Firing Charlie Strong Won't Solve All of the Texas Longhorns' Problems

Oh, what a difference two months can make. Remember the first game of the season? When Texas, led by true freshman quarterback Shane Buechele, showed life on offense and beat supposed national-title contender Notre Dame?

Well, those days are long gone. The Longhorns fell to 3-4 today, following a loss to very mediocre Kansas State, in which the offense was stifled for much of the game. And ultimately, it could be the end of the Charlie Strong era in Austin, especially with so many good coaches on the market. Things are not going well, and it's a bad sign when Texas' interim athletic director says:

Mike Perrin surrounded by reporters, says "No comment."
— Mike Finger (@mikefinger) October 22, 2016

Texas has now lost four straight to Kansas State in Manhattan, Kansas. That should never happen. That's one of the richest power conference programs against one of the poorest. In all likelihood, Strong will be gone by the end of this season; the only question is when. But the bigger questions are: what the hell is wrong with this program, and what needs to change other than Strong's departure?

By all accounts, Strong is a good coach. He was a great defensive coordinator at Florida, and he excelled as a recruiter and a coach at Louisville. He's recruited fairly well at Texas, too, especially in the past year. But the Longhorns simply can't seem to put it together. Perhaps they would if Strong was given more time—after all, Buechele is just a true freshman, and the defense is loaded with talent—but so far, nothing about the Longhorns has inspired confidence.

Strong didn't suddenly become a bad coach, but his talent hasn't delivered on defense, and the offense has been, at best, disjointed. He deserves some blame, but not all of it. Perhaps the issue at Texas is all of the outside noise that the Longhorns just can't seem to fight through.

Players are supposed to continue to get better in their younger years, but they're told they need to produce immediately to save their coach's job. Strong is supposed to recruit, and stay relaxed while coaching, while hearing things like this, from top Longhorns booster Red McCombs?

"Don't tell me you can't fire someone in the middle of the season," McCombs said earlier this October. "But if they decide it's over, it doesn't do anybody any good to drag it out."

Hell, how was Strong supposed to get settled in from the beginning, when—despite being one of the best coaches in the country—his hire was described as a "kick in the face" by McCombs.

"I think the whole thing is a bit sideways," McCombs said at the time. "I don't have any doubt that Charlie is a fine coach. I think he would make a great position coach, maybe a coordinator.

"But I don't believe [he belongs at] what should be one of the three most powerful university programs in the world right now at UT-Austin. I don't think it adds up."

Texas is a sleeping giant. We know this because of the money the Longhorns have, and because they've been a true giant before. But the question is whether this version of Texas, with so many competing interests, can stop getting in its own way.

Because really, we have no idea who runs Texas football. Is it Strong, the actual coach of the team? Is it the school president? Is it the (interim) athletic director? Is it the boosters? The answer to all of those questions together seems to be "yes." And nobody seems likely to get on board with the other group. All the while, the team can't put together any staff continuity—and recruiting has suffered, leading to a drought that could stretch to a decade.

There's no use debating whether Texas should fire Strong. It's happening, one way or the other. The real question is, even if the Longhorns hire a superstar coach, how long it will take to get back to national relevance. With a mishmash of people trying to take power, and no party willing to trust the other, even a team with this much money and this much brand power can't be good.

Whenever the Longhorns decide to pull the trigger, they better make sure they're all on the same page. As it stands, seven years of turmoil has proven that there are too many contentious cooks in their kitchen.