Lodge to A&M

[Lord Vader]

Never coming here after Wyatt left. It happens. 

[SFlonghorngirl]

I have feeling Strong will flip a couple of Aggie commits by end of season.

[Randolph Duke]

I posted this in the recruiting thread, but I will repost over here:

 

 

Sumlin seems to be running a post-O'Bannon program, betting the NCAA's control on amateurism is going to end sooner, as opposed to later. Bring in talented kids who don't have a shot at actually getting a degree and let them take online blowoff classes to stay eligible, ignore failed drug tests and consider the ones who end up in jail as a cost of doing business. If the amateurism rules get tossed, players aren't going to have to worry about classes and are no longer going to be drug tested. The rules Strong is applying seem to be for a team of the past, not of the present or the future.

 

As it stands now, I have the same opinion of most of the decent high school football talent out there and I give the Charlie Strong experiment a stinking D-.

 

I get it he wants to say he cares about the kids and that is why he has the rules he does. Great. He was hired to be the football coach, not a $5 mil/yr guidance counselor. The argument we need to write off the next few seasons and wait until the fall of 2017 to judge the wisdom of hiring Coach Strong (after he has had a year to coach up his 2016 recruit class) isn't going to fly. He can't compete in recruiting, I don't believe in Shawn Watson as the offensive genius and I'm wondering when some one is going to publicly point out to Charlie Strong he seems to be foundering so we can see if he even realizes the situation he seems to be in. 

 

I hope I am pleasantly surprised, but as it stands now, the hiring of Charlie Strong deserves a failing grade and has all the signs of a huge mistake. The recruits aren't buying what he is selling.

[Matt Cotcher]

Lodge v Newsome could be the next Young v McNeal. Different types of receiver, but that won't stop fans from comparing them (esp. if Newsome does live in an orange house).

[beevomav]

I posted this in the recruiting thread, but I will repost over here:

 

 

Sumlin seems to be running a post-O'Bannon program, betting the NCAA's control on amateurism is going to end sooner, as opposed to later. Bring in talented kids who don't have a shot at actually getting a degree and let them take online blowoff classes to stay eligible, ignore failed drug tests and consider the ones who end up in jail as a cost of doing business. If the amateurism rules get tossed, players aren't going to have to worry about classes and are no longer going to be drug tested. The rules Strong is applying seem to be for a team of the past, not of the present or the future.

 

As it stands now, I have the same opinion of most of the decent high school football talent out there and I give the Charlie Strong experiment a stinking D-.

 

I get it he wants to say he cares about the kids and that is why he has the rules he does. Great. He was hired to be the football coach, not a $5 mil/yr guidance counselor. The argument we need to write off the next few seasons and wait until the fall of 2017 to judge the wisdom of hiring Coach Strong (after he has had a year to coach up his 2016 recruit class) isn't going to fly. He can't compete in recruiting, I don't believe in Shawn Watson as the offensive genius and I'm wondering when some one is going to publicly point out to Charlie Strong he seems to be foundering so we can see if he even realizes the situation he seems to be in. 

 

I hope I am pleasantly surprised, but as it stands now, the hiring of Charlie Strong deserves a failing grade and has all the signs of a huge mistake. The recruits aren't buying what he is selling.

 

 

I hope Strong can coach better than he can recruit, because like you said, he has sucked at it to this point. I am with you in leaning toward him being a bad hire. All I see is a lot of arrogance and a lot of tough talk. 

[MBHORNSFAN]

 

 

 

Sumlin seems to be running a post-O'Bannon program, betting the NCAA's control on amateurism is going to end sooner, as opposed to later. Bring in talented kids who don't have a shot at actually getting a degree and let them take online blowoff classes to stay eligible, ignore failed drug tests and consider the ones who end up in jail as a cost of doing business. If the amateurism rules get tossed, players aren't going to have to worry about classes and are no longer going to be drug tested. The rules Strong is applying seem to be for a team of the past, not of the present or the future.

 

As it stands now, I have the same opinion of most of the decent high school football talent out there and I give the Charlie Strong experiment a stinking D-.

