Texas has its man. Hours after announcing the firing of former head coach Charlie Strong, reports surfaced that Texas had agreed to a deal with Houston head coach Tom Herman, and now the university has officially announced the hiring of Herman. It has been announced that Herman will have his introductory presser in Austin at some time tomorrow.
Yesterday’s loss to TCU in Austin marked the third consecutive losing season for the Longhorns, which is something that hasn’t happened since the 1930s. For the second year in a row the Longhorns are not going bowling, and now more than ever signaled that it was time to make a change at the top. Despite some flirtations and conversations with LSU, Herman made it known in the wee morning hours that he was leaning towards taking the Texas job and the brass in Baton Rouge moved quickly to make Ed Orgeron their next head coach.
Herman has been linked to Texas for the past year after being an instant success down in Houston in his first year at the helm, and the chatter only intensified as Houston opened up the season with an upset over Oklahoma and Texas stumbled after an early season victory over Notre Dame that doesn’t look nearly as good on paper as it once did. While Houston suffered some setbacks of their own this year against Navy, SMU, and Memphis this year, they are a bowl game victory away from notching back to back 10 win seasons for the first time in the history of the program. During Herman’s stint at Houston, he was able to notch wins over Oklahoma, Florida State, and Louisville (twice), and he was undefeated against ranked opponents on the schedule.
Herman has long been thought to be the top coaching name on the market for the second year in a row (he was linked to the South Carolina and Georgia jobs last year),but the one constant has always been his desire to be the head man at Texas. Despite there being some chatter of the leadership at Texas wanting to retain Strong at different points during the season and there being reports that LSU was close to hiring Herman on Thanksgiving, Herman has signed on the dotted line where most had him pegged for some time.
What does this mean for Texas going forward? Well it means there is legitimate chance they are able to get a real shot in the arm on the recruiting trail now with things being stagnant, as the team struggled down the home stretch and stability of the coaching staff came under fire. Hiring Herman gives them a coach with well-established Texas ties and a coach whose staff has been actively recruiting the state and region for the past two cycles. Needless to say, Herman and his staff will have to hit the ground running, several of the blue chip targets in the state of Texas are early enrollees, and the dead period is rapidly approaching. I’m not sure we will see the types of closes that we saw the past couple of cycles under Charlie Strong, but I think Texas will definitely have a shot to get back into the mix for some key targets on their board as we head into the home stretch of the recruiting cycle. In my opinion, this was the best hire Texas could make given the circumstances and given who was feasible at this juncture. Herman by no means is the perfect candidate, but I think his makeup as a coach gives him a good chance at being successful at Texas.
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