Charlie Strong says he didn't kick any players off the team last offseason

Texas had quite the roster turnover following the hire of Charlie Strong from Louisville last January. It seemed like we couldn’t go a week without hearing another story about a player leaving the program or getting kicked off the team.

Strong, however, said in an interview with CBS Sports Radio’s Tiki and Tierney that he didn’t kick any players off the team. He had another way of looking at it.

“I didn’t kick them off,” Strong said. “So much was said about, ‘He walks in here and he just starts getting rid of guys.’ I always look at it like this: With our coaching staff, we’ve provided you a chance to just get it right and do what we ask you to do, and that’s what it came down to. Anytime you take over a program, sometimes you’re going to be challenged. I’m one of those coaches where I make it about the players. I want them to always understand that I’m going to do everything I can to make sure they’re successful. Now, some people don’t want to hear the message. And then when they decide that they want to run their own program, then I tell them, ‘You know what? This may not be the place for you. There’s other schools that would love to have you, so I just think that’s probably where you need to go.’”

Strong sought out to put his own stamp on the program. Year one with a new coach in charge is crucial to this, and Strong didn’t mess around. Still, no matter how Strong wants to phrase it, he made sure some players would not return for the 2014 season.

The Longhorns went 6-7 in Strong’s first season, culminating with a 31-7 loss to Arkansas in the Texas Bowl. Though he thinks the team was better than the 6-7 record indicates, Strong knows the team can do a whole lot better moving forward.

“We were probably better than what our record showed,” Strong said. “I tell our coaching staff that all the time. I just didn’t think we did a (good enough) job with what he had. A lot of times it goes back to where you have to fit your personnel to the system. We came in here and I think a lot of times coaches expect more because this is the University of Texas and you’re thinking, ‘Hey, we got all this.’ But still, at the end of the day, we had to come in and coach them, and we have to do a better job of coaching.”

Strong and his staff signed the 12th-best recruiting class in the country according to Rivals for the 2015 class, so things are looking up in Austin.

Spring practice is set to begin for the Longhorns on March 25 with the team’s spring game following on April 18.

For more Texas news, visit Orangebloods.com.

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Sam Cooper is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!

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