DALLAS — A new offense, social media, and Strong’s musical taste. Here are my notes and quotes from Charlie Strong in Year 2 and Big 12 Media Day 2015.

Coach are you a fan of rap music and have you heard Daje’s rap song?

“Daje and I had a conversation. I think he understands. I asked him if he was a part of the team and he said yes he is. I said ‘we need to take care of that song’ and we got it taken care of very quickly.”

What’s the difference between year two and year one?

“It’s all about relationships and trust. Now that our coaching staff has been around this team for a second year… and the players understand who we are. When you come into a situation, and maybe I look back at it, I was just thinking because of the University of Texas, because the tradition and the pride, the way we were going to play, you expect it so much and so then it had become a destination for so many other players. Now, they’re changing their attitude. It was all about building trust in us, also.”

Easier for you because you are more settled this year compared to last year?

“It’s easier for everyone. It’s easier not only for me, our assistant coaches, our players, and everyone else involved.”

How do you describe the way you felt after Arkansas?

“I just felt this day couldn’t have come any sooner. It was almost like you wanted to get back on the field because of the way we were embarrassed. I continue to use that hoping that it will continue to light our players up, and even our coaching staff. I said there’s no way that we can ever allow that to happen the way it happened; to get embarrassed the way we got embarrassed.”

Gotten over it or is it still stewing inside you?

“I don’t think I’ll get over it until we go play that first game. Then we’ll get back in to getting the team back out there and going out and competing.”

Offense – Watson

“Coaches have to adjust. I can remember on defense we used to be an under defense. That’s all we played. The offenses changed so you got to change as a defensive guy. Then I started to play 3 down. That’s when we went 3-3-5 and it was like ‘oh my God what kind of defense is that.’ I was at SCAR when I first started playing the 335. Clemson was so good. They had Woody Danzler. Rodriguez was there as the offensive coordinator. We had to find some way to stop this. You have to take your personnel within your system, now you have to adapt to it. When you look within this state, what is coming to us? And what is coming to us is players that have been in the spread. Let’s not put ourselves at a disadvantage at what they’ve been used to doing. We have two good quarterbacks. Let’s use their athletic ability. They may not be guys who can drop back and throw the ball with coverages. When you’re in the system you’re in now just get the ball out of their hands and let it go.”

What’s it going to take for you guys to win this year? To win on the level that you want?

“Number one, you always want to come together as a team. It’s all about just building togetherness. The team had to understand it’s all about the leadership ability and everyone involved. Then we had to talk about… it’s got to be a winning season. You look at it, it’s all about execution, it’s all about building toughness, it’s all about just building everything within your program and everything that’s important to winning. If you look at this senior class right now, and I said it earlier, they’ve never had a double digit winning season. You just want it so bad for them and for guys who go out and compete, and understand how when you take the field how big the game is and how important it is.”

Is being picked fifth realistic? Is that about right?

“A lot of times you look at where you are picked at, and I don’t know who’s ahead of us. I know that they said Baylor and TCU are very good. Oklahoma is a very good team and probably Oklahoma State. Where we are is probably what we deserve. Until we play better, that’s where we’re going to be.”

Coach you talk about not only having leadership but developing. Are you seeing the numbers grow in the people willing to step up and lead not only in their position group, but lead themselves and be an example?

“I look back and the older guys now are teaching the younger guys. It used to be a point to where the older guys kind of had their little window and just separated themselves from the younger players. That’s no longer happening because they realized the only way you are going to win is when everyone is going to be involved. You have to teach the young guys how to do it because a lot of them are going to end up playing. The older guys have taken it. The J-Grays, the Taylors, the Ced Flowers, all those guys are taking it upon themselves to try to help this team and go lead it.”

At what point in your camp will you want to have a starter?

“At the quarterback position, you’re going to go into right now just because Tyrone has had more experience with him leading it. Jerrod is going to get every opportunity. If we have to… I’m not going to play musical chairs with them, but if I go into a game, I’ll play both.”

Are you going to let Lampkin out of his LOI? Do you feel there was some tampering?

