South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
’Canes reportedly adding former Texas coach Strong to staff
Miami is bringing in an experienced coach to work with its linebackers.
The Hurricanes are hiring Charlie Strong, the former head coach at Texas, Louisville and USF, to be their new linebackers coach, according to an ESPN report.
Strong has an extensive coaching history, including 10 seasons as a head coach.
From 2010-2013, he was Louisville’s head coach, going 37-15. He was named Big East Coach of the Year twice. He led the Cardinals to a Sugar Bowl win in 2012 and a 12-1 season in 2013 before departing to coach Texas.
Strong did not have as successful a tenure with the Longhorns; in three seasons he went 16-21. He moved on to USF after Texas fired him, going 21-16 in three seasons before the Bulls fired him.
The longtime coach has worked with defenses throughout his career. He started his career coaching different defensive positions as an assistant coach at several stops in the 1980s and ’90s (with two short stints as a wide receivers coach) before South Carolina named him its defensive coordinator from 1999-2002.
Strong left South Carolina and joined the Florida staff as the Gators’ defensive coordinator and defensive ends coach under Ron Zook in 2003. He stayed in Gainesville after Zook was fired and UF hired Urban Meyer.
Strong was the co-defensive coordinator for the Gators’ 2006 national championship team and the defensive coordinator when they won the 2008 title.
After spending the 2020 season as a defensive analyst at Alabama, Strong rejoined Meyer as the Jacksonville Jaguars’ assistant head coach and inside linebackers coach.
Strong has a history of successfully recruiting South Florida, most notably bringing current NFL quarterback Teddy Bridgewater from Miami Northwestern to Louisville when Bridgewater was a four-star high school prospect.