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AUSTIN, Texas So lets talk pre sure. Wrap your mind around that nebulous thought, that overused clich so carele sly dropped into any conversation, and reveal the true value, the true sense, of it all.That was Charlie Strong, an innocent black child growing up in Batesville, Ark., trying to comprehend men with hoods parading down his street. The boy is standing on the curb, scant feet separating him from decades of institutional racism that only those with his skin color can ultimately understand.MORE: | | | A boy who grew to become a young man, who walked on to play football at tiny Central Arkansas, who wanted to be a college profe sor but decided to give coaching football a shot. A young man who grew to become an elite a sistant coach, who was pa sed over and over and over for head coaching jobs because those same decades of institutional racism that confidently strolled down the streets of Batesville years earlier were engrained in the hearts and minds of university academia, too.A coach who nearly gave up on his dream of becoming a head coach Casey Toohill Jersey , only to get a chance at Louisville and win big, and the next thing you know, hes standing in the posh office that overlooks the gigantic stadium at the University of Texas smack in the middle of the best damn job in all of college football.I went down in the stadium and walked acro s the field and looked around and thought, wow, this is it, Strong said. I said to myself, you cannot fail, buddy. Too many people are Darrell Green Jersey counting on you.So lets talk pre sure. Not the nonsensical concept we so often use as a crutch, but real, honest-to-goodne s, core-of-your-soul pre sure.A few months after , long after the laughable idea of had whistled through here like the bats blo soming under Congre s Avenue Bridge as the burnt orange sun sets in the West, they celebrated the 50-year anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act. President Obama and the former living presidents were on hand to celebrate and commemorate, and Obama told the story of former president Lyndon Johnsons meeting with his closest advisors after suddenly inheriting the presidency when John Kennedy was a sa sinated. Johnson wanted to call on Congre s to pa s a sweeping civil rights bill, and most of his staff counseled him against it.There was too much risk, his staff warned. One particular aide told Johnson he did not believe a president should spend his time and power on lost causes, no matter how worthy. , What the hells the presidency for if not to fight for causes you believe in?Why take the Texas job the biggest, baddest, most powerful job in all of college sports with its and enough meddling, deep-pocket boosters (true or not) with the bottom line ideal of winning from Day 1 if not to use it as the fight for the one cause you believe in?For the first time since he took over at Texas, Strong is sitting in his perfectly placed office, this shining example of everything is bigger in Texas, and opening up about the game and what it means beyond Xs and Os and winning and losing.How many other Charlie Strongs are out there toiling away in college football? How many other African American men were asked to interview for a job, fly to the university, get off the plane and head to the presidents house only to have a friend call and tell him said university had already hired its coach, that he was a token interview.Its not difficult to draw a line and connect the dots between civil rights and coaching football. The cause isnt as encompa sing nor as critical, but Jonathan Allen Jersey every fight is a piece of the struggle.Thats why I stand on tall shoulders, because of the road so many men and women before me paved, Strong said. I wouldnt have this opportunity I have now if someone didnt fight the fight they fought. I never got bitter because it keeps you from moving forward. But if I have succe s here, its only going to open doors for everyone else.Unconventional interview proce sThis wasnt going to be your typical job interview. Tom Jurich had heard the stories, and knew of Strongs sudden apprehension wait, disdain of the interview proce s.There had to be a better way of making this thing work, of making Charlie Strong feel like, for the first time, an interview with Louisville really was an interview.I just felt like I had to do something completely different, Jurich says now.A few years earlier in 2007, after the disaster that was the fake interview at Minnesota (the Gophers hired Tim Brewster, who was fired four years later); after California told then-South Carolina coach Lou Holtz in the early 2000s they were going to hire Strong then didnt, the reality that it might not ever happen began to set in.The athletic director at California told me were going to hire ( Deshazor Everett Jersey Strong) tomorrow, Holtz said. I was so excited for Charlie, and then it didnt happen. You start wondering what in the world is going on here?It was then that Strong, after another failed (or is that fake?) interview Vanderbilt, California, Pittsburgh; they all run together at some point told friend John Gutekunst he was done interviewing.He was tired of the sham, and didnt want to deal with the absurdity of the proce s.At one point during all of those interviews, it had become clear that manyuniversitiesweren't comfortable with the idea of Strong's family makeup. His wife Vicki, is white.Strong downplays that idea now, but says without hesitation, "she doesn't make play calls."Fortunately there wasGutekunst, a former head coach at Minnesota and then a defensive a sistant at South Carolina with Strong, who helped Strong see the value of persevering.There are too many African American coaches who have not had the opportunity you have right now, Gutekunst told Strong. Im sorry youve been the guy who has been picked for this, but you cant quit (interviewing).Strong remembers that day, pauses, and reveals a thought proce s that was discovered and nurtured through all of those painful years.People see so many racial i sues, he says. Sometimes you have to take a step back and hear the me sage everyone has a me sage. I had a friend who was a high school coach in South Carolina about the time of the flag i sue on the state capitol. He said, Im the person I am, but my family died fighting for that flag. That kind of hit me.We dont want to hear other peoples perspective because we feel like were always right, yet we dont listen. A lot of times people think if youre going to expre s it, it has to be right. No, it doesnt. We all should step back and look at things from the other persons perspective and realize what their battles are.This is what Jurich was walking into that day in December 2009 Daron Payne Jersey when he met with Strong, who was carrying years of disappointment and distrust and still working thro