http://louisvillesportslive.net/strong-r...departure/

Strong Responds to Criticism of His Departure.

The C-J’s Adam Himmelsbach reached out to Charlie Strong a for comment after his departure stoked the flames of criticism to an all-time high. Nobody was mad at the fact Strong took the Texas gig; they were fired up at the way he left. There were several players who made their displeasure known through social media. When word got out that he was going to Texas and not meeting with the players, it looked even uglier. After reading this, it’s evident that Strong feels he could have handled this a lot better than he did. This entire episode showed in the worst way that he needs an agent to handle these situations.

It’s not Louisville’s problem any longer.

• “It’s really tough on me,” Strong said. “It’s tough because I recruited them and I don’t want anything but the best for them. It’s hard for me. It’s one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made.”
  

• I know there’s some hard feelings, and that’s what I didn’t want is hard feelings. I just don’t want them to feel like ‘Coach Strong ran out on us.’ Some people are going to feel like that, but I don’t want that feeling.”
  

• He explained that he’d been unable to schedule a meeting to talk to his players about the situation because they’d been on Christmas break. As of Sunday night, some had yet to return and he was in Texas, preparing for his press conference today.
  

• But as Strong spoke, he sounded at once sad and flustered and overwhelmed. Of course he was excited for his new job, his new opportunity, but it also seemed like the realization was setting in that he was leaving something special behind, too.