The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
11.17.2014 | Football
Head coach Charlie Strong met with the media Monday morning
Head coach Charlie Strong met with the media Monday morning. Strong reviewed the win over Oklahoma State, talked recruiting and the team's plans for its bye week. Texas is off this Saturday before playing its regular season finale vs. TCU at 6:30 p.m. on Thanksgiving. Below is a full transcript from Strong's availability.
Opening statement: Really, an outstanding win on Saturday night. It was great to see how the team came out and competed - didn't worry about the weather or anything else. They just wanted to make sure they got a great performance in. You look at us on offense, we take the ball, we go score. We take it in, and we go score. I think we may have missed a field goal and then we go field goal, then field goal. On defense, we came out and made them punt the ball. We played very physical. We had to make it a physical game. That's what we've been doing the last few weeks.
I talk about it all the time. I talk about our offensive line, trying to squeeze every ounce out of it, and it continues to get better and better. Someone asked me, what did you see that changed? It's all about trust, and it's all about confidence now. On defense, we're playing with a lot of confidence. Guys feel like they can go out and go stop people. And then offensively, you just start gaining their trust. In the beginning, you didn't see that because the running backs weren't running as hard as they could run. They didn't trust the offensive line. The new quarterback didn't know if he could really make the throws, and now our receiving crew has come on with John Harris. He may be 24 yards away from 1,000 yards. You think about how far he's come. I think up until that point, he had only 190 yards his whole career here, and two of them were Hail Mary passes. I said, that just counts off for 100 yards, so you only had 90 - so just to now see him go out and compete.
And [Jaxon] Shipley, Mr. Reliable, and the catch that Marcus [Johnson] made, and you watch us throw the ball to the young freshman Armanti Foreman. It's great to see this team continue to get better, and we know this: we've got a big one coming up here on Thanksgiving Day, and we're going to have to play really well to beat that team because it's an outstanding football team. I'm just very pleased with how we played this past week.
On if he has interest in the head coaching position at Florida: I have a great job here, and I say this, we have a lot of work to get done here. I'm not very pleased with where we are right now. I look at our record and know we could have been a lot better, and there is still a lot of work to get done here.
On the foundation the seniors have laid for the future of the program: I was upset after that Kansas State game, and I didn't feel like we went out and competed well. I said at some point someone's going to have to take over and develop ownership in this program. Who is it going to be? It's up to the senior class and that group of guys was where it had to come from. I think they were upset. When we got back, I think they had some meetings and talked it over. You always talk about with teams - it always has to change within your senior class, because whenever you bring in a new coaching staff, the younger players are going to feel like, I'm going to be here for a while, and so I can hear this coach and hear what he's got to say. Then the senior class is the one that you have to get to buy into what you're trying to get accomplished, because they play the most football, which we have done with this group we have. Now you look at the way [Quandre] Diggs has come on. You look at [John] Harris, you look at [Jaxon] Shipley, you look at Ced[ric] Reed. You look at [Geoff] Swaim and you look at Malcolm [Brown] – these guys who have really put a lot into the program. They've had some really good moments this past season. I just can't say enough about how much they bought into the program. You can always tell when a player buys into it, just the message that you send, and they repeat your message. Now you feel like hey, now we've got them headed in the right direction.
On winning contributing to production and confidence: Winning solves a lot of problems for [the team], and you do develop trust. You win games and guys start believing in the system and what you're trying to get accomplished. Winning these last three has really helped us. Even though you're playing well, you look at just - you go back to that Oklahoma game and how close we were. You look at Baylor - we get the ball down here and we fumble it. It could have been 7-7 going into the half. Second half who knows how we would have played if we could have just gotten those points. You hate to look back, but you think about those moments a lot. But winning helps it, and it gets you going. It does build confidence in the players.
On the possibility of playing Texas A&M in a bowl game: I'm just worrying about TCU, and whoever we play in the bowl game, we'll be happy. It's just all about TCU right now.
On if the season had gone 5-7: I don't want to think about it. I mean, we almost got there. I'm like, wow, you're sitting there at 2-4 and 3-5, and I'm like who do we have left on the schedule that we can beat? With the talent we had, I kept saying we were better than a 2-4 team. We were better than a 3-5 team. The talent was within the program, and I just didn't think we did a really good job of coaching or putting the guys in position where they really needed to be. I told our coaching staff, we're sitting here at 3-5, and we should not be pleased with where we are. I said at The University of Texas that should never happen. Our record of going out and getting five losses, we're not comfortable with that at all. That will never happen within this program again. But 5-7 would have been a disaster, yes.
