Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/Sports
Sports

Louisville Negotiating New Deal to Keep Charlie Strong

Posted byBy Jacobi Eaves | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

Louisville is negotiating a contract extension for coach Charlie Strong to offset an offer for the same position at  Tennessee.

Strong is in five-year deal, which is worth is $2.3 million per year. Louisville is looking to extend that deal and give him a pay raise that will be competitive with other coaches in college football, according to ESPN.

The Volunteers offered Strong the head coaching position on Wednesday after Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy turned them to down Tuesday night to stay at his alma mater, Oklahoma State.

The offer from Tennessee has the coach “going back and forth” between staying with the Cardinals or accepting the new head coaching position, according to CBSSports.com.

Strong was asked Monday whether he could say definitively if he would be back at Louisville next season, he said, “I will say that at the right time.”

Before the last game of the season against Rutgers, Strong adamantly denied rumors that he met with Auburn about its coaching vacancy, which was filled Tuesday by Gus Malzahn.

Strong is in his third season as Cardinals head coach and has guided them to a 10-2 record, a share of the Big East title this year and a berth in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. He has compiled a record of 24-14 with the Cardinals since being hired in 2010.

If Strong chooses to go to the SEC, he will be in familiar territory. He was the defensive coordinator at Florida under Urban Meyer when the Gators won national championships in 2006 and 2008. Strong also served as the defensive coordinator at South Carolina under Lou Holtz.

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Related Stories

Back to top