The cultivation of a new Texas football team under head coach Charlie Strong continues.
Players have been sent home in droves, prohibited from throwing up the “Hook Em’ Horns” without earning it, forced to walk the half-mile to practice, and now they will need to prove to coach Strong they deserve to don the Longhorns logo. When they showed up to the facility this morning for the first day of practice they found their helmets solid white. Aside from the “Longhorns” text, not a speck of burnt orange to be found.
Check out this photo of the players running drills:
#Longhorns coach Charlie Strong took the logos off team helmets. Cedric Reed said guys will have to earn it #HookEm
— Anwar Richardson (@AnwarRichardson) August 4, 2014
#Texas LB Jordan Hicks goes through individual drills. He’s coming back from Achilles injury. pic.twitter.com/WBTVTn2g7f — Brian Davis (@BDavisAAS) August 4, 2014
In his first preseason news conference on Sunday, Strong addressed his stern actions:
“You have 85 guys on scholarship. If 80 of them are doing it the right way, why can’t the rest of them do it the right way?” Strong said. “They knew the first day I took the job, when I laid out the core values in that first team meeting, what the program is all about.”
The gesture may be small to the outside world, but it’s clear that Strong is hell bent on doing everything possible to change the culture of the Texas football program. Some of his actions will be headline grabbing, some, such as this; will be subtle. As long as the team is successful on the field, these measures will continue to be praised by the Texas faithful. However, if Texas finds themselves in a losing streak things could get ugly in a hurry.
[h/t USA Today]