Charlie Strong, already under immense pressure, coached his Texas Longhorns to a loss Saturday against Kansas. They blew a 21-10 fourth-quarter lead, turned the ball over six times and ended up losing 24-21 in overtime.
This is likely the end of Strong’s tenure at Texas, and even he seems to know it.
The most painful part of the Strong post game presser.
"Do you know what this means for your future?" pic.twitter.com/MRNuTko8au
— Casey Keirnan (@CaseyKeirnan) November 20, 2016
Obviously disappointed, Strong has no doubt heard the reports that Texas boosters are exerting “extreme pressure” on the program to fire him and bring in Houston coach Tom Herman.
Losing to Kansas, a team that hasn’t won a Big 12 game since November of 2014, is likely the final straw for Strong, who has been embattled most of the year.
Texas losing to Kansas is great for Longhorns because Charlie Strong’s firing is a totally done deal now & there’s zero disagreement.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) November 20, 2016
Athletic director Mike Perrin has been extremely supportive of Strong throughout most of the season but recently declined to even comment on the coach’s job security (more on that here).
With just one more game to play this year, Texas is staring at a record of 5-6 and absolutely must beat TCU next weekend to even qualify for a bowl game. That’s not the kind of progress the university was looking for when it hired Strong to replace Mack Brown back in 2014.
Even though it will be quite costly to cut Strong loose after the season, we’re expecting the university to make that move, sooner rather than later.