AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- His Texas tenure is still young, but the Longhorns are starting to take notice of Charlie Strong's temper.
Strong apparently has an alter ego, affectionately named "Chuck," according to his players.
On the Monday before the Longhorns' lopsided Sept. 5 38-3 loss to Notre Dame, running back Johnathan Gray explained the name.
"Chuck Strong is Coach Strong's alter ego, and you don't want Chuck to come out because Chuck is not nice," Gray told Burnt Orange Nation Monday. "Chuck will try to bury you into the ground, and like it says, Chuck Strong is very Chuck Strong."
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Gray said there was "very much a lot of Chuck" last season, and chances are the Chuck appeared in South Bend last weekend.
"From last year when Coach Strong came in, they came in guns-a-blazing," Gray told Burnt Orange Nation. "This is what it's going to be...abide by the rules, and if you don't do that, then you're going to be dismissed. So guys started to wake up and be like, okay, this guy is for real."
But Chuck may have been Charlie again in South Bend, according to a Longhorns linebacker.
"He wasn't mad," Malik Jefferson told the Houston Chronicle. "He just wants us to do better."
Strong sounded somewhat optimistic after the loss.
"I don't think we're going backwards," Strong told the Dallas Morning News. "It's the first one of the season. We have to somehow get it moving forward."
"It's always a shock when you go out and get embarrassed," Strong said.
Senior offensive lineman Taylor Doyle added to his teammates' sentiment on keeping "Chuck" at bay.
"Coach Strong demands excellence in your work ethic and everything you do," Doyle told 247Sports. "Guys are buying in and have realized if you don't buy into what he's preaching there might not be a spot on the team to you."
The Irish held the Longhorns to just 163 yards Saturday. Irish junior quarterback Malik Zaire completed 19 of 22 passes for 313 yards and three touchdowns.
The Longhorns averaged just 2.2 yards per play and ran for 60 yards.
Momentum for "Chuck" Strong appears to be gaining speed. One fan even created a Twitter account named @ChuckFnStrong. As of Monday afternoon, the account had more than 14,500 followers.
