Strong chooses to leave Hurricanes over DC snub

Veteran coach Charlie Strong, who was Miami’s co-defensive planner and linebackers coach last season, told ESPN on Thursday that he would not go back to Miami in 2023 after being passed over for the defensive coordinator task.

“Coach [Mario] Cristobal and the program made a decision to enter a different instructions. It’s time for me to enter a different direction,” Strong said.It was reported Tuesday that Lance Guidry consented to an offer to become Miami’s defensive planner 2 days after Kevin Steele informed Cristobal he was leaving for the exact same position at Alabama. Guidry had been at Tulane for three weeks before taking the Miami task. He spent last season as Marshall’s protective organizer, and the Rumbling Herd finished in the leading 5 in six different FBS protective categories.Editor’s Picks

1 Related Strong learned of Guidry’s hiring Tuesday and stated he was never interviewed for the job. He informed Cristobal the next day that he would not be returning.A previous head

coach at Texas, Louisville and South Florida, Strong was the Jacksonville Jaguars’ assistant head coach and linebackers coach under Urban Meyer in 2021 before joining the Hurricanes’ staff.Strong, 62, has extensive recruiting ties throughout the state of Florida in addition to the Southeast. He was the Florida Gators ‘defensive planner on their 2006 and 2008 national championship teams and one of their leading recruiters. He has actually coached 15 players chosen in the preliminary of the NFL draft.Miami was 5-7 a year ago in Cristobal’s very first season as coach, the very first time the Hurricanes completed the regular season with a losing record given that 2007. They ended up connected for 67th nationally( 10th in the ACC)in scoring defense at 26.8 points per game and were 97th nationally in scoring offense (10th in the ACC )at 23.6 points per game. Miami also ended up tied for 118th nationally (beside last in the ACC )with 25 lost turnovers.