1) “Players will attend all of their classes and sit in the front two rows of all of their classes. GAs, academic folks, position coaches will be checking constantly now.”
GH: I haven’t been to class at Texas but I am going to bet this is about as big a change to happen to their classrooms since electricity hit campus. Where do/did the football players sit at your school?
2) “No headphones in class. No texting in class. Sit up and take notes.”
GH: Do students really where headphones in class? ***?
3) “If a player misses a class, he runs until it hurts. If he misses two classes, his entire position unit runs. If he misses three, the position coach runs. The position coaches don’t want to run.”
GH: I have NEVER heard of a coach punishing a position coach for a kid missing class. I LOVE this rule!
4) “No earrings in the football building. No drugs. No stealing. No guns. Treat women with respect.”
GH: Pretty damn simple, ain’t it? Although I’m not sure I’d place earring wearing on the same level as drugs, stealing, guns and wife beating.
5) “Players may not live off campus anymore, unless they’re a senior who hits certain academic standards. The University will buy out the leases for every player currently living off campus and put them in the athletic dorm.”
GH: Where else can the head football coach just declare, “The University will buy out the leases for every player currently living off campus…” like he’s ordering a pizza?
6) “The team will all live together, eat together, suffer together, and hang out together. They will become a true team and learn to impose accountability on each other. The cliques are over.”
GH: This sounds like a shot at Mack Brown’s program. I don’t know how a head coach can kill cliques on a team roster that sports 125 players. But I’m betting Strong will get it done.
7) “There’s no time for a rebuild. ‘I don’t have time for that.’ The expectation is that Texas wins now.”
GH: I soooo wanted Charlie to write, “Ain’t nobody got time for dat!” But I guess that would have detracted from his academic message.
8) “Players will learn that they would rather practice than milk a minor injury.”
GH: I think I saw this same rule while watching “Friday Night Tykes” last night.
9) “The focus is on winning and graduating. Anything extraneous to that is a distraction and will be stamped out or removed.”
GH: I do not think it is a coincidence that Charlie did not place these two points of emphasis in alphabetical order.
10) “Strong met individually with seniors and key leaders and re-emphasized that the plan is to win now. They can lead the new culture or be run over by it.”
GH: I would have loved to been in on that meeting. Sounds like Charlie told them, “You can be part of the solution or remain part of the problem.” Hook ‘em!
11) “I don’t want to talk about things. I’d rather do things. We just talked. Now it’s time to do.”
Charlie Strong