“The Lampkin deal, I turned it over to Coach Bedford. He’s been handling it. Our compliance office and everyone else is involved.”

Vahe

“He got that shoulder done in high school so we haven’t’ had any problems with it. He’s usually had to watch and monitor his lifting some. Other than that, he’s in the middle of it.”

With the new wrinkles on offense, we saw a little in the spring game, is that a microcosm of 2015?

“We did it in the spring game so we better do it next year. We have got to find a way to move the football. Within this state 95% of the teams spread you out and get the ball into the athlete’s hands. We just have to make sure we get the ball in the proper guys’ hands and create some plays.”

Differences between QBs. Heard bring to the table

“If you look at Swoopes, he has experience, he’s bigger, and he’s more physical than Jerrod. Jerrod is more athletic. Jerrod is one of those guys who nothing kind of bothers him. Maybe it’s because he played a lot, but nothing bothers him right now. He’s very athletic. He’s not afraid to pull it down and take off with it where Swoopes is going to sit there and let it unfold for him.”

Do you feel like you have a better behaved locker room than you did a year ago? Are guys still testing you that we haven’t heard about yet?

“So much is made about that. A year ago there was nothing wrong with it. You have 85 guys on scholarship and even right now some guys feel like they can do whatever they want to do and try to do it without you ever finding out. It wasn’t so much guys are better behaved. Guys are going to do what you ask of them. There will be one or two of those guys who are thinking they can do things they want. Y’all listened to that rap song.”

Have you disciplined anyone this offseason? Anyone going to miss the Notre Dame game?

“I hope no one misses Notre Dame. I’m going to need them and anyone else I can get.”

Rap song didn’t take him off the depth chart?

“Someone was just talking about that rap song. What I did was I called Daje and said ‘you’re no longer on the team, huh?’ and he said ‘what do you mean’ and I said ‘you got your rap song out, you must not be on the team anymore. You’re a rapper.’ He’s like ‘no coach.’ He’s apologized. We got that straightened out.”

You talk about guys playing well around Tyrone. Do you think you’ll see some improvement there this year on the offensive line?

“We have to improve on the offensive line. Last year, you look at it, and I don’t ever want to make an excuse and don’t want you guys to feel like I’m ever making an excuse, but you lose my guy Espinosa. That was a major loss. You look at the quarterback of the offensive line and he could have really helped us with the injuries that we had. Now Taylor has to come in. You look at Hutch who we moved from defense to offensive line. He played the whole year. You get Ced Flowers, you get Perk, and you get Taylor back. You have four starters returning. They have to be better than they were last year, which they will be. We’re still looking to improve. We still got to get better. We’re nowhere near where we should be. It’s still about us just working.”

Daje is one guy who couldn’t make a mistake and is out of those chances. Did you not think it was something that was a big enough deal?

“You know what happens. We heard the rap song. All those guys, not all those guys, some of those guys think they are rappers. If you ever walk into our locker room they all have their own little tapes that they make. You can walk in there and I’ll know right away, just listening to their music, I said ‘who made that tape?’ It wasn’t professionally done. With Daje, he has come a million miles. I look back a year ago and he was suspended the first half of the season. He’s kind of got it together. He hasn’t been one of those guys that has not been an issue for us. I remember the first day I’m on this job and I’m in the facility and this guy walks in and he has these two guys with him. I said ‘what’s your name’ and he said it was Daje Johnson. I said ‘Oh God, you’re the guy I want’ and I just ripped right into him. You remember he had missed the bowl game. He was suspended for the bowl game. I kind of ripped into him and told him it better not ever happen again. I said ‘who are these two guys’ and ‘they’re my buddies’ so I said ‘so why are they with you’ and he said ‘we’re going towork out.’ I said you’re not going to bring someone else in the facility to work out. It was the first day I ever met him. He said ‘I already know about you coach. I already called one of your players at Louisville and they told me how you are.’ I said don’t forget it.”

Do you feel comfortable saying ‘I can rely on Daje’ for this offense and be a big part of that?

