Texas fires Charlie Strong, will coach season finale vs. TCU

— -- AUSTIN, Texas -- The University of Texas has decided to fire Charlie Strong as football coach, according to ESPN's Brett McMurphy and multiple reports.

Strong will coach the Longhorns' final regular season game Friday against TCU before stepping down. He's 16-20 in three seasons at Texas and 12-14 in Big 12 play. His final game will clinch either a bowl bid or his third seven-loss season.

Strong is owed a buyout of $10.7 million for the remaining two years on his contract, a fee which would be reduced if he takes another job. The decision to part ways with Strong became inevitable Saturday night after Texas (5-6, 3-5 Big 12) lost 24-21 in overtime to a Kansas team that was 1-9 and had lost its last 19 Big 12 games.

His final season at Texas began with a dramatic 50-47 double overtime victory over a preseason top-10 Notre Dame team, a feat that moved the Longhorns from unranked to No. 11 in the AP poll. But that game would not prove to be a turning point for the program, and the Fighting Irish are currently 4-7.

After losses to Cal and Oklahoma State, Strong demoted his longtime defensive coordinator Vance Bedford and put himself in charge of Texas' struggling defense. The Longhorns pulled off another upset victory over Baylor and had an opportunity to finish 8-4 and save Strong's job. After close losses to West Virginia and Kansas, they're now 5-6.

Some Texas boosters were already exerting "extreme pressure" on Texas leadership to move on from Strong and pursue Houston coach Tom Herman, ESPN's Brett McMurphy reported Saturday.

Texas president Greg Fenves and athletic director Mike Perrin publicly offered their support for Strong during the season, and Strong acknowledged last week that Fenves would "take a long look" at the program's progress at the end of the season.

But Texas' first loss to Kansas since 1938 sealed Strong's fate, and he'll finish with the worst winning percentage of any head coach in school history. Strong replaced longtime Texas coach Mack Brown in January 2014 after successfully rebuilding Louisville, where he went 23-3 in his final two seasons.

Texas went 6-7 in Strong's debut season and lost to Arkansas in the AdvoCare V100 Texas Bowl to end a tumultuous year in which nine players were dismissed from the program and starting quarterback David Ash suffered a career-ending concussion in his first game.

He's been coaching through hot seat speculation ever since a 1-4 start to the 2015 season. Strong demoted offensive playcaller Shawn Watson after a season-opening loss to Notre Dame and struggled through another up-and-down year for a 5-7 finish despite upset wins over Oklahoma and Baylor.

After the season, Strong hired Tulsa's Sterlin Gilbert as his new offensive coordinator and brought in four more new assistants. The Longhorns finally developed a successful quarterback this year in true freshman Shane Buechele, who's thrown 2,740 yards and 21 touchdowns, and running back D'Onta Foreman (1,863 yards, 15 TDs) leads the nation in rushing. Despite that offensive talent, Texas came up short in too many close games with losses by margins of 3, 3, 4, 5 and 7 points this season.

Against Kansas, the Longhorns gave away six turnovers and blew an 11-point fourth-quarter lead. They're now 1-17 when trailing at halftime during Strong's tenure.