Angelo Clinic - setting things straight

Longhorn message boards have been abuzz over the last 10 days after ESPN.com ran an story portraying Texas head coach Charlie Strong's appearance at the Angelo Football Clinic nothing short of a disaster.

One of the co-founders of the event, former college and NFL coach John Paul Young, said the story by ESPN, which quoted unnamed sources, was an inaccurate depiction of Strong's appearance, and said any talk that Strong didn't do a good job or is not welcome back (as another report indicated) are completely false.

Young, who helped form the Angelo Clinic 41 years ago, said when he was first made aware of the story, he immediately put in a call to the Texas football offices to let Strong know the ESPN story didn't accurately reflect the views of the clinics directors. Young put in another call on Tuesday morning to assure Strong that any rumors of the first-year Texas head coach not meeting the Clinic's expectations were false.

Strong was a late addition to the agenda and while the majority of the talks at the clinic focus on Xs and Os, Strong was brought in for a quick talk to essentially introduce himself to the high school coaches around the state and describe to them why their student athletes would be in good hands if they wind up at Texas.

"I don't get to sit through everybody's lecture through the end like I used to and take notes," Young said. "I've met Charlie back when he was an assistant. I really didn't know Charlie, so I wanted to hear what he had to say. Coach (Jim) Hess, Hardee (McCrary) and some others sat in our seats on the side of the stage and we listened to him.

"He did a good job. Our clinic is to talk football, he was there as a guest basically for the coaches to meet and get to know. He had about 20 minutes, we put him between two lectures and he did a good job.

"He explained things, like they're putting the T back in Texas, that kind of stuff. Normally we tell them we don't want philosophy, we want nuts and bolts. But because he's a new coach, and we invite all the new coaches, I can tell you from the view of every one of the five directors, Charlie did a good job. Our coaches that come to the Angelo football clinic were impressed with him. Maybe somebody that doesn't like the University of Texas maybe some sportswriter that came to that didn't like it, but Charlie did a good job."

Young, whose career included coaching stops at SMU, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, the Houston Oilers and the New Orleans Saints, said he and the other directors aren't happy that recent stories are mischaracterizing the opinions of the clinic and it's directors by using anonymous sources.

"They're speaking for us. It's bogus," he said.

"You can tell every Longhorn fan there is, as far as the Angelo Clinic is concerned, Charlie Strong did a great job and he's welcome back any time. It would be our honor and pleasure to have him back."