FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2014 file photo, Charlie Strong answers questions during a news conference where he was introduced as the new Texas football coach in Austin, Texas. For the first time since 1997, the Texas Longhorns will suit up for a game without Mack Brown on the sideline. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) (The Associated Press)
AUSTIN, Texas – For the first time since 1997, the Texas Longhorns will suit up for a game without Mack Brown on the sideline.
That Saturday is just the annual spring scrimmage hardly matters. This is Charlie Strong's burnt orange coaching debut, the first time he will put a Texas team on the field that has trained under his leadership, practiced his playbook and begun taking on the identity of the coach hired to dig the program out of four years of mediocrity.
Strong already has a problem at quarterback. David Ash, the starter at the beginning of 2013 until a concussion cut short his season, now has a fractured a bone in his left foot and will not play Saturday. That leaves freshman Tyrone Swoopes to run the first-team offense.
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