I'm trying to care, but I don't...

[Sean Adams]

This is going to sound like I'm a homer for Charlie Strong or Texas but real is real...

 

CS has to do whatever he can to pull together this class but that is exactly what he will be doing - holding it together with kite string and duct tape. I just got off the phone with The Franchise in Oklahoma City and they essentially asked the same thing. My response was that CS was in a bad spot when he took the job when Mack Brown had used most of the official visits and when you couple that with the natural insecurity of a coaching change when recruits have a 1 or 2 year relationship with everybody recruiting against the new coach and things will never be perfect.

 

The last thing I left them with was that as a person that has followed this team for over a decade, I have seen dozens of 4 and 5 star players that have come to Texas and been as anonymous as a prank call after one year. This team needed a new attitude and a new direction and they got that.

 

Winning will be Charlie Strong's currency and the judgment of his recruiting will come with the 2015 and 2016 class. If he doesn't get it done then he will and should be judged harshly when given all of the advantages in recruiting that come to bear at the University of Texas.

[NLeininger]

Totally different scenario than when Mack came in, and Texas had almost no one committed. Losing the Tehuema brothers stinks, but I'm less worried about the OL under Wickline and the Defense under Strong/Bedford than I am at other positions.

 

I agree Mack did the successor no favors.

[H-town Horn]

Agree 100%. Can't get too worked up about this class. Mack and Strong are night and day different and so no surprise that some are going to walk away (especially when according to CBS Mack actually encouraged them to explore other opportunities).

 

But you could not have put it better when you said that winning will be Strong's currency. By the end of 2014 we need to see solid signs that things are going in the right direction, perhaps not in record (8-4 is a worst case for me) but in our attitude on the field. We should be able to see what this program can become by next November.

 

If things do not seem on track by that point then we may be looking for a new coach (and AD) to start 2016.

 

But Strong knows what's at stake. He's going to put his heart into this, which is all one can ask. I'm very optimistic.

[Epictetus]

Happy again to read and listen to your voice. All solid points, Sean. All solid.

 

Remember in Hoosiers... when the team was first presented in the gym. Some calls came from the stands for the kid who had refused to play. Coach stopped the hollering and proudly and firmly declared that "this is our team... right here on the floor...this is what we're going to play the season with... get behind this group right here that stepped forward to play and be your team."

 

I feel in my bones CS is going to do the same thing. We'll take what we got and hit the field and give'em all they (the teams we play) can handle for 60 minutes. I think he has a lot going for motivation within himself, the whole coaching staff, and the players that are here now and that will commit tomorrow (signing day).

 

Once the coach in Hoosiers put his foot down on fundamentals and showed it in a few games... like the time they had only four players and he refused to put the lone bench player in, because he hadn't done what he was supposed to do earlier in the game ... being willing to play even with 4 players... that kind of attitude caught on with the town and with the missing star player.. who soon joined the team. CS is going to build and develop, and I almost like that it's a seething, quiet, off-the-radar thing that is brewing. The 2014 class signing tomorrow will be the lone company of men that elected to band together and build something and help Coach Strong make this something to be proud of.

[BOBO86]

I just wish CS would not have openly gone USMC with all the changes...........It's being used against us. I am 100% for it, but why air all of our dirty laundry!

[HornEsch]

Have to agree Sean. While I hate losing prospects that we really need, it was not all that unexpected for me. You have to think the fact that we a major change in coaching at a very inopportune time and some questionable tactics by the previous administration has cost us in this aggressive game of recruiting.

 

I'll take it a step further. Not only did we have the change and all the "stuff" going on around that change. We COMPLETELY change gears and how this program as a whole is run. Forget the all important fact of the recruit / staff relationship for a minute, we know that plays a role. Recruits are kids / young adults, however you want to put it. They knew what they were coming into with Mack and some liked that setup and what they saw. Now with a new sheriff in town that is a bit more "military like" in is approach that has to be a shock to these guys. I mean, seriously, this is a completely different situation that they are coming into now. That would make anyone think twice. It is a question of "are they the type of person" that can handle a much more rigorous system. Not everyone is and that is OK.

