The Texas Longhorns are in bad shape this season after being utterly embarrassed in their season-opening 38-3 loss to Notre Dame.
Charlie Strong has already made a major change to his coaching staff in response to the defeat, as he stripped Shawn Watson of play-calling duties and handed them to Jay Norvell. This is Strong’s second season on the job since taking over the program from Mack Brown, and Brown claims no responsibility for the state of the program.
Brown, now an analyst with ESPN, was quoted by the San Antonio Express-News’ Tim Griffin as saying he really does not feel responsibility for the current state of the program.
From that @TimGriffinBig12 story about Mack. Interesting…. pic.twitter.com/n0prHav0GE
— Mike Finger (@mikefinger) September 9, 2015
Brown is right; Strong made a lot of changes upon taking over the program and went 6-7 in his first season. He is making it his own and has taken great steps in recruiting. If Strong gets credit for that, he should also own criticism for the way the program currently looks.
While Strong went 6-7 after Brown went 8-5 in his final year, Brown went 9-3 after John Mackovic was fired for going 4-7. Brown really has a better claim than Strong in both situations, so he is right in a way. But Brown let the program slip under his watch, which is why he was pushed out of the job. And if Strong doesn’t turn things around quickly, he may too be out of a job soon.
