Texas Longhorns

Strong says he wants Horns to be regular presence in H-Town

Published Jun. 4, 2015 11:37 a.m. ET

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Texas coach Charlie Strong keeps hearing how Texas A&M has surpassed the Longhorns in popularity in Houston.

Then there was the ugly bowl loss to Arkansas at Houston's NRG Stadium back in December. And most recently, 2015 Houston-area signee Du'Vonta Lampkin appears to be trying to get out of his commitment to Texas so he can attend Oklahoma. Lampkin is one of four Houston-area players to sign with the Longhorns.

So Houston hasn't exactly been kind to Strong in his first year at Texas. But it won't keep Strong from coming back to H-Town, he told the Houston Chronicle prior to giving a speech to the Touchdown Club of Houston on Wednesday. 

And by coming back, Strong didn't just mean to meet with alumni groups and to recruit. No, Strong says he is in favor of playing an annual game in Houston.

Asked if he was referring to playing Rice or Houston on a more consistent basis, or if he was talking bigger plans such as neutral site game against another school, Strong simply said, "Just anybody."

Clearly, Strong believes regaining ground in Houston, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, is important to his program.

"The last time we were here, things just didn’t go well," Strong told the Chronicle, referring to the 31-7 Texas Bowl loss to Arkansas. "But the thing we would like to do and I know eventually it will happen, is that we come here on a consistent basis. Maybe we can get a game here, because we have so much support here with our fans ... We go to Dallas now, and we'd just like to come here."

Making that happen on an annual basis could be difficult. As Strong said, the Longhorns trek to Dallas each year to face Oklahoma in the Red River Showdown at the Cotton Bowl. Texas athletic director Steve Patterson has talked up playing an international game, perhaps in Mexico City. Recently former Texas coach Mack Brown led a Longhorns contingent to Dubai, perhaps to gauge the possibility of playing a football game a half-a-world away.

There's only so many games in a season, and only so many home dates, and Texas still has its own 100,000-seat stadium to fill on Saturdays, revenue that would seemingly need to be matched to move a scheduled home game to another city. Plus, moving too many games out of town tends to rankle local business owners.

Still, it was good for Strong to push for a stronger presence in Houston. His program could only benefit from it.

(h/t Houston Chronicle)

Photo Credit: David J. Phillip/AP 

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