Decisions by Strong will determine final fate
AUSTIN — Coaching football at the richest athletic department in the country can be overwhelming. The job contains complexities and nuances people never could even begin to understand.
But at its core, the task facing Texas’ Charlie Strong this season is a list of simple decisions, not unlike the ones faced by readers of a popular old series of children’s books. So once again, it’s time for Strong to play “Choose Your Own Adventure.”
1. Your clear top two candidates for the starting quarterback job are Shane Buechele, an undersized freshman well-acquainted with your new up-tempo spread offense, and Tyrone Swoopes, a strong-armed senior who works hard and has shown improvement but who hasn’t fared well in collegiate game action. Your options:
Start Buechele (go to No. 2).
Start Swoopes (go to No. 3).
In an appeal to UT tradition, reinstall the wishbone (go to No. 9).
2. All you ask of Buechele against Notre Dame is to manage the game, keep feeding big tailbacks D’Onta Foreman and Chris Warren, and spread the ball around to an improved receiving corps. Possible outcomes:
Buechele looks poised beyond his years, takes advantage of a rebuilt Fighting Irish and pulls off an upset (go to No. 4).
The freshman understandably can’t handle the big-game pressure right away, and things go awry (go to No. 5).
3. Considering Swoopes has been through this before, you hope this is the year all of that experience finally pays off. Possible outcomes:
Living up to the potential Mack Brown saw in him, Swoopes wins over the crowd and dazzles in a stunning romp (go to No. 4).
A rerun of last September in South Bend, Indiana (go to No. 5).
4. Now that you finally have the signature victory you’ve sought for years, you have to guard against thinking you’ve got it made. You can:
Build on the breakthrough and keep improving, and put on that golden hat after beating Oklahoma in October (go to No. 6).
Let your team backslide the way it did after the Red River Rivalry game last year (go to No. 7).
5. Once again, a season has begun in disappointment, and you’re in danger of losing the locker room and the fan base. You can:
Find away to weather the brutal first half of the schedule and escape with a 4-2 or 3-3 record (go to No. 7).
Let your young players get frustrated and start 2-4 or 1-5 (go to No. 8)
Let your young players tweet from the sideline during the third quarter (go to No. 9).
6. You’ve capitalized on your big start and vaulted into the national rankings. Everything’s going your way. Your options:
Keep pushing, knowing your roster will be prone to an occasional slip-up, but continuing an upward trajectory (go to No. 12).
Prank-call Red McCombs and gloat about how he was wrong (go to No. 9).
7. Things could have gone better, but the toughest part of the schedule is behind you now, and you’ve made it just about unscathed. You can:
Show some mettle on the road at Kansas State and get some revenge against TCU at home the day after Thanksgiving (go to No. 11).
Beat the teams you’re expected to beat but fail to keep it going against ranked foes (go to No. 10).
8. Yet again, the outlook is bleak. Everyone’s asking about your job security, and the Tom Herman rumors have started. You can:
Unleash the most important winning streak of your career. (go to No. 11).
Start wishing you had one more year, even while realizing it just wasn’t meant to be (go to No. 9).
9. Congrats, you’ve been fired. As consolation, take comfort in knowing you no longer are contractually obligated to talk to the media and can collect the $10.7 million UT owes you after this season.
10. Congrats, you’ve gone 6-6. Now you wait to find out if the president and athletic director still support you, or if angry boosters will overrule them anyway.
11. Congrats, you’ve won seven or eight games. That should be enough to ensure you’ll be back in 2017. And considering you won’t be losing many upperclassmen, your roster will be loaded.
12. Congrats, you’ve won at least nine games. Feel free to gloat now. There’s nothing they can do to you for at least another 10 or 11 months.