On the impact the senior class has had on younger teammates: You look at the senior class and they've been through a lot. They've seen a lot happen. I said before the season I'd love to see us get a double-digit winning season because they have not experienced one. For them to put the work in and put their trust within their coaches and then all of a sudden they start turning around, and you're right, young guys start following just because of the way they were working. I look at [Quandre] Diggs, and he is a very vocal leader. He's going to say what's on his mind. Young players see he speaks but also he plays. I think the young players see that coming out, just how he leads. Then you take a guy like [Jaxon] Shipley, he doesn't say much at all, but then they watch how hard he works, and watch him catch balls and make the big catches. He's Mr. Reliable, and he does everything that you ask him to do. You look at a guy like John Harris. There are so many examples and so many models for them to look at, because you look at a guy like John Harris who had not done anything until his senior year, and now he goes out and competes, and you love watching him play. Malcolm [Brown] doesn't say much, but a lot of them just lead by how they play. But you have a few who love to talk and they'll say it. It's just been a fun class to watch in how they all of a sudden put it together. They want to leave out of here the right way, which they should. The foundation was laid for this program a long time ago, and it's only for them to build upon it.
On the team's previous entitlement and now having a new appreciation for winning: I think that happens a lot of times when you go into a big-time program. What happened because of the foundations that are laid and the past, a lot of guys feel when they walk in, it's automatically going to happen for them. I don't have to put the work in, but you really have to put the work in. I think this season has been a great example for a lot of these players, but also for the younger players who are going to come behind. Now they realize it's all about the work that we put into it. They realize now that we're always going to get the team's best game, whomever we play. When we go rolling into anywhere we go rolling into, we're going to get their best. It's why we play so well on the road, because we walk into stadiums and they're getting booed. And I tell them all the time, the only people we have is us right here. They can't come out of the stands. The only thing that can happen is right here on this playing field, so let's get it done here. It's been a great experience for them.
On having a bye week: We need some time off. We only have one (game) left, so that's where we're going to pour it all in, that one. It'll give them a couple days off to rejuvenate, catch their breath. We come back on Wednesday, and we'll go to work on Wednesday. We don't play until the following Thursday, but we're going to work all the way up until then.
On his coaching staff: What's been great with the staff is that we've been through the ups and downs. It's all about when you put a staff together, just trying to learn someone's personality and really what they're all about, too, like you're doing with the players. You find out in tough times how much work a guy's willing to put into it and how much work he's going to require. I tell our coaching staff all the time, "We're no different than the players. You can't ever question who you are and what we're about. Just make sure that we continue to get better and make this program better. Y'all are good coaches." I tell them they're like the players. A lot of them want to check Twitter and get on there, and then you keep on hearing what they're saying about you, you may not like it. It's best you get off of it and just make sure you take all your time and energy and just set it and put it to the T.
On recruiting in Texas: There's only a few guys left that have not committed that we're still targeting. They're still sitting there waiting. I don't know if they're waiting to see. I think a lot of them have their mind made up, they just won't say where they're going to go to school. We'll continue to recruit them hard and see if we can get the right ones in here to change this program - not so much change it, but just add to it. It's here, and we need more players to come and jump on board and help us get it back to where we need to get it back to.
On Jordan Shipley's legacy and what Jaxon has meant to the program, following his older brother: I had a chance to watch Jordan and then Jaxon. I asked [Jaxon], who is the better athlete, you or your brother? He's always going to say he was. He says, "Coach, I did more. I was a quarterback. I did all these different things." When you talk about it and you look at trying to compare the two, you see a lot of similarities. What I always say with Jaxon is that he doesn't say much at all. He's out running the reverses for a touchdown or going deep. He gets the ball in his hands, and he can make a guy miss. That's why I always call him Mr. Reliable, because whenever we need the short throw or the first down or a guy to go back and catch the punt, he's my guy. I tell him all the time, I know we may have a guy out here who thinks he can have a guy miss or take it 50 or 60, I know that, but I want the ball caught. I know I'm going to get it caught. I know that. We're not going to lose field position. If he needs to make a guy miss, he can take it and go do those things. It's been fun to watch him. He doesn't say much. He just lets his actions speak for themselves.
On the length of time it took the team to find its identity: I think it was there, but it was all about a trust factor and a confidence factor. You look at it, and you start off and get to the first game and we lose our quarterback and then our center goes down. There are two people right there in the middle of your team that are very important, your quarterback and your center. Then you go to the next game and you lose Tank [Desmond Jackson].
