Everyday Holiday: Strong Expected To Accept Texas Head Coaching Job

Saturday, 4 January 2014

Strong Expected To Accept Texas Head Coaching Job - ESPN

Updated: January 4, 2014, 3:41 AM ET

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Strong Expected To Accept Texas Head Coaching Job

Texas has offered its head coaching job to Louisville coach Charlie Strong, and he is expected to accept, according to multiple media reports.

Strong, though, told Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich on Friday night he has not accepted the job, Jurich told ESPN's Brett McMurphy. Strong wants to talk to Jurich and Louisville president James Ramsey on Saturday, another source said. Jurich was in Colorado on Friday night and is expected to return to Louisville on Saturday.

A staff meeting at Louisville is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday, a source told McMurphy.

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AP Photo/Timothy D. EasleyCharlie Strong took over a Louisville program coming off three straight non-winning seasons and has gone 37-15.

A source earlier said that Strong had not been formally offered the Longhorns job but would accept it if he was.

Strong is in his fourth year at Louisville and coming off his second straight double-digit victory season. He took over a program coming off three straight non-winning seasons and has gone 37-15.

Louisville went to the BCS last season and finished 12-1 this season behind star quarterback Teddy Bridgewater.

Earlier Friday, two other coaches Texas reportedly had interest in -- Baylor's Art Briles and UCLA's Jim Mora -- said publicly they were staying in their current jobs.

Texas is looking to replace Mack Brown, who stepped down after four straight seasons that failed to live up to expectations, including this season's 8-5 record. New Texas athletic director Steve Patterson, hired in November to replace longtime AD DeLoss Dodds, interviewed Strong this week.

Strong Defensively

Louisville has had one of the better defenses in the nation under Charlie Strong. Here's a look at the Cardinals' defensive ranks in FBS under the defensive-minded coach from 2010-13:

Strong had two stints as an assistant at Florida, first under Steve Spurrier and then as defensive coordinator for Urban Meyer's two national championship teams. In 2010, Louisville hired him to take over the program and he quickly righted the Cardinals, who are moving into the Atlantic Coast Conference next season.

Strong would be Texas' first black head football coach and he inherits a program aching to return to its place among the nation's elite programs.

Brown's Longhorns won the 2005 season national championship and returned to the national championship game after the 2009 season. But the Longhorns fell to 5-7 in 2010 and have lost at least four games each of the last three seasons.

That drop-off, including an 18-17 mark in the Big 12 in the last four seasons, frustrated Texas fans, who demand much more from the wealthiest athletic program in the country that sits in the middle of the most fertile high school recruiting grounds in the country.

Information from ESPN's Brett McMurphy and The Associated Press was used in this report.