Charlie Strong: Texas players ‘won’t boycott this game’

Texas President Greg Fenves, who has also been supportive of Strong this season, was silent on the coach’s future Sunday.

Matthew Wyman may have booted Charlie Strong right out of Texas. It would seem the loss to Kansas – something that hasn’t happened since 1938 – was the killshot for Strong’s tenure in Austin.

“Next year, I want to come back”, Strong said. “That takes time. I’d just say bear with us and have a little more patience”.

“They will not boycott this game”, he said. “This game is about the seniors”.

The Longhorns are 5-6 and Strong is 16-20 in his three seasons at Texas. If he ends up being fired I think all of us can say, based on the results, you can see why the University made that decision. “I told our players, we’re sitting there Saturday morning and we do a team walk and one of the players walked up to me and said coach you need to address the team”, Strong said.

Despite the rumors that he will be fired, Strong insisted that decision hasn’t been made. First on Twitter – where a great number have simply written #Strong – and perhaps more notably on Friday.

News reports earlier Monday claimed that several players were considering a boycott of Friday’s game if Strong was sacked. Texas (5-6, 3-5 Big 12) held an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter. After the Longhorns lost to Kansas on Saturday, Strong was at a loss for words and it was clear the writing was on the wall.

“In my heart and my spirit, I want him to be here. I’m just not sure that’s something they can admit publicly”. With all due respect to such players as Paul Boyette, Jr. who tearfully voiced his support for Strong to reporters Monday, he was brought in here to win, first and foremost.

But, he said, leading young men is important, too. That can be a tricky situation especially when you have a team as young as the Longhorns are. Strong has been described as a “player’s coach”, and it looks like that is a fitting title.

Strong emphasized his desire to win the game for the team’s seniors. The Jayhawks may be just 2-9, but the team has shown a huge improvement over the 0-12 season it put together previous year, which was Beaty’s first in Lawrence.

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.

“He doesn’t have the support, I guess, of some of the people who are trying to get him out”, Warrick said.