“He still has some growing to do. It’s not only Daje. You think about it, Marcus Johnson needs to be a guy that comes alive. I tell Marcus that all the time. I don’t know when was the last time you scored a touchdown or made a big play for us. You look at those two guys. They have the ability to do it. It’s about now them going out and doing those things. I look at Jacorey Warrick as a guy who had a really good spring. He just wants to go play football. Lorenzo Joe needs to come along for us. Then you take a Burt who’s a true freshman and Newsome who’s a true freshman. Take McNeal… We’re just trying to make sure we can find us some playmakers.”

Thoughts on culture of NFL

“I’m all about second chances. I’m about second chances within our program. I don’t ever make it look like I’m someone just looking to kick players off and dismiss players. I feel like this; when you’re given every opportunity after every opportunity after one another and another and another, at some point you have to take a stand for what you really believe in. I look across the country, and I can remember this coach told me a long time ago, he said never coach to avoid confrontation. When you do that, you allow your players to do whatever they want to you because they know if you’re coaching to avoid confrontation, whenever you do wrong you’re not going to correct them. They just go about their business and do whatever they want. I look at who you represent. You represent the University of Texas, it’s all about us. You talk about ‘we have to get them a degree, we have to do all these things, we got to teach them how to live, we got to teach them how to prepare for life.’ In society you can’t go do whatever you want to do, so why are you thinking it’s going to happen now? It’s about accountability, it’s about responsibility. Hold guys accountable. They have to be responsible for their actions. You can just go through it and sometimes get on a rant and think about, I don’t want to say what players they are, but there are those things that happen and guys thinking they can go do whatever they want. It’s not the way life is. You can’t go do whatever you want. You have to be held accountable and when you’re in a position that were in and a high profile athlete, I’m sorry, there are some things you can’t do. You made that lifestyle for yourself. Enjoy it.”

Would you want someone on your team that had a drunk DUI and killed somebody, someone that abused a woman?

“My number two core value is treat women with respect. If a guy hits a young lady, he’s got to go somewhere else to play. Hecan’t play for me. If you take someone else’s life, I don’t know how we can allow that to happen. In society, if someone took someone else’s life, where do they end up? They end up in jail. It’s just the way things are done now. So much is pushed through social media. So many things happen around you. WE have to take a stand for what we believe and the things that we do. It’s not just pushing players out of the program, it’s about us teaching players. Lot of them don’t know. They flat don’t know. When you talk about ‘just be honest, treat women with respect, no drugs or alcohol in your system,’ sometimes that’s the first time a lot of them have heard that, and the environment that they come up in, they’ve seen it. When you see it and see things happen, some guys think that’s the way it is. It can’t be. It’s just that you’re part of a team. When you’re part of a team, there’s no entitlement. There is none of those things. You’re a part of a team. Everyone needs to be on the same page. That’s what we try to get everybody. That’s the only way you’ll ever move forward is when everyone’s on the same page and everyone’s doing the right thing. Sometimes I cringe when I see things happen to young players, period. Not only athletes. I just cringe when I see things happen to young people. I say ‘how can, at such an early age, how can you make a decision.’ It’s probably five minutes, ten minutes that will affect you for the rest of your life.”

All your guys are about to get $4300. in their full cost of tuition. Are you advising them as to what to do with that?

“I told our coaches, our players, and our compliance that we have to teach them how to take this money. You know what happens when they get that money, he was talking about with our playersthey’re going to get this stipend of $4300, but it’s all about making sure they can manage that money. You just don’t take it and all of a sudden go to the mall and buy 8 pairs of tennis shows. Its things that you need also. You can use that money to help their families out. You just have to make sure it’s managed the right way. Sometimes, if you give some kids something and they never had it before, it burns their pocket. You know that old saying, its burning a hole in your pocket. A lot of them will go try and spend it as quickly as they can.”

How closely do you monitor your players’ accounts on Facebook and Twitter?

