Red McCombs publicly dissed Charlie Strong. Strong lost to Kansas.
In my opinion, the kicker there was that LSU was also needing to hire a coach. Tom Herman was the hot property, and was eager to land at Texas. However, he wasn't waiting forever. Texas, essentially, had to make up their mind who they wanted. It was Tom.
I'm certainly not a plugged in big (or medium, or any at all) money guy, so there might be stuff I don't know about. Firing a coach is a big deal, and at this point, Texas would start to scare off anyone worthy of the job if they know they're only getting 3 seasons to get to the MNC.