 

I get it he wants to say he cares about the kids and that is why he has the rules he does. Great. He was hired to be the football coach, not a $5 mil/yr guidance counselor. The argument we need to write off the next few seasons and wait until the fall of 2017 to judge the wisdom of hiring Coach Strong (after he has had a year to coach up his 2016 recruit class) isn't going to fly. He can't compete in recruiting, I don't believe in Shawn Watson as the offensive genius and I'm wondering when some one is going to publicly point out to Charlie Strong he seems to be foundering so we can see if he even realizes the situation he seems to be in. 

 

I hope I am pleasantly surprised, but as it stands now, the hiring of Charlie Strong deserves a failing grade and has all the signs of a huge mistake. The recruits aren't buying what he is selling.

Now this is not nice. So Negative.

[PropositionJoe]

So lodge doesn't have a shot at getting a degree?

 

That seems presumptuous.

[Randolph Duke]

So lodge doesn't have a shot at getting a degree?

 

That seems presumptuous.

Lol. Yes, but let's not kid ourselves, two things kids aren't going to aggy to do are win championships and get a degree.

 

Sending out the message players could take online classes and not have to worry about sitting in class was a brilliant recruiting move, but I don't think there ever has been or ever will be a kid whose final two choices are Stanford and aggy. The two programs recruit two entirely different types of student athlete. And you aren't going to tell me players like Golden and Claiborne weren't smoking weed during the season. They had to have either failed some drug tests or were purposely not tested. Recruits aren't stupid. They know exactly what type of program Sumlin is running and how it differs from what Charlie Strong is selling and they are choosing Sumlin. And, for the record, Sumlin certainly ignored arrests of athletes when he was U of H. I know that for a fact.

[Lord Vader]

Hes been on the job six months and its time to throw him out?  

[texasdobbs]

Lol... I can see that MB has converted a couple of naysayers. ... To each his own... #TexasStrong

[Lukus Alderman]

So are some of you guys thinking that hiring a guy with shady recruiting tactics would have been better than Strong?

[Randolph Duke]

Hes been on the job six months and its time to throw him out?  

So far the individuals tasked with judging his performance are resoundingly giving him failing grades. That has to be a huge warning signal. He simply isn't connecting with recruits. It isn't as if he is unknown in Texas. Recruits know full well what he did at Louisville and they are resoundingly unimpressed. How is that not a sign he is not succeeding. If he can't impress the players he thinks he needs to run his system, he can't run his system. I beginning to get concerned whether he can even hold the 2015 class together or if he will get hit with a wave of decommits. 

[armadillo slim]

i'm a bit confused by the message you are trying to convey.  in your opinion, should we be recruiting the same kinds of kids that sumlin is recruiting, or should we be recruiting the kinds of kids that stanford is recruiting?

 

he's already a failure in your eyes because he's not recruiting head to head with sumlin?

 

you denigrate the types of kids sumlin is recruiting as the wrong kinds of kids, yet you denigrate strong for not recruiting (or losing out in recruiting) to sumlin for those same kids.

 

i guess without seeing something on the field, i'm not ready to call him a failure quite yet.  there are lots of kids out there to recruit.  stanford seems to be able to recruit pretty well, and then produce on the field with good scholar athletes.  nothing wrong in my eyes with going after those types, but yet we see in the headlines on here and on OB every day how we're "losing" the lodge's of the world.

 

if they're the wrong kinds of kids, then my question is  "so what?"  

 

i'm not arguing.  just trying to understand.

 

 

 

 

[drgilbert]

Way too early to give him a D-. Recruiting is down right now, that was expected. If anybody thought different then they were sadly mistaken. Let the man do his job and then judge the merit of this hire. If he wins the we win the recruiting battle. We can't call our child clumsy because they falter and fall the first time they take a step, let's give this hire time to mature and grow before we start to grade

[Randolph Duke]

 

 

[Randolph Duke]

Way too early to give him a D-. Recruiting is down right now, that was expected. If anybody thought different then they were sadly mistaken. Let the man do his job and then judge the merit of this hire. If he wins the we win the recruiting battle. We can't call our child clumsy because they falter and fall the first time they take a step, let's give this hire time to mature and grow before we start to grade

He isn't a child.he is a $5mil/yr head coach who is supposed to be one of the best in the game and so far none of the top recruits wants to take the risk of trusting their career in his hands.The talented players want nothing to do with him. That is disconcerting. 

