Come Together Behind Charlie Strong

The Forrest Four-Cast: November 14, 2016

For so many reasons and on so many levels, I’m not yet ready to advocate that we unify behind our new president Donald Trump. I will, however, push for University of Texas football fans to come together in support of head coach Charlie Strong.

The team’s current 5–5 record certainly doesn’t meet UT’s expectations for excellence. But, most of the key players on this team are extremely young and will develop more fully in the 2017 season. The squad has made considerable improvement in recent weeks and they are now a pretty salty home team — the November 12 hard-fought defeat to West Virginia was their first loss at DKR Stadium the season. If you give this coaching staff (and these young players) another year of experience, then the home game performance level will begin to transition to the road.

Speaking of transitions, a new coaching staff means enduring significant upheaval for at least another year. The team, the school and the community don’t need that kind of volatility right now, particularly given how many people feel so passionately about the good work that Coach Strong is doing in Austin.

Of course, the survival of this leader also depends on his team winning his last two games — against Kansas on the road and against TCU at home. If Coach Strong finds a way to finish the season at 7–5, then his tenure in Austin should continue.