 

Based on that viewpoint, I also think that CS is not as worried as we are. You have to think that this serves as a natural filter for weeding out the types of players that wont excel in his system. Just to be clear, I am not saying that these players that don't fit wont become great players. They just don't fit the system that CS brings and this may or may not be able to excel in it.

 

This year is a year where CS is honoring commitments and trying to hold on to a decent class. I agree that the next two is where we will see CS excel or fail. Anyone thinks that this is a one year process is fooling themselves and don't give me Auburn as that is not the norm. Hell look at the beloved Saban and his first year at Alabama. It is and always has been a 2-3 year minimum process before you start seeing what CS truly brings. Right now we are in tear down mode.

[sotxhorn]

amen brother

[LongviewLobo01]

Thank you for being a voice of reason Sean. Too many people are losing their minds for no reason.

 

There's always turnover within the recruiting class when an entire staff is replaced. Just because we are Texas doesn't mean that we are exempt. And when you hire a coach with no ties to the state it makes the situation even more tenuous. Couple that with the success of schools like aggy and Baylor in state and the time spent without a coach and the time spent with recruits trying to connect with the new staff in a short amount of time makes it impossible to keep everyone on board.

 

And let's not kid ourselves. It's not like the class that Mack was putting together was full of elite talent to start with. It was a borderline top 15 class as it was and a complete change in philosophies with the new staff guaranteed turnover and that's not always a bad thing. For too many years, Mack and his staff have brought in top 5 and top 10 classes and then failed to develop those players once they arrived. Charlie Strong has proven that he can develop players once they arrive on his team. He did it as a defensive coordinator at Florida and then as a head coach at Louisville. That will be something that is completely different under the new regime.

 

The 2015 class is probably going to be much different than what we are accustomed to here also. aggy has a major advantage in the state with those kids and they are capitalizing in a major way. Strong is doing the right thing in using the relationships that his staff has with programs in the southeast and going after kids in those areas in order to make up for the distance he's going to have to make up within the state. I don't expect that to be the case moving forward in 2016 and beyond, but that's what needs to be done right now.

 

At the end of the day, winning on the field is going to matter more than anything for Strong and Texas. It won't matter who we have coaching the team and how good of a recruiter that he is if he can't produce wins and titles. Great coaches use the first season to implement their program and cull the herd so to speak and then by the second year are poised to make a run. Some examples:

 

** Pete Carroll won 11 games and the Orange Bowl

** Bob Stoops won a national title

** Urban Meyer won a national title at Florida and in a BCS game at Ohio State

** Nick Saban in BCS games at both LSU and Alabama

 

I'm not sure if we have the talent to make a run like those guys, but I'm not sure if Strong will have the time that it took a guy like Jimbo Fisher to build Florida State. We will see though. We need to win 8-9 games next year and 10-11 at the least in year 2.

**

[texasdobbs]

Very good Sean.... Rome was not built in a day. Like most of you I have some frustration with the situation but I'm all in for the next 3-4 years.

[Topstarr]

I care

[MBHORNSFAN]

Thank you for being a voice of reason Sean. Too many people are losing their minds for no reason.

 

There's always turnover within the recruiting class when an entire staff is replaced. Just because we are Texas doesn't mean that we are exempt. And when you hire a coach with no ties to the state it makes the situation even more tenuous. Couple that with the success of schools like aggy and Baylor in state and the time spent without a coach and the time spent with recruits trying to connect with the new staff in a short amount of time makes it impossible to keep everyone on board.

 

And let's not kid ourselves. It's not like the class that Mack was putting together was full of elite talent to start with. It was a borderline top 15 class as it was and a complete change in philosophies with the new staff guaranteed turnover and that's not always a bad thing. For too many years, Mack and his staff have brought in top 5 and top 10 classes and then failed to develop those players once they arrived. Charlie Strong has proven that he can develop players once they arrive on his team. He did it as a defensive coordinator at Florida and then as a head coach at Louisville. That will be something that is completely different under the new regime.

