Tom Herman, Texas
Fans of the Longhorns are obviously very excited about having Tom Herman at the helm. He went to Houston and led the Cougars to two very good seasons. Houston went 13-1 in Herman’s first season and won the American Athletic Conference as well as the Peach Bowl against Florida State.
Heading into 2016, Houston was considered to be a potential CFP darkhorse because of Herman’s hot start. The Cougars had Greg Ward Jr. at quarterback and an elite defense.
Beating Oklahoma to start the season only increased the hype surrounding both Houston and Herman. Unfortunately, neither could live up to the expectations. Houston ended up losing to Navy and SMU, and Herman took off to Austin, leaving the Cougars to lose to Memphis in the Liberty Bowl.
This is not to say Herman isn’t a good coach, because his success was evident. He was able to brand Houston as a “sexy” option for top recruits and he made a dent in the Texas area, so there are reasons to be high on him entering his first season with the Longhorns.
With that said, it’s worth pumping the breaks and taking a minute or two to realize some things about Herman.
First, he’s only entering his third year as a head football coach at the college level, so the sample size is very small. It’s hard to come to any conclusion just yet, good or bad. Second, the success he had in 2015 outside of the FSU win came against a very easy schedule, and in 2016, his team folded under the immense pressure of a CFP run.
The pressure will be high at Texas. Many expect him to be “the one” to bring the Longhorns back to prominence. It is way too early to consider him to be the savior of Texas football, however.