The Texas head coaching search ostensibly began in 2012 with the focus on two names. Charlie Strong wasn’t one of them. Retired Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds and whichever group of entitled billionaires thought they were rich enough to decide who coaches a college football team sat in a room, drank a bit of scotch, and kept saying the words “Nick Saban” and “Art Briles” until they were drunk enough to go eat dinner at Eddie V’s. Saturday one of those coaches is indeed coming to Austin, but not in the way the UT boosters drew it up.
The Longhorns started making eyes at Briles after he beat Texas three years out of four. It had become apparent to everyone in Austin that Mack Brown‘s ship was sinking, and Briles was a coach right up I-35 who served as an offensive mastermind and just happened to know every high school coach in the state. Baylor responded to Texas’ overtures by handing Briles a fat 10-year contract extension that was worth every penny. He got a 50,000-seat stadium built in Waco. These days, a 17-10 victory for Briles means his offense broke down entirely.
Briles and Charlie Strong couldn’t be any more different – as people and as coaches. Strong is blunt and abrasive with the media, while Briles can be eager to glad-hand. They’re polar opposites as far as their football philosophies go, too. Strong is as old-school as they come, believing in a stalwart defense and clock-controlling passing and rushing attack. He’d be fine winning every game 17-10, running a “pro-style” offense.
Briles is a guy who has been too busy redefining what “pro-style” means to worry about how offenses currently work in the NFL. His playbook is a manic coloring book of a neon zoo that feeds its cheetahs Adderall with just a Post-it Note on the last page that says “defense.” He doesn’t care how fast his opponent scores, because his Bears will just score in kind.
Charlie Strong claims that he doesn’t read what the press has to say about his teams, but even he took notice of the fact that Texas is a 16-point home underdog to Briles, the man the Longhorns really wanted. No one is going to work harder this week to prepare his guys than Strong, but a third-string line and backup quarterback means those guys probably still won’t be enough to win.
This article appears in October 3 • 2014.