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When the Texas Longhorns stole then-Louisville head coach Charlie Strong away from the Cardinals, many thought the team was getting a guy who could potentially build a dynasty in Austin. Strong built Louisville into a consistent contender, so imagine what he could do with the resources at Texas, right?
In theory, everything sounded great. But things have not played out as smoothly as many expected, and now some are saying that Strong is a loss away from losing his job.
Some say that his time with the Longhorns has “exposed” him for the poor coach he really is, but I disagree. I loved Strong at Louisville, and thought he’d do a great job at Texas. While that hasn’t happened, I still believe he is among the top coaches in the game. The situation just isn’t right for him in Austin, and if he can put himself in a better spot I believe he can have great success once again.
But, that place is NOT LSU.
Almost as soon as the reports came out that Strong was officially sitting on a very hot seat, the speculation that he would head to Baton Rouge to coach the Tigers began. I get the thought on the surface. He’s the coach at a premier school and has had a lot of success throughout his career, so you can call him a “proven” coach.
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LSU just fired the best coach in program history, so they very much would like to hire a proven commodity. Doing so gives the team a good shot at success, but it also allows the decision makers to wipe their hands clean if it blows up. After all, they did hire a proven coach.
While I feel that this is the type of move the Tigers may make, I do not think Charlie Strong is in anyway the answer for LSU.
All you have to do to get nervous about that potential move is look at his stop in Texas. I know, earlier I said I think he will bounce back from it and become a successful head coach again, but that’s just my thought. There’s nothing really to back that up, and he could just as easily underperform at his next school. He won in Louisville, but when the bright lights of Austin turned on, things got rough.
The biggest reason why I want the LSU Tigers to stay away from Charlie Strong is his basic philosophy as a head coach. Strong is a defense-first coach, one who has lacked the ability to develop an offensive, and more specifically a quarterback, while at Texas. Sounds a lot like Les Miles, doesn’t it?
What LSU needs with this hire is an offensive guy. The offense has been the downfall of this team for years, so they need to have a head coach who can develop players and put them in position to succeed on that side of the ball. Other than when he had Teddy Bridgewater, we really have not seen that from Charlie Strong.
I understand why Strong is being linked to LSU, and, frankly, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he is hired. But with his recent history and similarity to the same philosophy that got us in this mess, it would be a very poor decision to bring him to Baton Rouge.
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