Sterlin Gilbert was hired as the Texas Longhorns’ offensive coordinator Friday night after meeting with Charlie Strong, athletic director Mike Perrin, and school president Greg Fenves.
EXCLUSIVE: Charlie Strong & UT prez and AD meeting with Tulsa co-OC’s Sterlin Gilbert and Matt Mattox near Tulsa. pic.twitter.com/CLDajhiwxf
— Charlie Hannema (@CharlieHannema) December 12, 2015
The Longhorns struggled on the offensive side of the ball last season, resulting in a 5-7 record in the second year of Charlie Strong’s tenure. The calls for his job came quickly at the beginning of the season, but those were silenced by the Longhorns’ win over Oklahoma in the Red River Rivalry.
The hiring of Gilbert might make or break Strong, who appears to be on a short leash at Texas, a program with some of the highest expectations in the country, especially considering the resources the school has to offer.
The ‘Horns are all in on Gilbert, clearing house for him to get the personnel that he wants in order for his offense to work:
#Texas announces offensive assistants Joe Wickline and Shawn Watson will not return in 2016.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) December 12, 2015
Gilbert comes from Tulsa, where he was the co-offensive coordinator for the Golden Hurricane. Tulsa was 51st in the nation last season in offensive S&P+ rankings, better than Texas’ No. 67 ranking.
Although Gilbert doesn’t have the biggest name, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have good roots.
He comes from the Art Briles coaching tree, and has great ties in Texas high schools, having played quarterback in high school in the state. He has made head coaching stops at various high schools around the state.
That’s a big deal at the University of Texas, which has lost plenty of recruits over the past few years to other Texas schools such as Baylor, TCU, and Texas A&M. Everybody knows you can’t win without the right personnel.
Before the hiring of Gilbert, there was a lot of noise about a lack of support for Strong from the Texas administration. This appeared to scare candidates away from the position Gilbert was just hired to fill — it started with TCU offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie, but it then included Gilbert himself.
Reports surfaced on Thursday that Gilbert was headed to Austin, but Tulsa reporters (among others) disputed the story. Friday morning, Gilbert reportedly rejected Texas’ offer, and the embarrassment prompted school leaders to reconsider their course of action.
The situation was so ugly, it prompted this tweet from school president Greg Fenves:
I fully support Charlie Strong. I am committed to helping him move Longhorn Football forward.
— Greg Fenves (@gregfenves) December 11, 2015
Actions speak louder than words, and although the Longhorns were able to lock in Gilbert, their support for Charlie Strong hasn’t seemed to be substantial. To have to send out a tweet to try and validate your support for your head coach probably means it isn’t there.
If Texas doesn’t fully support Strong, and is just going through the motions, the administration is truly wasting not only its own time, but Strong’s and Gilbert’s as well.
It’s almost funny for those outside the Texas circle to watch a program with the most resources in the country struggle so profoundly. It doesn’t seem that long ago when the Longhorns ruled, Baylor was winning three games a season, TCU was in the Mountain West, and Texas A&M couldn’t compete on or off the field.
Now, Baylor and TCU appear to be the two best Texas schools in the Big 12, and Texas A&M has undergone a resurgence since joining the SEC. The Longhorns’ situation starts at the top, just like any organization in sports, whether it be professional or college.
Texas did eventually get Sterlin Gilbert after a lot of false starts earlier in the week. If the administration isn’t ready to commit to Gilbert and Strong for at least two seasons — not just 2016 — the people in power in Austin are merely beating around the bush, wasting time and money.
