5 Things Charlie Strong Must Do to Save His Job with Texas Football
By Tyler Brett
While there are plenty of things Charlie Strong has struggled to do at Texas, the one thing he has been excellent at is recruiting talent to Austin. If he can continue to dominate on the recruiting trail and close some big-time commitments before season’s end, it could buy Strong another year to turn that talent into results.
In his first season at Texas, Strong closed exceptionally strong to secure the No. 10 recruiting class of the 2015 recruiting cycle. Last season, with another strong finish in January and February, Texas brought in the No. 7 class in the 2016 cycle. So far for the 2017 class, Texas has 8 commits, including five four-star recruits. However, because they have so few in number, Texas is currently ranked No. 46 for the 2017 class rankings.
Normally, Strong and Texas fans wouldn’t worry about that due to the coaching staff’s ability to finish strong and sign big-name recruits late in the process. This season, though, is a little bit different. Strong and his staff will have to deal with hot-seat rumors everywhere they go on the recruiting trail and the administration isn’t likely to wait until February to make a change. That puts pressure on Strong to turn up his timeline on sealing the deal on some big recruits.
If Strong can once again show an influx of talent is on its way to the Forty Acres, it will give him some leeway in terms of job security. But if the class hovers around its current ranking and Texas starts losing commits to other programs who are playing on the uncertainty of the Texas coaching staff, it could work against Strong.