 

The 2015 class is probably going to be much different than what we are accustomed to here also. aggy has a major advantage in the state with those kids and they are capitalizing in a major way. Strong is doing the right thing in using the relationships that his staff has with programs in the southeast and going after kids in those areas in order to make up for the distance he's going to have to make up within the state. I don't expect that to be the case moving forward in 2016 and beyond, but that's what needs to be done right now.

 

At the end of the day, winning on the field is going to matter more than anything for Strong and Texas. It won't matter who we have coaching the team and how good of a recruiter that he is if he can't produce wins and titles. Great coaches use the first season to implement their program and cull the herd so to speak and then by the second year are poised to make a run. Some examples:

 

** Pete Carroll won 11 games and the Orange Bowl

** Bob Stoops won a national title

** Urban Meyer won a national title at Florida and in a BCS game at Ohio State

** Nick Saban in BCS games at both LSU and Alabama

 

I'm not sure if we have the talent to make a run like those guys, but I'm not sure if Strong will have the time that it took a guy like Jimbo Fisher to build Florida State. We will see though. We need to win 8-9 games next year and 10-11 at the least in year 2.

**

 

You just proved my entire point of all my recent post. We don't have enough talent right now and we're not recruiting enough top talent right now. Hopefully this will change very soon if not welcome back to the 80's-90's era.

[beevomav]

We need to pick kids that play a system and coach em up. I just watched Seattle destroy the Broncos with a bunch of guys that nobody wanted, but they fit the Pete Carroll's system.

[bcherry168]

Thank you for being a voice of reason Sean. Too many people are losing their minds for no reason.

 

There's always turnover within the recruiting class when an entire staff is replaced. Just because we are Texas doesn't mean that we are exempt. And when you hire a coach with no ties to the state it makes the situation even more tenuous. Couple that with the success of schools like aggy and Baylor in state and the time spent without a coach and the time spent with recruits trying to connect with the new staff in a short amount of time makes it impossible to keep everyone on board.

 

And let's not kid ourselves. It's not like the class that Mack was putting together was full of elite talent to start with. It was a borderline top 15 class as it was and a complete change in philosophies with the new staff guaranteed turnover and that's not always a bad thing. For too many years, Mack and his staff have brought in top 5 and top 10 classes and then failed to develop those players once they arrived. Charlie Strong has proven that he can develop players once they arrive on his team. He did it as a defensive coordinator at Florida and then as a head coach at Louisville. That will be something that is completely different under the new regime.

 

The 2015 class is probably going to be much different than what we are accustomed to here also. aggy has a major advantage in the state with those kids and they are capitalizing in a major way. Strong is doing the right thing in using the relationships that his staff has with programs in the southeast and going after kids in those areas in order to make up for the distance he's going to have to make up within the state. I don't expect that to be the case moving forward in 2016 and beyond, but that's what needs to be done right now.

 

At the end of the day, winning on the field is going to matter more than anything for Strong and Texas. It won't matter who we have coaching the team and how good of a recruiter that he is if he can't produce wins and titles. Great coaches use the first season to implement their program and cull the herd so to speak and then by the second year are poised to make a run. Some examples:

 

** Pete Carroll won 11 games and the Orange Bowl

** Bob Stoops won a national title

** Urban Meyer won a national title at Florida and in a BCS game at Ohio State

** Nick Saban in BCS games at both LSU and Alabama

 

I'm not sure if we have the talent to make a run like those guys, but I'm not sure if Strong will have the time that it took a guy like Jimbo Fisher to build Florida State. We will see though. We need to win 8-9 games next year and 10-11 at the least in year 2.

**

 

Don't forget what Bear Bryant did for the Aggies way back when. They had a great team with the survivors of Junction.

[JimR]

I don't care either, and I have been following UT for several decades.

[NLeininger]

You just proved my entire point of all my recent post. We don't have enough talent right now and we're not recruiting enough top talent right now. Hopefully this will change very soon if not welcome back to the 80's-90's era.

 

While talent is important, developing it is much more important. Please tell me the last time Baylor or Oklahoma State pulled in a Top 10 class, how about Stanford?

[JimR]

While talent is important, developing it is much more important. Please tell me the last time Baylor or Oklahoma State pulled in a Top 10 class, how about Stanford?