The biggest loss for us was [Dominic] Espinosa on the offensive line, because with the center making all the checks, a veteran guy who has been there and seen it all, he can really help the younger players. Anytime something would go bad, he was always there where he could get it straight for you. Then all of a sudden, we're moving in that position, and you already have a young offensive line, so now you're sitting there saying okay, how are we going to piece this thing together? Now you go [Jake] Raulerson, then you go Taylor [Doyle] at center. It took those guys to get two or three games under their belt for everyone else to start trusting. The running backs, they were running, but they really didn't trust. Is that guy really going to block him for me? You're looking at a very young, inexperienced offensive line. Now you have an inexperienced quarterback that goes with it. Can he make the throws? Can he make the right checks? Can he get us in the right place? Can the receivers really trust him to put the ball where it needs to be put? There was just so much going on. Then you start winning, and the confidence starts coming. Then you get into a game like Oklahoma, and they're able to move the football. You bounce back against Iowa State, and they're able to move the ball. Then you start building, building, building. It took not so much these last three games, but I just think the whole process started with those previous games also where it's just a buildup, buildup, buildup. Then defensively we started playing, and then they started feeding off of one another.
On if he ever lost confidence in his position: No, I never thought I had more than I could chew. You're dealing with young people. It doesn't matter how big the program is, you're dealing with young people. When you get young people to trust in you and they believe what the mission is - it's all about that. You've got to get them to trust and believe in you. When that happens, your program takes off and gets where it needs to get to.
On having fear about not making a bowl game: I did. We were at 2-4, and 3-5 and looked at the schedule, and I said you know what, we're just too talented. I said to our coaching staff, we weren't coaching hard enough. There's got to be a reason why we're not having success because the talent is here. Coach [Mack] Brown left us some really outstanding players. It was all about us getting connected with the seniors because that is a group of guys you have to get connected with. We have some seniors playing well, we have some that are not. But we have to get them all to start playing well and buy into it.
On the Big 12 being an offensive league and if Texas is an exception: What you do is you look at all the points that were put up, and you'll notice there are very explosive offenses in this league and they score a lot of points. Now anything with TCU, they've had a run of five games of 50 points or more. You look at it, and they are very explosive – a lot of playmakers. They get the ball in the playmakers' hands, and they just score. I just felt like we had to play defense, and that is the only way you're going to win. You have to play defense. We've done a really good job up until this point playing good defense. But offensively, for us, we are going to be very balanced with the run and pass. A lot of times those teams, those up-tempo teams, score quickly, and then you don't give your defense a chance to rest. Then they're back on the field and they score again, and they're back on the field. You've got to allow your defense a chance to rest. Just try to keep the game close and play the game out. If you keep it close enough, then at the end, the most physical team is going to end up winning the game.
On Armanti Foreman: Yes, what we did with [Armanti] Foreman is he made an unbelievable catch on the one Tyrone [Swoopes] laid out. It looked like he hit another gear and went and got the ball, which was really a big catch. We put him back on kickoff return because he's a guy that can make people miss, and you like to get him. The thing about him, once he gets in open, he can make people miss and outrun people. He's still a young receiver and is still learning. He's going to develop into a really good player, but he still has a lot to learn.
On the importance of responding to the Kansas State game and what changed afterward: I was just so upset at the Kansas State game because I felt like we didn't play good. You look at it and sat there for a long time it was 6-0, then it got to 13-0, and we just didn't move the ball on offense, and then defense we gave up some third downs that we could have gotten off or even get a turnover and just changed the game. Who knows what would have happened? Then after that game we kind of sat in that locker room and I expressed my feelings to the team and to the seniors. It may have been the turning point for us because that was just one of those games where we kind of went out there with no emotion, no energy, and just didn't play well.
On what it is going to take to make the stride to where he wants to be, like he did at Louisville: Well, you think about Louisville, it's two different programs and you're in two different situations. The first year at Louisville, it was a lot of seniors. Then our second year it was a bunch of young guys. If you think about our second year you had a true freshman starting at quarterback with Teddy [Bridgewater]. So it was all those young players playing the second year. Here, you're in a different situation because now you have a lot returning next year. I don't know how big a jump we're going to take. I don't want to say we're going to make this big jump. But your first year into a program, you've got to get the players to really buy into what the mission is and what your vision is. You had a lot of seniors that start finally buying into it. Winning has to take care of it. When you win games, the buy in will come. You have to win games to get the buy in.
On how hard it was to push the team and if he can push them even farther: When we were 2-4 you kept saying hey, we've got six games left. We have six games left. If we want to get bowl eligible we have to win some games. We have six left. Now you're sitting at 3-5, it's hey, guys, we're 3-5. We only have four left. When are we going to make a move to try to get to where we need to get to? So you kept saying, hey, it's games left, but let's take them game-by-game. So really what I always express is that, hey, let's get this one, and then we'll worry about the next one next week, but let's get this one this week. Let's not worry about next week. Let's just get ready to go get this one. If we get to Texas Tech, let's play Texas Tech. Don't worry about what's down the road. Let's play well there, and we'll get ready for the next one.
