a strong man

A STRONG MAN

i know
i know
its all about winning
thats all that matters anymore in college football

i am sure that most of you have a favorite college football team
you want them to win
you expect them to win
if not
clear house is what i expect many of you to say

get a new coach

now
my two sons played sports all the way through
elementary
middle school
high school

they had some good coaches
some bad coaches

there are a few that even today
they still talk about them
how much they were liked

if my sons were playing college football today
i would have wanted them to play for
ex texas coach
charlie strong

i wouldnt even care if they won any games
he truly prepares guys for the real world

he had these 5 core principles
that he stucked to
it wasnt talk
it was real

this last week as the inevitable was about to happen
you have to win to keep your job
especially when you are paid $5 million a year

you could see in the players eyes
many were crying after the final game
the whole team showed up for his final press conference
what you could see was
love in their eyes
for a man
who made them do whats right
what any parent would want their college student do
do whats right
you see
he made sure they did it

off the top of my head
i can only remember one event where players did something
that got them arrested
they were gone the next week

now there was a time a player got a dwi
he was disciplined accordingly

when you hear the players
hear their parents
especially the single moms who were hoping
for a father figure for their kids
well
they got it with charlie strong

you follow his rules or you are gone
they went to study hall even late at night
he would show up to make sure they were there
he made them sit in front of the class
no skipping classes were accepted

no abusing women
no guns
all of his players were on course to graduate

oh
he cleared out his first year 9 players
mostly starters for violating his rules
that
plus he was left with players that werent highly rated
by those high school football gurus
so
he had to recruit hard real hard
he was getting there
doing things right
but
well
you gotta win
thats the rule
but
some lucky coach that follows him
will have a loaded team
full of future nfl players
as
charlie strong said
i baked the cake
now the new coach just has to put on the icing

there are a lot of schools that could benefit from his approach
one comes to mind
ill just say it
baylor
they need someone to come in and clear house
of all the whole department
administators coaches some players
and
start over
like
well not quite like texas since they werent as bad as baylor
to clean the stench out of their athletic department
so
it can be a department that you would expect from
a religious a baptist school

yea
baylor should hire charlie strong
he may not be able to win for awhile
but
clean it out he will

you are a good man
charlie strong

the organicgreen doctor

a strong man

A STRONG MAN
maybe i like him because he is from arkansas
like i am

statesman.com

he is from a military family
he played college football in arkansas

he coached under sporty carpenter a well known arkansan
high school and small college coach that produced a lot of
college and high school coaches

he coached at notre dame florida louisville ole miss south carolina
southern illinois texas am

he was close to being on the chopping block last year
after another loosing season
you gotta win in college football to keep your job

especially here in texas

so charlie strong this strong man came here a couple years ago

i like him besides being an arky
he is a principled guy

he has these core values
honesty
no drugs
no stealing
no guns
treat women with respect
no earrings on campus
players will attend all classes and sit in front two rows
take notes no texting no earphones
if a player misses a class he runs until it hurts
if he misses two his whole position unit runs
if he misses three his position coach runs
coaches dont like to run
players dont live off campus
these are his main ones

dont do them
see ya is what happens
test him which 11 players did
some good ones now starting elsewhere
you are gone

dont treat women with respect
you be gone
didnt take long for the first two players to be dismissed for this one
maybe another school close by could use this rule
well it seems a lot could

so he cleared out 11 good players who didnt follow the rules
a lot didnt even stay around when he took over because of
the rules

he played with a reduced number of good players for a couple years
now after three years
he has mostly his players he recruited
who know coming into the program what is expected of them
no questions asked

you can see the respect that exudes from the players for him
you know when you discipline a child
knowing you are doing the right thing
but it still hurts anyway as a parent
but
they respect you for it

so it is with charlie strong

as i watched news reports on the sports stations yesterday
you could see the respect they had for his approach
you could tell that the  reporters
wanted him to be a winner

we need someone like him in collegiate sports
to take the high road

wonder if old jerry jones would hire him for the cowboys
they are fellow arkansans

nope
charlie wouldnt tolerate it

the organicgreen doctor

h2

H2
that stands for hookem hogs or sooie horns
thats how i feel today when i opened my news feed
this morning
and
saw that texas would be playing in the advocare bowl
in houston on december 29
against the arkansas razorbacks
advocare something about them doesnt seem right
cant you just eat right and exercise



now when i was growing up that would be a game that
i would be looking forward to probably more than
christmas
a chance to see arkansas play against their most disliked
opponent
the texas longhorns



however
since ive moved to texas 25 years ago my redness has
turned more to a more burnt orange color
sort of a reddish orange tint
like if you took your razorback jersey
washed it way too much
let it hang in the hot summer sun way too long
that would be the color of the jersey

now i must say i am now a full blooded horn fan


heck old bevo lives just a few miles from my house
but
deep down there in my heart i do bleed razorback red



what makes this match up interesting is
that charlie strong
mister discipline master that we wished all  coaches could be
has that razorback red also flowing through his blood
he understands what this game means to the hog fans
since
he grew up there
played high school football there
played college football at the university of central arkansas
got his first job as defensive coordinator with the well known
producer of college and high school coaches
at henderson state university
sporty carpenter

from there he went to florida south carolina southern illinois
notre dame texas am and eventually louisville before going to texas
what if he had been signed to coach at arkansas
what a great story that would be

