You make it seem like jumping to a bigger school is only about money and is always a mistake. Yes bigger schools have baggage but that's part of any big program and has seemed to work out well for Urban, Saban, Kelly, Harbaugh and tons of other P5 head coaches who made the jump currently and historically. You point out Sumlin and Strong as if their fate has been set and their image has been completely tarnished. But the last time I checked, these guys haven't performed all that well on the field (one worst then the other obviously) but yet still have their jobs at the premier state schools, both top 5 paid coaches, and were pretty much given blank checks to bring in new coordinators of their choice recently. Who knows what will happen next season, but if they get fired, I don't think you can blame it on the school anymore than on their records and/or how they ran the program. Sumlin is brought up a lot for obvious reasons but how come there is no mention of Briles and the big mistake he made by leaving?
Truth is every single one of us on the planet can be tempted to greener pastures at some point. Herman deciding to stay before the UH pay raise aligns with the "insider" reports that the donors got reassurances that he would give the school a chance to actually turn the program into a major player for a P5 conference. Fact: He could have left for SC, possibly Georgia but he decided Houston is a better fit. That doesn't mean if Texas came at him in the future with bigger money he wouldn't bolt but there is a chance that he might decide he wants to have the power that Houston has already granted him. He can do it HIS way. And if his way gets Houston in a better conference, he keeps winning and going to major bowl bids, then Texas would have to give up more power that the money bags won't want to part with. At this point, as a Coog just smile, enjoy the good times while they last. We should finish in the top 10 after a near perfect season. Big time recruits are staying home (Oliver/Cleveland) Big time transfers are coming to UH (Allen) and the work is starting to steam roll, 2017 is looking even better. These good times could be here for another 3 years easy.
coaches are hired, fired, come and go all the time. why get hung up about now? btw..., predicting herman leaving(or any coach) is literally the worst prediction of all time. it like predicting the sun will set this evening.
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JTZsawX2WSk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Agree with your post completely (right down to having zero skin in the game: don't listen to 610/don't care about UH football). Herman, frankly, should have never agreed to the call - he was too angry/emotional and obviously had a very strong (negative) opinion of Nick before he ever picked up the phone. A good PR person would have steered Herman 100s of miles from that call. And, sure enough - I think his anger/emotion ultimately got the best of him and obscured the point he was trying to make (which, if true, is a legitimate gripe/concern). And then he did himself no favors by, frankly, being wildly disrespectful to Nick. I don't have any issue with Nick, as the host, interjecting himself and, beyond that, I thought he handled himself fairly well. Herman asking who he was; if he was 19... those comments were inappropriate and made Herman look petty and immature. I also thought Herman further undermined himself by more or less admitting that (I assume) Durate (and whoever else) are essentially under his thumb. I bet he regrets pulling back the curtain that far. He absolutely implied, explicitly, that his guys not breaking the story was an issue and, frankly, that is of zero relevance or consequence. Lopez has no obligation to Tom Herman in that regard. Made him look like a control freak. All in all, not a great moment for Herman, IMO.
Really the biggest issue for me is that Lopez didn't contact Herman/UH about the story before going with it. That seems very Stephen A Smith/Chris Broussard-ish. UH may have refused to comment, or denied it, sure, but if he tells them 'hey, I am going to run with this story unless you tell me it's wrong' perhaps they would have corrected the in-person bit.
Seriously. Unless your name is Paterno, Bowden or Snyder, you're probably not going to coach at the same school for the next 30 years. Everyone knows that, so not sure why some people are so intent on trying to rain on the Coogs parade.
I agree. I think that he didn't speaks to state of journalism these days. As much as Lopez can protest the idea that this wasn't about breaking news... it's very likely he didn't call UH because he knew it would have activated Herman's mouthpieces and he would have lost the scoop.
I'm sure the race to be first played into it heavily, but these days you can literally be ready to pull the trigger and send the tweet/story in seconds so he could have had it lined up and ready to go while on the phone with UH. IMO you shouldn't sacrifice integrity to be first, and in fact I think by doing things the right way (like Berman and Duarte) you gain so much more credibility even if you aren't the one breaking every story. From now on, every time Lopez writes something there is going to be a level of doubt, whereas I don't think anyone EVER doubts what Duarte and Berman put out.
I wouldn't characterize Duarte and Berman as "doing things the right way" so much as doing what they're told. They're trading their journalistic integrity for access. They didn't run the story (assuming they even knew) because Herman told them not to, likely by promising them exclusive coverage once he, Herman, was ready to announce it. (Or promising them another story.) He lays that out very specifically in the interview; hey, Mr. Doesn't Cover our Practices or Have Me on the Air - this was my guys' beat; not yours. I understand that's often how journalism works but it's kind of ****ty.