On if there are any players or positions groups he is excited about getting the extra practice time for the bowl: What's really tough now is that when you talk about bowl practices, a lot of your young players play. So it's not a set group where you say, hey, we need to get these young guys ready to go, because really you're going to still be preparing for whomever you're going to play. Some of those practices you can say, let's let the young guys scrimmage. But it's not really young guys out there that you're going to scrimmage with, because most of them are playing right now.
On the APR at Louisville: The only thing I tried to do was to make sure our goal was to graduate players. That's always been our focus and our goal. I think about it, and a lot of times you look at the bonuses for coaches with the academics and whatever. I think you should take those bonuses and give them to college professors because at the end of the day, that's where all the work is being put in. You think about it, when you go into a home to recruit an athlete, the first thing you tell them is No. 1, you're going to graduate. No. 2, you're going to win games, and No. 3, we're going to make you a better person. So if you're going to tell them you're going to graduate, that is your whole mission. When you think about a college professor, they spend so much time with them, and they don't want to see a young man or young lady fail themselves. So they put a lot of work into it. You look at coaches, and even including myself, I think that you should take the bonuses and somehow find a way for it to either go into research for any type of department, that money is placed somewhere for college professors, where they can take that money and make whatever they need to get done where they can make it better for themselves. I just think that with coaches, the whole incentive for our coaches is to make sure—it should be your No. 1 goal. Why compensate someone for what the message that you send? If your message is we're going to graduate, okay, let's graduate. Take that money and place it somewhere else.
On the dollar amount of bonuses coaches receive: You know, I look at it, and think about Louisville. I look at the work we put into it. When we got there, and I think the APR was 869. We left there with 1,000. We may have had 24, I think 24 scholarships in our first year we could sign. I think we signed 21, not knowing that we were going to be penalized three because the APR was so low. We built it back up and the staff did a great job, even myself. We checked classes and went across that campus to make sure that we changed it. You recruit the right players in there and they understand. Not just feel like it's been placed. But it's in great hands now. The APR should never dip there. It should never dip. They could lose 20 guys and it should never go below 9-whatever. It's in good hands now.
On Jerrod Heard and if he's been a part of the game plan or if its only been Swoopes: No, he's always been part of the game plan because he's sitting there with two quarterbacks. So if anything happens to Swoopes, we had to make a decision. The decision is he's going to go in the game. But you still have one game left. So knock on wood. We've got to get through that one. You just don't want to play a player just to play him. Then all of a sudden he gets 20 snaps, he gets 30 snaps, and what good do you do by just playing him?
On if Heard would play should Swoopes get injured: It will be a decision we have to make there because you're talking about one game. But you have to win the game.
On the biggest part that you get from this program to not allow losing five games to happen again: I think what's happened is the players understand the coaches. They understand it's all about personalities. Once you get a system, and they buy into the system. I look back at some of those games this past season. You look at a UCLA game, and it's close. We don't give up a double move or a touchdown, you're in that game. You look at the Oklahoma game and what happened there late. If we could have just gotten it going a little earlier. You're just in a position now where everybody within the system, they know what's happening. So now they understand what is expected of them. It's a standard.
On recruiting and the metallic stickers on the helmets: The recruiting, our guys are out recruiting right now. So we have some coaches out. The recruiting, we've been targeting it with guys, so it's all about making a decision if they want to come here. But we'll be fine in recruiting. Metallic helmets is just something that we wanted to have special for that one game and try to give our players a shot of juice where they could get going. So they walked in, they didn't even know what was happening until they walked into the locker room and saw it and kind of lit up. So we said if we're going to walk out there with those nice helmets, we better play well, too.
On if he would be opposed to playing A&M in the bowl: [Laughing] Can I get through TCU first? Can I get by them first?
On what his thoughts are on updating Texas' uniforms: I'm old school and I love our uniforms. I don't think our uniforms are going to make a player play any different. If he's a good player, he's going to put on that uniform, and we have a great uniform. It speaks for who the program is. It's something that's a part of the program. You don't ever lose it. When we walk out there, people are going to know, hey, when they're on the road, they're in all white. We look really good in all white. We play well in all white. I almost said one time, I need to wear that at home. [Laughing] No, I better not do that. But you've got with the burnt orange and the white pants at home, it's just what our tradition is, and that's what it's all about. I don't ever want to lose that because it's something that's engrained and instilled in this program. It will always be who we are because I don't think uniforms have any bearing on how well you're going to play. Lot of times they throw on those nice uniforms and you play a big game and you get beat. It's like oh, why did you ever put that uniform on? I've seen that happen before. I was a part of those.
