Charlie Strong’s hold at Texas is tenuous and is weakening by the day.

The third-year head coach is 14-18 overall and even Texas athletic director Mike Perrin, one of Strong’s staunchest supporters in the past, gave a “not talking” when questioned about his head coach’s future following a 24-21 loss to Kansas State on Saturday.

Texas’ losses, in a vacuum, aren’t poor. They’ve come against four teams with winning records, and three of those came in difficult road contests. According to a Power Five assistant whose team played Texas this season and last year, the stem of the issue for the Longhorns isn’t found in the losses themselves.

It’s a squandering of talent.

“I don’t care if he wins out,” the assistant told 247Sports this week — before Texas' loss Saturday. “He’s gotta go. If you could see what we saw on film [defensively], it’s unbelievable. Their players are so talented. I don’t care what they say. These guys are not coaching them.

“Tom Herman would have this roster in the Final Four next year.”

Another coaching staff who played Texas this season came away with the impression that as physically imposing as the Longhorns are off the bus, they're soft on the field.

Herman is looming shadow that’s hovered above Texas and Strong for the entire 2016 campaign. Strong, in his third season, doesn’t seem to have a consistent foothold on what was a massive rebuild when he arrived. All the while, 163 miles to the Southeast is Herman, who will be the hottest available name on the coaching search market.

Multiple sources told 247Sports earlier this month that Texas would be Herman's dream job.

The 41-year-old Herman is a former Texas graduate assistant and recruits the Lone Star State as well as anyone. He’s a shiny toy in the window display for the Longhorns. Many boosters, sources say, are afraid if they don’t act now he’ll be snatched up by someone else. LSU is looking for a new coach; Oregon could be as well, and it’s not out of the question that UCLA and USC do the same in Herman’s home state. All are attractive jobs, and Texas can’t expect Herman to wait around if it gives Strong another year.

Despite back-to-back losing seasons to open his Texas tenure, Strong reeled in a pair of Top 10 recruiting classes. Five-star linebacker Malik Jefferson headlined those groups, and he backed that up in his first season earning Freshman All-American honors.

But Jefferson, in high school a roving havoc maker on the edge, is playing middle linebacker at Texas and has struggled. He’s totaled 40 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. It appeared against Kansas State that Texas briefly benched Jefferson. Those numbers aren’t bad, but they’re also not the step forward many predicted when Jefferson was named Big 12 Preseason Defensive Player of the Year.

“Malik isn’t the same guy as he was last year,” the assistant said. “We’d die for a player with that talent, but he’s not being used right. He needs to be on the edge. If you run at him, he’s weak.”

It’s not just Jefferson with stunted growth. Holton Hill and Davante Davis earned All-Big 12 honors as freshman, but both have slumped as sophomores. Hill isn’t even on the field for large stretches of the game as Texas sits at 102nd nationally against the pass.

“Their cornerbacks, guys Charlie recruited, are not being coached up,” the assistant said.

All in all, the Longhorns have the No. 11 most-talented roster in college football, per the 247Sports Team Talent Composite, yet at 3-4, don't have the record to match.

Strong fostered a reputation as a talent developer in his time at Louisville. The Cardinals, with players Strong recruited, had draft picks in record-breaking numbers the past two NFL drafts.

But, at least so far, the Longhorns haven’t seen that type of returns with his four- and five-star recruits. Texas is the most talented team in the Big 12 – Strong even recently said so – and right now the results aren’t matching those credentials. Those around the league are dubious that'll ever happen under his watch.