Charlie Strong Firing Offensive Coaches Shows He Means Business

The Texas Longhorns offense struggled to put points on the board in 2014. As a result head coach Charlie Strong has released wide receivers coach Les Koenning and tight ends coach Bruce Chambers.

Koenning was in his first season at Texas, while Chambers just finished his 17th season with the Longhorns.

The firing of Koenning came as a bit of a shock considering the first-year wide receivers coach helped develop John Harris into a 1,000-yard receiver. Chambers was the only remaining coach from the Mack Brown regime. With Chambers sent packing, every coach on staff will be entirely hand-picked by Strong.

One could argue the Longhorns could have had a successful season if Texas had fielded a merely mediocre offense to complement its salty defense. But that was not the case in Year 1 of the Strong era.

Coach Strong will now begin a nationwide search to replace the two coaches. The Longhorns recently received a commitment from Mesquite Poteet wide receiver DeAndre McNeal and have a verbal commitment from wide receiver John Burt out of Tallahassee, Fla. It will be interesting to see if the coaching change has any impact on those recruits or any of their current targets.

Prior to the season, Strong proved he was willing to make the changes necessary to field a successful team. The first-year head coach dismissed nine Longhorns for violating his five core values—no weapons, no drugs, no stealing, honesty and treat women with respect.

The recent coaching personnel changes further prove that he means business not only with the depth chart but with the staff as well. 

The last game of the Longhorns' 2014 season ended in a 31-7 pummeling by Arkansas in the Advocare Texas Bowl. The Texas offense had a season-low 59 total yards of offense, and 29 of those yards came in the final offensive drive of the fourth quarter.

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"We didn’t execute on offense," Strong said following the loss to Arkansas. "When we have one bad play it leads to another bad play. It’s like we can’t retain our focus. We can’t get back on track. Nobody’s making a play. We’re not blocking anybody. We’re not running the ball. We’re not protecting the quarterback. There are no playmakers."

The Longhorns finished Strong's first season with a losing record, which has only happened twice in the last 17 years.

This type of season is not the norm for the Longhorns, and Strong plans to make it clear to his team that mediocrity will not be tolerated.

"It will be a strong message," said Strong of what he plans to tell his team as it enters spring. "I don't want to say anything that I may regret later, but the message will be very clear to them."

Were these coaches losing their jobs part of the message? Who knows. But one thing is for certain, Strong is not messing around and will demand his coaches and players perform up to the Texas standard.

All quotes were obtained firsthand.

Taylor Gaspar is Bleacher Report's featured columnist covering the Texas Longhorns. Follow Taylor on Twitter: @Taylor_Gaspar.