[Matt Cotcher]

So far the individuals tasked with judging his performance are resoundingly giving him failing grades. That has to be a huge warning signal. He simply isn't connecting with recruits. It isn't as if he is unknown in Texas. Recruits know full well what he did at Louisville and they are resoundingly unimpressed. How is that not a sign he is not succeeding. If he can't impress the players he thinks he needs to run his system, he can't run his system. I beginning to get concerned whether he can even hold the 2015 class together or if he will get hit with a wave of decommits. 

 

 

Per Lodge himself, he isn't coming to Texas purely because Wyatt wasn't retained. His wasn't a Strong v Sumlin choice whatsoever.

[MBHORNSFAN]

Lol... I can see that MB has converted a couple of naysayers. ... To each his own... #TexasStrong

 

I don't think I have to convert anyone just look at the top 25 player list in Texas and see where they're going. Guess what its not UT 

[drgilbert]

We all figured recruiting would be an uphill battle this year. I still believe that if we win 9-10 games and win our bowl game then recruiting picks up. I also think that if atm has a 6-7 win season and we have that 9-10 win season the recruiting gets better. If the negative publicity of the stansbury case comes out that hurts atm and helps us. I am a positive individual who sees where we can have a whole lot of good things go in our favor. I also understand that things might go against us. We just have to put our faith in Strong and hope he can work his magic here

[Randolph Duke]

i'm a bit confused by the message you are trying to convey.  in your opinion, should we be recruiting the same kinds of kids that sumlin is recruiting, or should we be recruiting the kinds of kids that stanford is recruiting?

 

he's already a failure in your eyes because he's not recruiting head to head with sumlin?

 

you denigrate the types of kids sumlin is recruiting as the wrong kinds of kids, yet you denigrate strong for not recruiting (or losing out in recruiting) to sumlin for those same kids.

 

i guess without seeing something on the field, i'm not ready to call him a failure quite yet.  there are lots of kids out there to recruit.  stanford seems to be able to recruit pretty well, and then produce on the field with good scholar athletes.  nothing wrong in my eyes with going after those types, but yet we see in the headlines on here and on OB every day how we're "losing" the lodge's of the world.

 

if they're the wrong kinds of kids, then my question is  "so what?"  

 

i'm not arguing.  just trying to understand.

Sumlin is offering a clear set of expectations - don't worry about classes, take classes online. Don't worry about drug tests, they aren't an issue. Strong is playing guidance counselor and the kids are choosing the easier route. I get it. A lot of kids can't cut it academically and taking the aggy route is their best choice. But Strong isn't killing it with the kids who actually have the potential to be students and can stay out of jail. We aren't winning recruiting battles with Stanford. We aren't winning recruiting battles with anyone, with the exception of the OG we offered yesterday we are fighting with Louisiana Tech and North Texas to get him to come to UT. My point is, what is Charlie Strong doing that seems to indicate he is succeeding at anything? Baylor is kicking our ass for top instate talent. Aggy is crushing us. 

 

Any kid who is committed to Texas has to be asking himself what all the others see and they missed. I can understand offensive skill positions not wanting to play for Shawn Watson. Personally, I don't even expect Shawn Watson to last the season this fall. He has no business on the UT payroll. But why isn't Charlie Strong killing in on defensive recruits? It seems none of the kids with potential wants to risk playing for Charlie Strong. 

[Randolph Duke]

So are some of you guys thinking that hiring a guy with shady recruiting tactics would have been better than Strong?

You don't have to have shady recruiting tactics if you can sell the recruits on your system and convince them you give them a good shot at playing at the next level. What Charlie Strong is selling to the top players is getting rejected almost every time. None of the kids believes Charlie can do what he says he can do. If they believed him, they would sign up to play for him. It's that simple. They aren't buying what he is selling. 

