Came across an article on how the first meeting went with Coach Charlie Strong and his new football team. He laid out the rules. Apparently, Coach Brown wasn't around much the last two years and talked a lot with no recourse for bad behavior. Read Coach Strong don't play.
Strong expectations:
Strong expectations:
- 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.
- No headphones in class. No texting in class. Sit up and take notes.
- 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.
- No earrings in the football building. No drugs. No stealing. No guns. Treat women with respect.
- 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.
- 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.
- There's no time for a rebuild. "I don't have time for that." The expectation is that Texas wins now.
- Players will learn that they would rather practice than milk a minor injury.
- The focus is on winning and graduating. Anything extraneous to that is a distraction and will be stamped out or removed.
- 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.
- "I don't want to talk about things. I'd rather do things. We just talked. Now it's time to do."
