Charlie Strong, the 2012 BIG EAST Coach of the Year, is entering his fourth season, and has the program on a tremendous path to success. Louisville is ranked 7th in the latest AP poll.
Louisville ended the 2012 season at 11-2, its most wins since 2006, and ended the year ranked 13th nationally in the polls. The Cardinals shocked the world on Jan. 2 when Louisville pounded SEC foe Florida 33-23. The Cardinals raced out to a 30-10 lead over the Gators en route to a win over one of the toughest teams in the country.
The Cardinals raced out to a school-best 9-0 start in 2012 before being upset on the road at Syracuse. However, with the Cardinals’ win in the 2012 regular-season finale against at Rutgers, Strong earned his second consecutive conference championship as a head coach (2011 and 2012), and guide Louisville to a BCS berth in the 2013 Allstate Sugar Bowl – the school’s second BCS berth.
He became the 21st head football coach at the University of Louisville on December 9, 2009. In a telephone interview that day with ESPN, former Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy, himself African American, said of Strong, “When they see what he can do, you’re probably going to have a lot of people disappointed they didn’t hire him sooner.”
On January 23, 2013 Strong was given a $1.4 million raise which brought his annual compensation to $3.7 million and raised his buyout to $5 million. At the time it made him 7th highest paid active coach in college football and highest paid coach outside the SEC, Big 12, and Big Ten conferences.
Strong received a master’s degree in education degree from the University of Florida. He is a member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.