New UT Coach Strong deemphasizes recruiting services and stars

Harry · January 7, 2014

Strong, 53, becomes the first African-American coach to oversee a men’s sports program at Texas. His first order of business, Strong said is to build a program based on “physical and mental toughness,” with minimal focus on recruiting services’ rankings of prospects.

“Let’s not get caught up in the 5-stars. Let’s not get caught up in the 4-stars. Let’s get caught up in the football players,” said Strong, whose predecessor earned the nickname “Coach February” for his heralded recruiting hauls but struggled in recent years to translate that to on-field success. Texas finished 30-21 in Brown’s last four seasons and did not win as much as a Big 12 title in that stretch after claiming a BCS national title in 2005 and competing for another in 2009.

Read more: http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/01/06/5463680/strong-says-family-and-accountability.html

emmitt01 · January 7, 2014

If I was faed with the class that aTm has put together I'd downplay recruiting rankings too.

UNTLifer · January 7, 2014

He has a football plan.

GrayEagle · January 9, 2014

I think that he should take all 2-stars and make all-conference players out of them. We all know of their success. Problem is...if UT wants them they will immediately become 3 star players.

emmitt01 · January 10, 2014

Considering his highest rated DT commit just decommitted and is now going to aTm I would REALLY de-emphasize recruiting rankings if I were him.

outoftown · January 10, 2014

If I was faed with the class that aTm has put together I'd downplay recruiting rankings too.

But he isn't. He won't have to play aTm.

emmitt01 · January 10, 2014

But he isn't. He won't have to play aTm.

You don't have to play them to have their recruiting dominance stare you in the face. "Little brother" plays in a better conference, shares the state with you and is riding a wave of momentum right now. You can argue ad nauseum that it's cyclical and that UT is still UT, but that doesn't change the here and now.

Eagle1855 · January 10, 2014

Of course, if this were any other coach at any other school decrying the star system, everyone on this board would be hoisting him up on their shoulders and throwing him a pizza party.

Graddean · January 10, 2014

The star system hasn't worked that well in the past several years at Austin. Just read the words without knowing who said it, and it sounds a lot like a coach that just us to 9-4 with a bowl victory.

UNTLifer · January 10, 2014

The star system hasn't really worked that well for us either. I agree with what Strong is stating.

LongJim · January 10, 2014

You don't have to play them to have their recruiting dominance stare you in the face. "Little brother" plays in a better conference, shares the state with you and is riding a wave of momentum right now. You can argue ad nauseum that it's cyclical and that UT is still UT, but that doesn't change the here and now.

aTm has some recruiting momentum for sure. I'm sure Sumlin has them on the right track. After all, he led them to fourth in the division and a Chick-fil-A berth with a Heisman trophy winner and Sherman's offensive line, and somehow parlayed that momentum into a contract extension.

They didn't really do much against the big dogs in their conference this year--had pretty much the same record aTm chugged in with yearly in the Big 12. But, they beat Bama last year in Tuscaloosa, so there's that.

He'll need some defensive help to keep that "momentum" going. No question JFF has been a boon for them $-wise, and the facetime they get from playing the SEC has helped them, and probably will continue to do so. They are killing it in recruiting right now for sure.

emmitt01 · January 10, 2014

All the -1's let me know that Wal-Mart is still doing good business.

Edited January 10, 2014 by emmitt01

BillySee58 · January 10, 2014

All the -1's let me know that Wal-Mart is still doing good business.

It has come out of people on this board very strongly since the hire (no pun intended. Seriously). Edited January 10, 2014 by BillySee58

GrayEagle · January 11, 2014

Hey, if the star system doesn't work for us, or UT, then why don't A&M, Alabama, etc. just abandon it?

The fact is it does work. Would we rather have all 4-stars or 2-stars/non-rated? What has Mack Brown's record been using the star system?

This is merely a face-saving move by Strong (who seemed to try to get the highest-rated athletes at Louisville and will return to when he is competitive).

There are obvious exceptions but if the star/ratings system didn't work overall it would be abandoned.

outoftown · January 12, 2014

Hey, if the star system doesn't work for us, or UT, then why don't A&M, Alabama, etc. just abandon it?
The fact is it does work. Would we rather have all 4-stars or 2-stars/non-rated? What has Mack Brown's record been using the star system?
This is merely a face-saving move by Strong (who seemed to try to get the highest-rated athletes at Louisville and will return to when he is competitive).
There are obvious exceptions but if the star/ratings system didn't work overall it would be abandoned.

Well the scouting services can't always be wrong. They are right more often than they are wrong.... that said they are still wrong pretty often and more often than necessary, because there is clear bias for big universities and for things that are easily measurable there.

A star rating really does not tell you anything about how a player will fit into a university/team and what he will bring to the table that is lacking there neither does it say much about mental toughness etc. So of course a sstar rating for teams overall will correlate with success. But that has more to do with the teams getting the high stars also being the ones who "pick first" than with what great assessement the scouting services give. The measurables that they assess still correlate with what teams will pick, but there are coaching staffs out there, that clearly and consistently outperform the scouting services in their player assessments, and I think it has to do with timing (the scouting services make their assesments early and then barely adjust them) and because they also take those intanigbles into account.

PlummMeanGreen · January 12, 2014

Yes, it's the Tea-Sippers and we open up with the Tea'sips at DKR this August 30'th, but I'm not totally comfortable with how Coach Strong seems to be getting treated down in weird Austin and at other Texas outposts. They didn't expect as much from Mack Brown when first hired as I recall but this seems to have turned in to a "National Championship" or you're fired kind of discussion from some of the UT people. That's nothing but pure-D crap from some of those highly expectant fans before a coach even has his Samsonites unpacked.

GMG!

Edited January 12, 2014 by PlummMeanGreen