“Coach Moorer has an app. Anything that comes up on that app that one of our players, like the Daje rap song. Boom, that came up and went right to his phone. Any type of vulgar language is said, a racist comment, anything that is said it goes back to his phone. It’s amazing how it’s done. He calls a player right away and says ‘hey, what is that. What did you send out?’ And a player will tell him and he’ll say get it off. You have to monitor. The reason why is perception is everything. You only get one chance. It’s going to stay with you. A lot of times young people don’t realize that’s with you for the rest of your life. You go back to a job interview, they can find out what you tweeted out or what you said, and they can pull it up. But it’s monitored the whole time.”

Would you like to see the Big 12 expand?

“Whatever the commissioner think is best for this conference I’m all about.”

It seemed like the national perception of you was ‘whoa.’ He’s running guys off. I imagine other coaches use you against that in recruiting

“Coaches used that in recruiting last season. It really didn’t bother me. If you come from the right family, if that’s what you have taught your kid, and every message I was sending. It wasn’t new, it wasn’t new rules. You think about core values, just sit back and think about it sometimes, you know how to treat people with respect, you know what honesty’s all about. You know thousands and thousands of people whose lives were ruined with drugs and alcohol. You know you can’t steal something. You can’t have any weapons. It’s simple. I don’t understand why such a big deal was made about that. I still don’t. I just get shocked thinking about it. The perception was ‘there goes another one, there goes another one.’ At the end of the day, when you’re given every opportunity, at some point, you better think ‘I better do whatever’s asked of me.’ You represent the University of Texas. I always think about this. There are a lot of people at the university who go and get grants and go and get grant and aid and then get loans to go to school there for their education. Why can’t you do what we ask you to do? You represent a high profile. Each and every week you go out to compete, and you can’t do just the little things we ask you to do? How hard is it?”

Can this team compete for the big 12 this season?

“A lot has to come together for us. That’s what we want our standard to be. It’s about competing for the championship.”

Naming starters and different positions… do you see ‘this is our guy’ or do you have a plan on when you want to pick starters?

“When we line up on the seventh and we go through. Move him out. Move that guy in. Our players understand that. I don’t play games with them when it comes to that. They know I play the best players. We want to win. We all want to win.”

Duke Thomas. Do you think being tested and getting burned has led to him being a better corner?

“It does. What you have to have at defensive back is short memory. Duke realizes that now. He has a short memory now. It’s good that he’s coming back. He’s a veteran. He’s played a lot of football. We just have to find a corner opposite him and a lot of guys will be given the opportunity to be that guy.”

Malik’s weight gain. Reasonable expectations?

“I’ve been around freshman that have started on defense and started on that position. You know what happens, you let them develop and go play. If they’re good enough to go start, you coach them like a guy who’s been in the program two or three years. Usually if he ends up starting he’s going to be better than what you have. Just coach him hard and put him in a position to make plays.”

Can Malik be a major contributor?

“He can be because what has helped Malik is he came in in January. He knows the system. It’s so funny you would see the freshman that came in in June, and they kind of think Malik is older than them. It felt like that. ‘Well Malik has been here.’ But no, no he’s a freshman like you are.”

Ton of talented freshman with a lot of swagger, any in trepidation about playing a lot of young guys this year?

“You talk about playing a lot of young guys, we have to be smart with who we play. Just don’t play a guy to play him. We will play the ones that are talented enough, we will play the ones that can help us. That’s what it’s all about. Can they help you, and you have to end up playing those guys. You look on defense, you have five defensive backs that have a chance to help you. You have Malik. You have young linebackers. That’s where your help is going to be; either at the back end or the secondary position.”

Athleticism vs. Experience

“Sometimes you go with the younger guy. He may not always be right, but the times he is right he has the chance to go make a play for you. It happens. You can take a veteran and he’s been there. If he can’t make a play, you’re sitting there the whole game saying ‘he can’t make a play.’ Then you take a young guy off the bench and run him out there and the first time he goes out, he makes two or three plays. Now he’s going to be one of those guys. I say this about Jerrod Heard all the time. My man Jerrod, he may take a ball and go 60, but the next time he’ll throw it out there and it can go 60 the other way too. You have to be ready to live with that. He’s so talented, you don’t want to live with those mistakes. You hope you don’t have enough of them. You have to get them to the point where you understandit’s about them getting better.”

