Randolph Duke
THE DUKE
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2012
- Messages
- 2,484
I have been wondering for a while just how to measure the Charlie Strong era at UT. I crunched some numbers and thought I would share what I came up with.
In my mind, the three most outstanding head football coaches at the University of Texas have been D.X. Bible, Darrell Royal and Mack Brown. In fact, I consider the hiring of Coach Bible as the beginning of the era of excellence of UT football. We started playing football in 1893, but it wasn’t until Coach Bible’s 1941 team that the Longhorns were ever ranked number one in the national polls.
By 1941, TCU had two national championships (1935 and 1938) and a Heisman Trophy winner (Davey O’Brien in 1938). Even aggy had already managed its one and only number one finish in the national polls. (Yea, I know about aggy’s two other supposed national championships. Texas has 11 of the same type of “championships†that, since they aren’t by major polls, we don’t claim.) In 1941, we were not the premier program in Texas. At the end of the 1941 season, Texas had a record of 286-113-21 (.681 overall winning average). Aggy’s overall record was 259-109-29 (.652). The overall success of the UT and aggy programs was roughly the same. Aggy had a national championship and was ranked number one more often than Texas, we had more wins and a slightly better overall record.
Coach Bible went 63-31-3 (.665). When Coach Royal took over in 1957, our overall record was 390-160-30 (.672). At that time, aggy’s overall record was 328-182-36 (.601). Through the ‘40s and ‘50s, Texas did well and aggy began to slip. Interestingly, when Coach Royal took over the program, all hell broke loose. Coach Royal went 167-47-5 (.762) while at Texas and never had a losing season, winning national championships in ’63, ’69 and ’70. What I didn’t realize until now was that while Texas soared starting in 1957, aggy totally crapped the bad. In 1957, aggy began a period where they had a streak of 10 straight losing seasons and losing seasons in 16 of their next 17 seasons. From ’57-‘73, aggy went 57-109-7 (.329) while Texas went 144-36-4 (.782). We have all heard they aggys claim the “since year x, out programs have roughly the same record.†We have also heard their claim they have such a crappy overall record because they were "just a small all-male school. Bullsh!t. I had an aggy tell me once “In the modern era, since 1973…†I wondered how in the hell the “modern era†began in 1973. Now I know why they find the need to start their smack talking with "since 1973...." I also understand why the old guard aggys hate Texas so vehemently. It's not so much what Texas has accomplished as much as that they have lived through such an amazing period of futility for their program.
Right now, Texas’ overall record is 874-339-33 (.715). We trail only Michigan (910) for overall wins (we are tied for 2nd at 874 with Notre Dame). Aggy’s record is 701-456-48 (.602 which is right where it was in 1957.) Coach Brown went 158-48 (.767). In my mind, for Coach Strong to be successful, he will have to at least match Coach Bible’s .665 winning average which means 8-4 is pretty much the floor for a Charlie Strong season, below which I feel entitled to start complaining. To get to the level of Coach Royal or Coach Brown, He is going to have to go 9-3 during the regular season and win the bowl game more often or not, so 10 wins is a reasonable expectation for me to consider Coach Strong “Texas Good.†For the record, since taking over the aggy program, Kevin Sumlin has gone 20-6 (.769). In other words over the past two years, “the greatest period ever in the history of aggydomâ€, they have won at the same average Mack Brown did for over a decade and a half.
So, as of now, 10-3, beat OU, don’t lose any game in an ugly fashion, ride herd on the athletes to keep them out of trouble and get our APR up and Coach Strong gets my vote to get to keep his job.
In my mind, the three most outstanding head football coaches at the University of Texas have been D.X. Bible, Darrell Royal and Mack Brown. In fact, I consider the hiring of Coach Bible as the beginning of the era of excellence of UT football. We started playing football in 1893, but it wasn’t until Coach Bible’s 1941 team that the Longhorns were ever ranked number one in the national polls.
By 1941, TCU had two national championships (1935 and 1938) and a Heisman Trophy winner (Davey O’Brien in 1938). Even aggy had already managed its one and only number one finish in the national polls. (Yea, I know about aggy’s two other supposed national championships. Texas has 11 of the same type of “championships†that, since they aren’t by major polls, we don’t claim.) In 1941, we were not the premier program in Texas. At the end of the 1941 season, Texas had a record of 286-113-21 (.681 overall winning average). Aggy’s overall record was 259-109-29 (.652). The overall success of the UT and aggy programs was roughly the same. Aggy had a national championship and was ranked number one more often than Texas, we had more wins and a slightly better overall record.
Coach Bible went 63-31-3 (.665). When Coach Royal took over in 1957, our overall record was 390-160-30 (.672). At that time, aggy’s overall record was 328-182-36 (.601). Through the ‘40s and ‘50s, Texas did well and aggy began to slip. Interestingly, when Coach Royal took over the program, all hell broke loose. Coach Royal went 167-47-5 (.762) while at Texas and never had a losing season, winning national championships in ’63, ’69 and ’70. What I didn’t realize until now was that while Texas soared starting in 1957, aggy totally crapped the bad. In 1957, aggy began a period where they had a streak of 10 straight losing seasons and losing seasons in 16 of their next 17 seasons. From ’57-‘73, aggy went 57-109-7 (.329) while Texas went 144-36-4 (.782). We have all heard they aggys claim the “since year x, out programs have roughly the same record.†We have also heard their claim they have such a crappy overall record because they were "just a small all-male school. Bullsh!t. I had an aggy tell me once “In the modern era, since 1973…†I wondered how in the hell the “modern era†began in 1973. Now I know why they find the need to start their smack talking with "since 1973...." I also understand why the old guard aggys hate Texas so vehemently. It's not so much what Texas has accomplished as much as that they have lived through such an amazing period of futility for their program.
Right now, Texas’ overall record is 874-339-33 (.715). We trail only Michigan (910) for overall wins (we are tied for 2nd at 874 with Notre Dame). Aggy’s record is 701-456-48 (.602 which is right where it was in 1957.) Coach Brown went 158-48 (.767). In my mind, for Coach Strong to be successful, he will have to at least match Coach Bible’s .665 winning average which means 8-4 is pretty much the floor for a Charlie Strong season, below which I feel entitled to start complaining. To get to the level of Coach Royal or Coach Brown, He is going to have to go 9-3 during the regular season and win the bowl game more often or not, so 10 wins is a reasonable expectation for me to consider Coach Strong “Texas Good.†For the record, since taking over the aggy program, Kevin Sumlin has gone 20-6 (.769). In other words over the past two years, “the greatest period ever in the history of aggydomâ€, they have won at the same average Mack Brown did for over a decade and a half.
So, as of now, 10-3, beat OU, don’t lose any game in an ugly fashion, ride herd on the athletes to keep them out of trouble and get our APR up and Coach Strong gets my vote to get to keep his job.
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