Report: Texas to hire Charlie Strong

After completing his fourth season at Louisville with a Russell Athletic Bowl win over Miami, Charlie Strong will reportedly leave to become the next head coach at Texas. Bobby Burton with Texas' 247 Sports site first reported the move. Strong will replace Mack Brown who announced his retirement after 16 seasons as the head coach of the Longhorns where he won a national championship in 2005 (note: Pat Forde with Yahoo! Sports says Strong has not yet accepted the job, but Chip Brown with Orangebloods.com has indicated that he will be offered the job and will accept it).

It will be very interesting to see both which members of Charlie's staff go with him to Texas and which names are floated as possible replacements. Strong's current staff has very few ties to the Texas area and defensive line coach Clint Hurtt currently has a show cause against him from the NCAA that will likely keep him from moving with Strong to Austin.

As for replacements, Louisville certainly has the resources and a healthy enough program to attract another quality head coach. We all know from experience that Tom Jurich is rarely if ever caught flat footed in these matters, so I doubt the coaching search lingers at all. You'll hear names like Jim McElwain who was an assistant under John L. Smith, and you'll likely hear all of the prominent assistant coaches like Kirby Smart at Alabama, Pat Narduzzi at Michigan State, and Chad Morris at Clemson also mentioned as at least possibilities.

Whoever it is, experience tells you it will likely be someone with strong recruiting ties to the south and Florida and someone with a background in offense. The next hire will be crucial to holding together a very good recruiting class and leading Louisville into the ACC.