Is Malik a guy who defines what Pat Moorer can do for any athlete?

“Malik came in at 217. He’s 240. If a guy comes in and, what happens a lot of times in high school is that they put on that muscle weight. A lot of them are like that. They all get built up. P-Moorer does a good job of taking their bodies and redefining them and tearing them down and putting the weight back on.”

Beatty talked about recruiting Texas. Talk about importance of getting players and keeping those players in-state

“There are a lot of good players, and the Texas high school coaches do a great job in this state. We’ll always recruit this state because we are the University of Texas and it will always be our home ground. It’s like anything else, when you have needs and you can’t get what you want, you have to go outside the state. We always focus on this state.”

AD and Patterson

“Steve has been great for me. Everything I’ve asked for, he’sdone it for me. Hess done an unbelievable job. There’s some type of drama and something going on. It’s his first year into it. We saw the job that Deloss Dodds has done. Steve would do the same.”

Norvell, Haley, and Traylor

“You look at the job that Jay has done, and he’s got a young receiving group that really improved over the spring. Jay’s an unbelievable coach. Very detailed. Gets a lot out of his players. Then you look at Brick Haley. Getting Brick from LSU was a big hire for us. Same thing with the relationship to his players. Hard coach. Very detailed. Another good hire was Jeff Traylor. The thing that Jeff has brought to the table is his relationship knowing all the Texas high school coaches, but also he’s a very conscientious guy. Wants to do it right for you. He’s one of those guys. I tease him all the time. I said you wear me out. He calls me about 20 times a day. He’s so concerned because he wants to make sure he’s going his job the right way.”

Marcus Johnson. When you tell guys that they haven’t done anything, does it light a fire under them?

“I tell you what we did. Somewhere in the range of 30-35 guys I brought in this summer. They thought they were coming to see me. They got shocked, I brought them into our staff meeting room and coaches were around the table. I said what I needed to say about each of them. I had every coach around the table. The reason I did that, I said to them I want you to know what we think about you and how much better you need to get. It was good. It was unbelievable. You let them talk. I told them it wasn’t good enough. Your effort wasn’t good enough. Marcus was one of those guys. We called it a hot seat. He had a chance to sit in the hot seat.”

Quandre said guys weren’t bothered by losing. Has there been an attitude change?

“That’s what has to happen. It’s probably just as big of my mistake as it was there. Usually when you come into a program that has as much pride and tradition as this one, you would think that it would burn you when you lose a game. That you just can’t live with yourself. That’s the way I’ve always been. No matter who you lose to, it should just eat you up. That hamburger shouldn’t taste that good after you lose a game, but some of these guys would eat two or three that tasted very good. That’s why Diggs said what he said. We had become a program where it was a destination and guys were just happy to be here. We talk about the Arkansas loss and I grind them out with that. They probably get tired of me talking about that. I want them to feel it. I want to talk about it all the time. I want them to burn. I want them to hear what was said about them. Now you can see it changes because the team is beginning to change. When the team changes everything around you will change.”

How did the kids take the hot seat?

“The defensive back chair wasn’t very comfortable for you because there wasn’t much you could defend. I would open it up. Every other coach would join it. It was good. If you’re on offense you had a chance to hear what the defensive coaches said about you. When Tyrone sat down, he heard what Coach Bedford said. When Jerrod sat down, he heard what Coach Bedford said. Not just what Coach Watson said. He had a chance to hear what the wide receiver coach had to say. Sometimes you need those type of meetings so those guys can understand how you feel. It was about 35 guys. It was a good number. Probably a little more than that. The first day they didn’t know. At the end they told the second group what was going on. Some of those guys walked in to the second day. They may have thought they were ready for that chair but they weren’t ready for it.

Any guys leave

“No guys have decided to transfer or leave. It’s hard to transfer or leave a program like the one you have cause where else are you going to go where it’s going to be better. Sometimes you need those conversations.”

