Texas athletics director Steve Patterson and University President Bill Powers introduced Charlie Strong as the new head football coach today. Both Powers and Patterson spoke on why they chose Strong before handing the floor over to the new head coach. Strong made a statement about becoming the head coach and then two questions from the media. Below are some of the highlights of the press conference.
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Charlie started his comments with a joke. “I was hoping when I brought this cold weather with me, that it would block out a lot of the media coming today, but I see that didn’t work.”
Initial statements –
“Thank you for your patience. It was very important for me to meet with University of Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich, and to tell him I was leaving. He gave me my first opportunity four years ago and I wanted to pay respect to him and leave the right way. I cannot thank the local community [in Louisville] enough for their unwavering loyalty to our football program. and helping that football program go 23 and three in the last two years. As well as off the field it was shown on the field, and you cannot realize the impact that the university and the city had on the program.”
“I am so thrilled and fortunate to be the head coach here at the University of Texas, to continue the tradition built by so many great coaches, including coach Royal and coach Brown. I can’t wait to get started because at the University of Texas I’m going to make sure that we represent the tradition and the history of this great program.”
“We will work like it’s fourth-and-one or fourth-and-inches –more than that– and just make sure that our Texas-exes are so happy with the product that we put on the field. A program that has won four national titles. It’s time to put the program back on national stage.
“Coach Royal is an icon and the work he did in this business. I am so privileged to have an opportunity to follow in his footsteps… his wife is in the audience today… and I’m so happy she is still a part of this program.”
“Coach Brown has been a leader and he’s set a great example for all coaches. He’s a man of great integrity. A man of great success. A man of great character. Coach Brown and I spoke last night and I told him I want to continue the tradition that he has built here. And I told him he will always be a part of this program, he’s always welcome into this program.
“Nationally the Texas high school coaches are king. My staff and I will be committed to closing the borders to this great state and making them realize that this is their program. We will recruit with fire and we will recruit with passion. We are devoted to making Austin the state capital of college football as well as the state capital of this state. I want to thank the great high school coaches in this state. It will be an honor to represent them and represent this great university.
“I will ask the Longhorn football team to believe and trust in one another. We’re going to create a family atmosphere here. We will be a program that has the right attitude. We will have the right commitment, and we will be a program that is built on accountability and responsibility. It will be a program that will represent this great university but it will also represent the great national stage.
“We will strive for excellence on and off the field. It’s never about me, it always about the young men. I want to make sure it’s all about building them and making sure they represent this university the right way. I’m so happy and proud. Hook’em.”
The full video of the Press Conference can be viewed here.
Responses to questions –
On the Texas job coming open.
“This is the best of the best. It’s the one percent of one percent. This is the top of the line. And I said when you have the opportunity to go to the best you have to put your name in it, and just see where it’s going to take you.”
On meeting with the players for the first time.
“The first time I meet with the players I want them to understand that I’m here because I want to be here and I want to be here for them, and I want to see them grow and develop on and off the field. We’re going to have a chance to have that team meeting, and have a chance to sit down with each one of them. And I’m going to meet with each one of them individually, so that they will understand what my goals are, and I want to hear what their goals are. Really ‘’why are you here? What’s your value? Why do you want to be about?”
On the difference between Louisville and Texas, and the pressures.
“When I think about that job, I think about all the great coaches that I had an opportunity to work for that prepared me for the University of Louisville. Being at Florida with Steve Spurrier, being with Ron Zook, being with Urban Meyer, being at Notre Dame with Lou Holtz, being at South Carolina with Lou Holtz. I had an opportunity to work with so many great coaches. So when I walked into that job at Louisville it didn’t intimidate me at all because they had prepared me for that moment. And now coming here, I know it’s a larger stage, but let me say this, at the end of the day it’s all about winning, it’s all about developing young people and it’s all about doing things the right way.”
On the condition of the program.
“I think coach Brown left this program in great condition for me.”
On recruiting in Texas
“Texas is where the hotbed of recruiting is. It’s where all the really great high school players come out of because there are great coaches here, and the coaches here do an unbelievable job. That’s why the door here will always be open to these high school coaches and I want them to be here and be a part of it. Because this is their team. I want them to understand that the university of Texas, wherever we are, we’re representing this state, and this country, but we’re also representing those high school coaches.”