but thats not how it worked out



then bret bielima moves down from the cheese state wisconsin to
arkansas
i always liked to watch wisconsin play
run it down your throat offense with a defensive type team
plus
his team produced seattles quarterback russell wilson
why cant rg3 be like him
never understood why he left there to come to arkansas

both teams have a 6-6  record
started off bad
but got better as the season wore on especially arkansas
with a good ending that will be the beginning of
good things to come in the future

both are defensive coaches
almost alabamian like
thats what saved the season for both teams

i am afraid though that arkansas in your mouth offense
with its running game may be the difference in the game
since texas has sputtered a lot this year offensively
still to find themselves on that side of the ball

there is a good chance that the hogs will use their tusks to
defeat the horns
a good ending to their season

so
ill just
say hookem hogs
and
sooie horns

the organicgreen doctor

be strong

BE STRONG
warning this is about football
well texas football
but
well its about life too

for those readers from arkansas and elsewhere
charlie strong is the new coach this year at
texas
for awhile i thought his ethics were going to get
him ran out of town
but now hes winning so i guess hell stay


if you live in arkansas and know a lot of about football
you know who sporty carpenter is
my historian brother knows him well

well so the assistant coach said as my bro made this
defensive play that sacked the quarterback
in practice
so sporty didnt know my historian brother
as we had recently moved to this small town in arkansas
called magnolia
so sporty says where did you come from
meaning
what position did you play on defensive

my historian brother thinking he meant what school
did you move from
said
smackover
so all the way through high school thats what he was
called
smackover
even at his reunions 50 years later he is still called
smackover

sporty a well respected high school coach
and
later
the coach at henderson state college in arkansas
was sitting in the office talking with his defensive
ccoordinator
when the phone rang

when he hung up he said charlie you want to go to
florida to be the defensive coordinator there
so off he went the first time out of arkansas
eventually coaching the defense on the florida
national championship teams-tim tebo era


this man from arkansas
who played and lettered 4 years at batesville high school
who played football at central arkansas
best known for producing scotty pippin
was helped by his mentor
sporty carpenter

eventually the search committee from texas came acalling
we want you to come in and fix our program
this arkansas guy ending up in texas
sorry but in arkansas thats a bad thing to do
go to texas
i know i did it myself
even when i go back they look at me with a cautious eye
maybe like a traitor


but charlie came to texas
real strong he did
he cleaned house he did
follow my principles
all five + of them
or
hit the road jack

so many of them did
and
sorry
but
some of the players were good ones
some were seniors
even one was a former patient
break the rules and you are gone

so he depleted his team of 20+ players
several who were starters
hit the road jack

the other players im sure were not real sure about this
strong guy and his strong principles

there were lot of rumblings going on
hey were gettin our butts kicked
principles now can only go so far

he stuck to his principles
now
he has started to win
a bowl game is in the future
hopefully against am

so he now has a team full of players
who

go to class and sit at the front of the class
yes he spot checks them himself

cant smoke dope or use drugs
he has increased drug testing
get a positive test you get 3 chances but have to do counseling and
miss games
after number 4
hit the road jack

cant abuse their wives their girlfriends or degrade women
you have to respect them

no earrings

no guns no hes not talking about hunting so calm down
you hunters and nra folks

no stealing

well heck we want all our kids to do that
im sure all the coaches want their players to do this
but
the difference is

he enforces it!!

so
be strong
charlie strong

we need more of you in sports and in society
maybe even in politics

a true arkansan and texan
and american

huh would you run for president

the organicgreen doctor

a strong candidate

A STRONG CANDIDATE
thats what they wanted at ut
a strong candidate
thats what they got this time

charlie strong


when i look at his picture im reminded of the story of the
exmarine who became a high school teacher in a rough
high school
this from facebook so you know it has to be true

just a few weeks before his first day in this new job
he was in a car wreck and sustained a broken back
he was placed in a body cast from his waist to his armpits
one of those things thats worn under your clothes

when he entered the class the first day of school in this
very rowdy classroom
you can imagine how noisy it was
paper being thrown everywhere
sagging going on
probably some bullying also
he steps up to the desk
looks them in the eye
reaches down and picks up a piece of paper from the desk
along with a stapler
and proceeds to staple that piece of paper to his chest

never had problems with that class again

the thought i had when i heard coach strong was hired
was that guy has some fireplugs for arms
bet he could be the strength and weight coach at ut also

bet those kids arent going to argue with him at all

the other was the obvious thing he was black
ut hasnt had a black mens coach before
they had a black track coach but let her go since she had an affair
with a student that lasted a long time
while a white coach just got a reprimand
probably will cost ut a lot of money when the suit is finally settled

kxan.com

when you look at ut football
its mostly black guys
wouldnt it make sense to get a black head coach
to recruit these guys
wonder why that hasnt been done before

but when you look at this strong candidate
he had coached at some good schools and when given the chance
to be a head coach he took a took a losing program and made
it a winning program in just a few years
his qb will probably be the first qb taken in the nfl draft and probably
will be the first taken overall

he recruits heavily from florida and now he gets to do that in texas
two of the best football states in america

when you look at his total coaching package
you can see why he was chosen
he has all the credentials
now if all those texas exes dont wear him down
and will just leave him along
hell win here
since thats whats important is winning
right

yep a strong candidate
charlie strong

the organicgreen doctor