[texasdobbs]

I don't think I have to convert anyone just look at the top 25 player list in Texas and see where they're going. Guess what its not UT

I have seen the list.. however I also looked at the calendar and it says June 19th and the first game is August 30 and signing day is February 2015...

[J.B. TexasEx]

Any kid who is committed to Texas has to be asking himself what all the others see and they missed. I can understand offensive skill positions not wanting to play for Shawn Watson. Personally, I don't even expect Shawn Watson to last the season this fall. He has no business on the UT payroll. But why isn't Charlie Strong killing in on defensive recruits? It seems none of the kids with potential wants to risk playing for Charlie Strong. 

 

 

Agree with your concerns about Shawn Watson and his offense.  It doesn't appear to have an identity yet and will be very dependent on David Ash's health.  Could be a major problem unless Jerrod Heard is a world-beater as a freshman.

 

I did like what I saw on defense, though.  

[Sejjr]

Could not disagree more with this thread. It reeks of paranoia and ignorance. Charlie Strong is doing just fine so far in recruiting, and to say that he deserves a D- right now is just ridiculous. As has been the case for months, EVERYTHING depends on what happens on the field this season. Aggy is trading on hype and doing very well in recruiting right now. This is not a new development. They just put 3 first rounders in the NFL and have their name attached to the biggest name in football in Manziel. OF COURSE they are recruiting better today than a Texas team that was idiotically allowed to flounder and fade into irrelevance under Mack Brown. The fact remains, there are months left in this recruiting cycle and this staff is doing as good as anyone could under the current circumstances. Aggy will lose at least 4 games again this year, possibly 5 or 6, and their hype-train will come to a crashing halt. They couldn't even win their division with the best player in their "storied" history. This is as good as it will get for a$m. They are at their pinnacle. I guarantee you that Strong will flip at least 1 or 2 recruits before signing day. November will look VERY different than June.

[SanTexHorn]

I posted this in the recruiting thread, but I will repost over here:

 

 

Sumlin seems to be running a post-O'Bannon program, betting the NCAA's control on amateurism is going to end sooner, as opposed to later. Bring in talented kids who don't have a shot at actually getting a degree and let them take online blowoff classes to stay eligible, ignore failed drug tests and consider the ones who end up in jail as a cost of doing business. If the amateurism rules get tossed, players aren't going to have to worry about classes and are no longer going to be drug tested. The rules Strong is applying seem to be for a team of the past, not of the present or the future.

 

As it stands now, I have the same opinion of most of the decent high school football talent out there and I give the Charlie Strong experiment a stinking D-.

 

I get it he wants to say he cares about the kids and that is why he has the rules he does. Great. He was hired to be the football coach, not a $5 mil/yr guidance counselor. The argument we need to write off the next few seasons and wait until the fall of 2017 to judge the wisdom of hiring Coach Strong (after he has had a year to coach up his 2016 recruit class) isn't going to fly. He can't compete in recruiting, I don't believe in Shawn Watson as the offensive genius and I'm wondering when some one is going to publicly point out to Charlie Strong he seems to be foundering so we can see if he even realizes the situation he seems to be in. 

 

I hope I am pleasantly surprised, but as it stands now, the hiring of Charlie Strong deserves a failing grade and has all the signs of a huge mistake. The recruits aren't buying what he is selling.

 

Damn, give the man a chance to coach a game or 3 before crucifying him!  Strong's recruiting has not been exceptional, but it is no worse than Mack Brown did over the last 3-4 years. Mack got the 4 & 5 star players, but many of them did not fit the offense Texas was running.  How many times over the last 5-6 years have you heard people bitching that Texas has not been developing the talent they had?  Strong had 2 & 3 star talent for the most part at Louisville, and they would have kicked the shit out of Texas last year.  Coach Strong wasn't my first choice as the HC at Texas, but he deserves at least a full season to show what he can do.  My guess is Texas will be a much better team than they were last year or the start of this year.