On the legacy the past players and coaches have built at Texas.
“They laid the foundation for this program…The bricks are there, I just need to put another brick on top of it.”
On reviving the Texas vs. Texas A&M rivalry.
“You would love to… But it’s so hard now with the different conferences.”
On how his father influenced him
“He coached for over thirty years in [Arkansas]. The values that he instilled in his players are the values I am able to instill within my players because I had a chance to follow him and see how well he conducted himself.”
On how the college football landscape has changed in the past five years.
“It’s has changed dramatically. College football is changing, and everyone is welcoming change. People are given opportunities. I look at the opportunity Tom Jurich and Dr. Ramsay gave me at the University of Louisville, and I will forever be indebted to that university and that community. We had to go prove ourselves and we were able to prove ourselves… it has changed and it will continue to change.
“A lot of times people look at you just being a minority. I’m just a football coach. I’m a football coach directing young people’s lives, and I just want to change their lives. That’s the only thing I’m looking to do.”
On what his offense might look like
“You want an up-tempo offense, an offense that is very aggressive, an offense that can score points, and you’d like to see a wide open offense. But it still comes down to physical toughness, can you go run the football? The ball will get thrown around, but at the end of the day you have to line up and run ball. And that’s going to be built just with the toughness that within the program.”
On this being a historic day, and being the first African-American head coach at the University of Texas.
“It means a lot to me, and not only for this state, but across the country. Floyd Keith used to be the director of the black coaches association and he said to me then ‘ what you need to think about is all the african american coaches that you are representing right now, that did not get the chance that you’re getting.’ And that’s all that needed to be said because when you think about it, yes this is a historical day. It was a historical day when the President was named the President of the United States. So people are willing to work for you. There is always going to be a first somewhere, so this had to be the first. And whenever there is a first we’re going to make it good, we’re going to work to do what we have to do and we’re going to work to make it better. But I don’t ever want to look at it as a first, I just want to look at as I’m a coach and that’s the way I want to be treated.”
On the imprint he wants to leave here.
“Just continue to build on the tradition. Continue to lay that rock and it’s all about championships at the end. What I want the players to understand is number one you’re here to graduate. You’re here to get your degree. When you get a degree you will always have options in your life. Number Two, let’s go win football games, let’s go win championships. And number three I want to make sure that when they leave here they are better people than they were when they came into this university.”
On possibly not being Texas’ first choice for head coach
“I could have been the 15th choice and I’m so happy to be the head football coach here. 20, 15 it doesn’t matter, whatever choice I was I’m the head football coach. I don’t know where I sit or where I was, but I’m happy to be here.”
On what the hallmarks of a Charlie Strong football team will look like
“We will be a hard nosed team. We will be very exciting to watch, and for our fans I think they are going to be very please with what they are going to see.”
On evaluating high school players and star rankings.
“Let’s not get caught up in the five stars, let’s not get caught up in four stars, let’s get caught up in football players…Marcus Smith was a three star quarterback in high school. He comes to Louisville, and he was 6’3” 210 lbs.. Now he’s got a chance to be a first round draft pick at defensive end and had 14.5 sacks. When I was at the university of Florida, Tim Tebow, Persey Harvin, Brandon Spikes, that class of guys, we sacked 25 guys in that class. I think within that class of 25 guys we had five to seven five-stars, the rest were all fours. But when that class walked across four years later there were only 10 of them left, because of transfers or whatever happened. What happens a lot of times in major programs is we get so caught up in the stars. Just go be a football player…A lot of times I can be recruiting a three-star, if I go in there and start recruiting him he turns into a four-star overnight. So what happened? Because we came in and offered him? He was a three star yesterday and then all of the sudden he turned into a four. Teddy Bridgewater was a five-star when he committed to Miami, LSU wanted him he was still a five-star, he commits to Louisville he drops to a four. Seriously? And look at him now, he’s still the best quarterback in the country.”
Closing Remarks
“It’s been great, and I look forward to working with you. It’s going to be a fun ride, and I just can’t wait to get started. I am extremely happy and very proud to be the head coach here at the University of Texas. Hook’em.”
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