Charlie Strong Is Probably Done At Texas And He Knows It

Texas boosters were reportedly pressuring the school to fire head football coach Charlie Strong earlier this week, since his third season at the school has followed the same rocky pattern as the first two. There was at least potential for modest improvement—if the Longhorns had won out, with Kansas and TCU as the only games left on their schedule, they’d have a 7-5 record for their first and only winning season under Strong.

That outcome became an impossibility Saturday when Texas lost to Kansas (to Kansas!) in overtime, 24-21. The Jayhawks hadn’t won a conference game in over two years and hadn’t beat Texas since 1938, and the end of those droughts in all likelihood signals the end of Strong’s time at Texas. And he knows it, which was clear in his postgame press conference:

Those 12 seconds are depressing. That’s a man who knows that he’s getting fired.

Strong is now 16-20 at Texas and 12-14 in the Big 12. Neither of the high notes from this season—the wins over No. 10 Notre Dame and No. 8 Baylor—feel as impressive now as they did at the time, with both of those programs currently unranked. The low points have aged just as poorly, and right now, they’re only increasing.