Length of time

Sometimes you could be in there for 45 minutes. If you were some players, you were in there for 15 to 20. They weren’t a while. It wasn’t one of those things that was two minutes where I shook your hand, good to see you.”

Bielema

“They’re posted. Walk down there, you’ll see them. When you get beat like that, guys will make those comments.”

Hardest thing you didn’t anticipate

“The way we go out and compete. You think we would go out and compete because we are the University of Texas. Just go out and go play hard. That’s what we didn’t do.”

Special Teams. What are you hoping to see?

“I told Nick Rose instead of him worrying about those trick shots I want to see him make it from 40 in. I said the first time you don’t, you will be running, because you want to post these videos about you kicking. We aren’t going to get the opportunity to kick that far. Special teams we have to improve. It’s another phase. A lot of times people think its offense and defense. We have to do a better job covering. We have to have a better return game. We have to just overall. Nick got good the second part of the season. HE was a lot better than in the first part of the season. He can’t have a field goal blocked and returned for a touchdown. You can’t just have a gimmie shot. You got to go out and execute. You can’t miss field goals.”

Satellite camps

“We haven’t decided yet but next year if that’s a thing we’ll be all over the place.”

How about in Florida?

“We’re gonna put them in places where guys ain’t gonna like it.”

Mad at Michigan and HS coaches opening doors to OOS programs?

“It’s not just high school coaches. They’re getting a free clinic. The thing is that if one conference says you can’t do it, it should be like that for every conference. Now that they’ve opened the door it’s become a recruiting tool is all it is. But they say that you aren’t allowed off campus in May. Head coaches can’t go anywhere. I can go do a satellite camp and I can go. I don’t get that. I can’t go anywhere in the month of May, but I can leave campus and go do a satellite camp. You’ve got to help me out on that one.”

What’s the last year been like in this conference?

“This is an up-tempo league, the coaches are great coaches and they do a great job of taking their team and getting them ready to play. We did a poor job last year. It’s an explosive league.”

Visiting Morgantown

“It’s a great venue. Unbelievable fans. Dana does a great job. I know his team will be ready to play. I don’t have to worry about that for a long time.”

TCU comparisons as far as record?

“This time a year ago they were sitting in the position we’re in. All of a sudden they exploded. We have to get our camp right. I don’t like to look at other programs because I know that we have a lot of work ourselves.”

Advantage by not naming a starter?

“No, by then it’s going to come out who the starter will be. They’re going to read everything that were writing about and what’s said on social media. It’s not so much we’re trying to keep a secret from them, we need to get the right person in there for ourselves. Tyrone Swoopes will be on the first team heading into camp. Heard will get snaps as well.”

Stadium enhancements

“It’s great for the league anytime you expand. If it can help you put more people in the seats it’s great. The atmosphere becomes better. You’re always looking to improve and you have to improve the way the recruiting war is.”

Things learned from Coach Holtz

“I talk to coach Holtz all the time. We talked last week. His house got hit by lightning. Just building a total person is what we always talk about. It’s all about everything that is important, making sure the player understands that.”

Tight ends?

“Jeff is an amazing coach. He does a great job. When he was at Gilmer he did a great job. What he’s done for us is help us close the gap with high school coaches in this state. You look at Jeff, and he was an unbelievable Texas high school coach. He won a couple championships. He’s really conscientious, he’s a good recruiter, he has a great relationship with the players. You can see why and I can see why he was so successful in high school because of the work that he puts into it.”

Jason Hall, as a box safety in 2015

“Jason is pretty right now. I don’t see that. He is one of those guys who we put him in the box. Whenever we play him down he’ll come into the box. He can play all over.”

Swoopes playing faster?

“That’s what helps you. You take the thinking out of it. There’s always going to be thinking involved with the offensive side of the ball. Now what Tyrone can do is the plays have been called. It’s all about matchups and it’s what you’re looking for. You’re able to count people, just get the ball out of your hands. If anything just turn around and hand the ball to JGray and let him get it down the field.”