Charlie Strong And The Coaching Carousel

The Charlie Strong-to-Miami rumor is still alive.

The rumor started as an innocent question posed on the Twitter account of a blog that shall remain nameless. Would Charlie Strong jump to Miami?

At the time, it was just wild speculation. Al Golden and his Hurricanes still had the prospect of a successful season in front of them. Meanwhile, Strong was in dire straits. His team had just embarrassed Longhorn Nation with a 50-7 meltdown against TCU. One of his prized recruits was retweeting transfer requests at halftime. His players were openly sniping at each other. Strong appeared to be on borrowed time.

The talk died down the next week when Texas shocked Oklahoma, but the rumors have never really gone away. After the Iowa State game continued to shine a light on a program that appears to be stuck in neutral, the talk started to liven up again.

Strong to Miami. If you think about it, it makes sense on several levels.

So is there anything to the rumor? Probably. That’s not to say that I think Strong is a goner, or even that he would seriously consider leaving, but I don’t doubt for a moment that he would listen. I don’t take it personally. It’s just a part of the game.

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Coaches have to deal with rumors, it comes with the job. Coaches are perennially on the hotseat while successful coaches at lesser schools are constantly monitored as candidates for the next big opening. Strong has been on both sides now. There’s really no such thing as job security in this business, which is part of the reason why college head coaches demand such huge salaries. There was a contingent ready to fire Mack Brown in 2010, after one losing season in thirteen years and one year removed from a National Championship Game appearance. As a coach, you are truly only as good as your last game.

It is not an ideal way to function at all. The constant rumors can breed paranoia in coaches and probably contributes to some of shadier things that happen in college football, from playing injured players to breaking NCAA regulations. Fear of getting fired can become a negative motivator for coaches.

So you can’t really blame any coach for being willing to listen if another school comes calling, and that is all the rumor says at this point, that Strong would listen. Of course he will. You can bet your bottom dollar that someone, probably a booster, reached out to someone on Strong’s side, probably his agent, before Golden was fired and simply floated the question. Would he listen? And you can bet that the response was yes.

Of course, everyone involved will deny everything. They have to. Miami can’t risk accusations of tampering. Strong can’t risk his players thinking he’s got one foot out the door. Everyone will continue to publicly deny everything and those public denials will mean nothing. Not at this point they won’t.

The reason that this particular rumor continues to resonate so strongly is because the situation is so unusual. Coaches don’t leave “destination” jobs like Texas unless they’re looking to go pro. Who would possibly leave Texas for Miami? Off the top of my head I can only think of one coach that left a top tier college job for another and that was Dennis Franchione leaving Alabama for A&M. It just doesn’t happen.

Especially at Texas. Texas coaches leave one of two ways. They retire or they are shown the door. Since Texas seems to target coaches with no interest in the NFL, it is almost unthinkable that a Texas coach could “trade up” to another school.

Many in the media scoff at the idea but I’m not so sure. I believe that there is a possibility, however remote, that Strong might leave without being pushed.

For one, I know that those of us who bleed burnt orange can’t accept this, but Texas may not be the great job we all think it is. Since Strong came, he’s been labeled a “good position coach” by a powerful booster and struggled to change the country club culture he inherited. He’s seen how quickly the Longhorn faithful can turn on you. He’s seen how little patience Texas has for a rebuild. It is not inconceivable that Strong has tired of it all.

Didn’t Texas Just Finish Riding The Coaching Carousel? Mandatory Credit: Marvin Gentry-USA TODAY Sports

There is also the fact that Strong has always been an East Coast guy. Maybe he just doesn’t like it in Texas and would welcome an opportunity to go back East. His “ties” to South Florida are a little overstated by some, but he does recruit the area heavily, so it would be much easier to establish himself there as the head coach at Miami than it has been for him to establish himself in Texas.

Some scoff at the notion he would go just because of the money. Strong has money and Strong will get paid at Miami. Sure Miami won’t pay as well, but money may not be that big of a motivation for Strong. For some people, happiness is worth more.

Texas Longhorns /

Texas Longhorns

Then there is the style of play in the ACC, which is much more to Strong’s style than the wide open, spread dominated Big 12. The ACC has a lot more traditional style teams and Miami has been playing and recruiting for their pro style attack for years. Strong might feel that he will have more success, and therefore, more security than at Texas.

Of course, there are many reasons for Strong to stay at Texas as well. The wild card in all of this then, might come down to Texas and how bad they want to retain Strong. Some coaches like to float their names for available jobs just to see how their current school responds. Given all the questions that have surrounded Strong, both fair and unfair, maybe Strong just wants Texas to show him some love. If he doesn’t get it, maybe he leaves.

Texas isn’t in a perfect situation either. There are legitimate concerns about Strong’s long term viability as the Longhorn’s head man. Say Texas stumbles in their last three games, misses a bowl game and predictably gets blown out by Baylor. If the Miami interest is genuine, does Texas encourage Strong to leave in order to pursue a different coach without looking like the bad guys for giving up on Strong too soon?

You must admit, there is some logic in that approach. Strong’s East Coach/Florida ties might make Miami a better fit than Texas. At the same time, a coach with a better understanding of Texas, like say Tom Hermann, might be a better fit for the Longhorns. A change could be a win/win.

In any event, the rumors will continue until Miami officially hires a new coach. Those rumors could become a distraction for a young team that really can’t afford to be distracted and will continue to cloud the future of a program that needs stability. There’s no way around this and no amount of public denials will quiet the whispers.

There are steps the NCAA might take to try, such as pushing back National Signing Day, that might help lessen the urgency teams feel to make a change. However, nothing will put a stop to the constantly revolving coaching carousel. It’s just the nature of the beast. We enter each new season fully aware of which coaches are in jeopardy. You can be sure that as soon as one of those coaches begins to struggle, the rumor mill will start up and the carousel picks up steam once again.

Given time, the truth often comes out and we find out if there was any fire behind all the smoke. Until then, all we can do is try to ignore the rumors as best we can and focus on the game ahead.

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