Strong in limbo in aftermath of Texas’ collapse at Kansas

Strong has steered the overall development of Joe Haden, Carlos Dunlap, Teddy Bridgewater, and a plethora of others.

“Older players are trying to settle things down”, a source told the newspaper, and Strong himself tried to calm the uprising in a news conference Monday. “I don’t know how they will be thinking, but winning that game would help”.

Texas players shot down the speculation that they might boycott the regular-season finale.

Strong’s lackluster record over his three seasons in Austin already had him on thin ice, but it looks like Saturday’s 24-21 road loss to the lowly Kansas Jayhawks was the final nail in his coffin.

Strong said he had spoken after every game with UT President Greg Fenves and with athletic director Mike Perrin.

“I have been told that we will be evaluated at the end of the season”.

For now, Strong is focused on the Longhorns’ final regular-season game against TCU on Friday and the bowl eligibility that would come with a win.

“We’re all frustrated”, said Strong, who shot down a Monday report about a possible player boycott of the TCU game. Then Texas lost three in a row and four out of five, increasing all the chatter that Texas might fire Strong. First on Twitter – where a great number have simply written #Strong – and perhaps more notably on Friday. “We are going to finish as a team and work together and hard to get this win, for the seniors, for a bowl game and for coach Strong”. It was the Jayhawks first win over Texas since 1938.

Texas can still make a bowl game – its first since 2014’s Texas Bowl loss to Arkansas – if it beats visiting TCU on Friday. Actually, let me rephrase that: Texas’ administration knows that Strong is done, but instead of doing something about it, they’d rather pretend like their minds are not made up and embarrass him.

Strong said Monday that he wants to return next season and feels that a young Texas team has a lot of upside.

But where there is smoke, there’s fire – Texas coaches simply don’t survive without winning seasons, especially when they’re punctuated by losses to the Iowa States and Kansases of the world.

Although Strong has two years left on his contract, worth over $10 million, sources told the Statesman that Strong is aware of what’s to come. “I love him, but like I said, that’s not our decision”.

Charlie Strong can keep his job, for now.

Strong was indeed fired on Sunday after the Longhorns lost to a team that they had beaten every time they faced since before the USA made a decision to enter World War II.