Oct 22, 2016; Dallas, TX, USA; Houston Cougars head coach Tom Herman on the sidelines against the SMU Mustangs at Gerald J. Ford Stadium. SMU won 38-16. Photo Credit: Ray Carlin-USA TODAY Sports
AUSTIN, Texas — In the hurried, yet calculated, 16-hour stretch that began immediately after the end of Texas’ 31-9 regular-season-ending loss to TCU on Nov. 25, school and athletic officials took the final steps to oust Charlie Strong as the Longhorns’ football coach and hire Houston’s Tom Herman to replace him.
The question now is: did Texas officials act too hastily in their pursuit and hiring of Herman for a coaching position that’s unique and overwhelming — even in the get-it-done-now-or-get-out world of college football — in its expectations and pressures?
“What is important is in the end we got our man,” University of Texas president Greg Fenves said. “And that man is the hottest coach in college football today, and he is here to lead the Longhorns.”
Yes, Texas got its man. But is Herman the right man for the job, a position in Austin with so many moving parts that it’s too much for most seasoned coaches to handle, much less one with just two years of head coaching experience?
Herman was 22-4 in his two years at Houston and his teams played best when the spotlight shone the brightest as the Cougars were 6-0 in those two seasons in games against top 25 ranked teams.
Texas officials certainly believe they made the correct choice. When asked Sunday at Herman’s introductory press conference if anyone else had been considered for the position in the hours after Strong’s firing, Texas athletic director Mike Perrin was definitive in his response.
“Herman was our choice after meeting with him (Friday) night, and I’m very, very impressed with everything he did to get to this point in his career — so he’s the clear choice,” Perrin said. “When you look at the pedigree of someone’s training, the discipline they bring to the practice of their craft, and the discussions I had with Tom about all of that, I was convinced that he could do the job, and I remain so convinced. He’s an exceptional talent. (I’m) delighted to have him here.”
Texas obviously felt a sense of urgency to get Herman in the fold in the wake of LSU’s courting of the coach in the week between the Longhorns’ nearly unthinkable loss to Kansas and the afternoon after Thanksgiving when Texas played TCU with a bowl spot still on the line.
On Thanksgiving Day, internet reports began to surface that Herman was headed to LSU, accelerating the process that Fenves said he already had in mind if things didn’t work out with Strong.
“I turned off my Twitter account a week ago,” Fenves said Sunday with a sly grin. “Coaching changes happen quickly, and we knew we would have to be ready to act if needed. Based on my assessment, it became clear to me that Tom Herman would be our target. We were waiting for Friday, the end of the season. I had my plan. I don’t let the distractions of media or social media affect my planning.”
Once Perrin and Fenves made their decision to fire Strong after the loss to TCU, it was a race against time — and other potential suitors — to land Herman.
Fenves and Perrin met Herman Friday night, agreed then in principal that he would become the 30th head coach in the Longhorns’ storied gridiron history and returned to Austin. Perrin fired Strong on Saturday morning and announced less than an hour later that Herman was coming to Austin.
It may go down as the fastest coaching hire in recent years, but the workings of this deal had been going on behind the scenes for quite a while.
As the Longhorns lost their final three games and guaranteed themselves a losing season that eventually ushered him out the door, Strong repeatedly discussed the “noise” around the Texas program and the intense expectation of success put on the players to win to help him keep his job.
Herman said Sunday that he and his players would not buckle to those kinds of pressures.
“I think pressure is that uneasy feeling that you feel when you’re unprepared,” Herman said. “Pressure is self-inflicted. Pressure is self-doubt when you’re unprepared. We’re prepared for this job. We’re prepared for success at this job. We’re prepared for adversity in this job. So I don’t feel any sense of pressure at all.”
Strong said in late-season interviews that whoever coaches at Texas in 2017 and beyond will win 10 games and a national championship very soon. Those are pretty lofty goals to set for Herman and his staff, especially with a team that’s accumulated just 16 wins in its 37 games over the past three seasons.
“There’s never going to be any greater expectations from anybody outside of our program,” Herman said. “The biggest expectations we’ll always have for the University of Texas will be from within.
“This program is going to be really hard — winning is hard,” Herman added. “They don’t give and hand out championship trophies. None of that will change because the formula, the blueprint doesn’t; it always works as long as the people put in the necessary effort and energy. The blueprint and plan can only be screwed up by people and the decisions they make.
“So if we recruit really good players, like we’re going to do here at the University of Texas, and if you execute that plan, for the love of your guy next to you and for the love of your position coaches and for the love of the program, then really, really good things are going to happen.”