 

exactly right. development is far more important.

[MBHORNSFAN]

exactly right. development is far more important.

 

Of course development is important but you develop 4* and 5* to win championships. You develop a team full of 2* & 3* talent to be good. Every football national champion has many more top star guys then low star gurs.

[MBHORNSFAN]

While talent is important, developing it is much more important. Please tell me the last time Baylor or Oklahoma State pulled in a Top 10 class, how about Stanford?

 

And that's the very reason they are not competing for championships.

[H-town Horn]

While talent is important, developing it is much more important. Please tell me the last time Baylor or Oklahoma State pulled in a Top 10 class, how about Stanford?

 

Amen. It's baffling to read all the hand-wringing up here about how Texas doesn't have enough talent. Been reading this garbage for years. Meanwhile teams like WVU, K-State, Okie State, Baylor, and TCU have been hitting us in the mouth. Is there anyone who will seriously argue than any of these teams have more talent than us? On paper or otherwise?

 

The rub on Texas has always been that the talent was not always getting coached up. That's because we had a great CEO and recruiter but not a nuts and bolts coach.

 

Now we have a true "football coach", and if history is any indication a great recruiter who just needs some time (i.e. more than 3-4 weeks) to build relationships here in Texas.

 

We are going to be fine. The kids that are here are going to want to be here, they're going to be hard workers, they're going to be tough, and all this is going to manifest itself on the field.

 

But it's not going to happen overnight.

[JimR]

And that's the very reason they are not competing for championships.

 

are you serious? were you in a cave hibernating this season?

[thirtyand0]

While talent is important, developing it is much more important. Please tell me the last time Baylor or Oklahoma State pulled in a Top 10 class, how about Stanford?

 

Stanford last year?

[TexasFirst1]

It seems that the Mack Brown apologists have already been replaced by the Charlie Strong apologists who are throwing out every phony excuse imaginable for him failing to hold Mack's worthy recruits and add additional top recruits in 2014. The bottom line is that Charlie is off to a very unimpressive start on the recruiting front and that means that Charlie needs to coach his ass off and deliver a Big 12 championship and final 4 berth in 2014 or his 2015 recruiting class may be worse than 2014.

 

It is pathetic to watch UT fans who are willing to settle for more 8-4 / 9-3 mediocrity in 2014 that would only confirm that nothing has really changed in UT's culture and expectations that are at the root of the recruiting problems. Winning big in 2014 is the only chance that Charlie has to survive the huge negative momentum in recruiting.

[H-town Horn]

Of course development is important but you develop 4* and 5* to win championships. You develop a team full of 2* & 3* talent to be good. Every football national champion has many more top star guys then low star gurs.

 

You seem to feel that the days of Texas being able to recruit 4 and 5 stars are over. Why?

[H-town Horn]

It seems that the Mack Brown apologists have already been replaced by the Charlie Strong apologists who are throwing out every phony excuse imaginable for him failing to hold Mack's worthy recruits and add additional top recruits in 2014. The bottom line is that Charlie is off to a very unimpressive start on the recruiting front and that means that Charlie needs to coach his ass off and deliver a Big 12 championship and final 4 berth in 2014 or his 2015 recruiting class may be worse than 2014.

 

It is pathetic to watch UT fans who are willing to settle for more 8-4 / 9-3 mediocrity in 2014 that would only confirm that nothing has really changed in UT's culture and expectations that are at the root of the recruiting problems. Winning big in 2014 is the only chance that Charlie has to survive the huge negative momentum in recruiting.

 

Strong and Mack Brown is like oil vs. vinegar. It's laughable to think that anyone thought we would NOT lose some recruits.

 

Remind me not to get stuck in a foxhole with some of you guys. Geez.

[SlickStreet]

While talent is important, developing it is much more important. Please tell me the last time Baylor or Oklahoma State pulled in a Top 10 class, how about Stanford?

both are vital. Though after all the top ten classes we had the last several years and yet still have managed no better than a 9-4 record (OU blowout with that) for nearly half a decade, I have to agree that development and application is at least as critical, and in some ways more.