I imagine it would be pretty hard for Charlie Strong to watch Longhorn Network's the Texas video staff's latest feature on him, "Close Up - Charlie Strong." Not because the content or the production are bad, but because most of us would become embarrassed after hearing people gush about them for 12 consecutive minutes.
Strong's reputation among coaches is among the best in the game currently. The coaches he learned under - Steve Spurrier, Lou Holtz, Urban Meyer, to name three - the coaches he's coached with, and the coaches that have learned under him have been unanimous in their praise. But winning a popularity contest among your peers doesn't guarantee you anything in football. It's the players' opinions that ultimately matter.
"He was always a guy that shot you straight," said former Notre Dame defensive end Renaldo Wynn, a former Strong pupil. "I think as a player that's what you want."
"Guys that I didn't know that he knew called me up and said, 'Man, that's a great guy. He's a guy that's going to put it all out on the line. Very passionate about what he does. Loves kids. He's going to get the most out of their potential.' I got excited all over again, wishing I had a chance like these young guys to play for a coach like Coach Strong," added former Texas All-American linebacker Derrick Johnson.
LHN lined up a number of recent Longhorn greats, Ricky Williams, Vince Young, Brian Orakpo, Aaron Ross, and, of course, each shared his own brand of excitement. Again, those are the opinions that matter.