Lot's of talk about Strong and Oregon. One report had ORegon offering Strong the DC job - that report was quickly backpedaled.
Based on reports out of Tampa, however, Strong has not spoken with anyone other than USF in the last 48 hours. USF targeted Strong almost immediately following Taggart's departure for Oregon. The biggest issue right now is contract terms for Strong.
Strong wants to make sure he keeps as much of the money from Texas as he can, but Texas wants to make sure that whatever contract he does sign is not backloaded so heavily that it costs them more than it should. Taggart was being paid $1.7 mil so Texas wants to ensure that USF does not pay Strong an unreasonably low starting salary for two years with an overloaded back end of the contract.
Strong flew to Tampa on a private jet owned by a Texas booster.
So, because there are multiple teams interested in Strong as their Head Coach (Temple is also interested), you can be pretty sure that Texas is going to make sure that he negotiates in good faith and does not try to take a lower paying job just to stick it to Texas' boosters with a heftier buyout. In other words, it is very unlikely Strong is a DC anywhere next year.
When he left Tampa this morning he said 'I will be back'
With that, you can probably be pretty sure that he will not be Oregon's defensive coordinator. It is really just a matter of negotiating a deal that USF, Strong and Texas all consider fair and honest. So, no, USF is not going to pay Strong $800k for the first two years, but could easily pay him in the 1.5-1.7 range with significant incentives to remain past two years.
Based on reports out of Tampa, however, Strong has not spoken with anyone other than USF in the last 48 hours. USF targeted Strong almost immediately following Taggart's departure for Oregon. The biggest issue right now is contract terms for Strong.
Strong wants to make sure he keeps as much of the money from Texas as he can, but Texas wants to make sure that whatever contract he does sign is not backloaded so heavily that it costs them more than it should. Taggart was being paid $1.7 mil so Texas wants to ensure that USF does not pay Strong an unreasonably low starting salary for two years with an overloaded back end of the contract.
Strong flew to Tampa on a private jet owned by a Texas booster.
So, because there are multiple teams interested in Strong as their Head Coach (Temple is also interested), you can be pretty sure that Texas is going to make sure that he negotiates in good faith and does not try to take a lower paying job just to stick it to Texas' boosters with a heftier buyout. In other words, it is very unlikely Strong is a DC anywhere next year.
When he left Tampa this morning he said 'I will be back'
With that, you can probably be pretty sure that he will not be Oregon's defensive coordinator. It is really just a matter of negotiating a deal that USF, Strong and Texas all consider fair and honest. So, no, USF is not going to pay Strong $800k for the first two years, but could easily pay him in the 1.5-1.7 range with significant incentives to remain past two years.
