Texas fires coach Charlie Strong
Texas has fired head coach Charlie Strong, the school announced on Saturday morning.
Men’s athletic director Mike Perrin issued a statement last Sunday, saying that the school will "evaluate the body of work after the regular season," after SI’s Pete Thamel confirmed that the school had made the decision to fire Strong.
“After thorough evaluation, the body of work over three seasons has not shown the improvement we were looking for,” Perrin said of Strong’s firing in a statement on Saturday.
A report last Saturday, before the Longhorns took on Kansas, said that the school is under “extreme pressure” to replace Strong with Houston’s Tom Herman. According to The Advocate’s Ross Dellenger, Herman, a finalist for the LSU job, informed the Tigers that he was leaning toward taking the job at Texas. After the news of Strong’s firing, Herman was reported to be the Longhorns’s new coach.
The Longhorns finished 5–7 in Strong’s third season after two crushing losses—a 31–9 beatdown by TCU on Friday and a 24–21 overtime loss to the Jayhawks last Saturday, who were 1–9 entering the game.
“I don’t regret coming to Texas,” Strong said on Saturday. “I learned a great deal and grew as a person in my time here.”
Strong was in the third year of a five-year contract. After a 6–7 debut season with a trip to the Texas Bowl, the Longhorns went 5–7 and matched that record this year. He finished at Texas with a record of 16–21.
– Kenny Ducey
