things the right way. He does it on his own.

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