and to bring it full circle, it was only a few years ago that Morris was a high school coach in Austin, which Strong will soon be recruiting...
Reading some of you in this thread is hilarious. Like everyone else, I have no idea how the Strong hire will work out for Texas. I will say that I think it is a great hire for UT. I listened to his press conference today and he did a good job. He said he planned to recruit Texas almost exclusively, but reserved the right to use his Florida connections to go after select, elite talent in Florida when it made sense. He did a good job (in my opinion) of striking the right notes in reassuring the Texas HS coaches while still making the overall point that he is about getting the best talent in the program and on the field, wherever that talent comes from.
UT is going to have Texas kids. He isn't going to be filling his classes with Florida players, and he doesn't need to fill his classes with Florida kids. As has been noted by some in this thread, UT recruits itself. He needs to be able to ID the right talent and develop it, which is what fell off at the end of the Mack Brown era.
For those who question Strong's lack of Texas ties, the same thing could have been said about Mack Brown when he was hired. It didn't hamper Brown and it won't hamper Strong. It simply isn't as important at a school like UT. Strong did, in his press conference, say that he would be looking to hire some assistants with Texas ties. UT has a massive alumni network, churning out about 50,000 graduates a year, and enjoys fierce loyalty here in Texas. Getting his foot in the door and getting access to recruits will not be a problem.