If you just look at the thread on the Texans board where Lopez's "breaking news" that Wilfork was not going to sign with the Texans just hours before he actually signed (not to mention him throwing names of other teams that Wilfork was interested in), you'll see the first couple of pages just everything blasting him or making fun of his "sauces". And these doubt were before he signed or anything was proven wrong from his report. Suffice to say, Lopez's credibility has been shot for a long time before anything involving UofH....you don't see people make those kind of snarky comments on anything Berman says.
Actually looking back at that thread seems like everyone was suspicious of Lopez's article except for Hey Now! who kept trying to defend it or at least find reason in it. So to all you Cougar fans take any of Hey Nows! "unbiased posts" in this thread as maybe a little biased.
Ha! Was I really? Do you have a link? I'd love to go read it; I sincerely have no recollection of it. FWIW, I don't think I've really defended Lopez here. I think it's a tricky spot and a product of the ever-evolving role of news. He *should* have called Herman for comment; at the same time, I'm sure he realized that doing so would have led to nothing and/or him being scooped - and if he trusts his source explicitly...... Again, we don't live in the same world I did when I studied journalism in school. This day and age - I mean, I could have walked by, saw them meeting, Tweeted it and made it a news story (would have been hard since I couldn't pick either out of a line-up, but...) If Lopez has trusted, reliable sources who knew for a fact it was happening (and, at the very least, they knew they were talking, it sounds like, weeks before anyone else), then I don't honestly know if his situation is much different.
sure http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=263477&page=3 About halfway down the page (page 3) is when someone posts Lopez's link saying Wilfork left town with no deal and was talking to Colts, Ravens...etc.
Jumping to a bigger school isn't just about money, it is about the ability to get better support and recruits to win. For most people that is a major draw, but, based on what Herman said early on (not even discussing UH) there is a major price paid to have those jobs with boosters, administrators, politicians etc. Herman in particular discussed Ohio State and how the success and size of the program limits a coaches influence. Herman may very well eventually leave UH, but his approach to the job, incorporation of the city of Houston, insisting improved facilities and absolute control of the program (he gets whatever he wants) and entrenching media figure heads all are consistent with someone planning to be long term. Sumlin and Briles never had that level of involvement. Sumlin and Strong are both probably out. Then again, other than a 3-4 period with Brown, when was the last time UT hired a really good coach? How many in the last 40 years? Briles made the right move going to Baylor and no one at UH was shocked. Yet some are connecting Briles to UT.... Also if UH gets a P5 offer, there isn't really much difference between the two jobs.
First off, let's be totally clear on this, Lopez has NEVER had anything nice to say about UH since he's been a journalist/radio personality here in Houston. In fact he's spewed dig after dig about UH any chance he's had, and anyone who's been paying attention knows this. Andre Ware recently got into it with him recently after Lopez was popping off (again) how dangerous it was to go watch a UH game because of the area. Anyone who's taken the time to go over there knows this is total BS, and good for Andre for calling Lopez out on it. Lopez went on and on about his "reputation" in this city, and felt that Herman was undermining it? Lopez isn't some random dude sending out a twitter. His "reputation" was in the role of a journalist, and thus he just showed his true colors by not checking any of the facts regarding the Allen story. More importantly he didn't care. Well you know who cares? Tom Herman cares, because his "reputation" and more importantly his CREDIBILITY (NOT to A&M & UT fans/alums, or any other schools alums/fans, radio hacks, journalists, people like you HeyNow who don't care one way or another), but to him and his family first, his friends, his assistants/players, the UH administration, the alums/fans of UH, and the players (and their parents) that he and his staff are recruiting to UH. He's NOT going to let some POS like Lopez tarnish it by spewing things that aren't the truth. These two freakin idiots want to hide behind "it doesn't pass the smell test"? Did Herman and Allen meet (physically face to face in Houston) as Lopez claimed? That would be a big NO!!! Did Applewhite accompany Herman to said face to face meeting in Houston? Again that would be a big NO. In fact, if he did, this would have been an NCAA violation, and I guarantee Lopez knew this as well and thus he had an agenda. Go try and tell someone you've "met" with them before, and when this other person says, "we have?" and then you come back with, "it was on the phone", anybody who has a freakin brain will say "well that's NOT meeting". Again ONE more detail that this POS couldn't get right, and to say that none of these details DON'T matter (especially from a guy who's concerned about his "reputation" which was built as a journalist) is just flat out LAUGHABLE!!!! Also, implying that Herman has "his" journalists under his thumb is total BS as well Hey Now. What he was "implying" is guys like Berman and Duarte have "reputations" as well AND more importantly their "reputations" were built on NOT THROWING **** AGAINST THE WALL AND HOPING SOMETHING WILL STICK AND CARING ABOUT GETTING THE FACTS CORRECT. Something Lopez knows NOTHING about, and obviously doesn't care. And if they got something wrong they would be man enough to admit that they were wrong. So anyone who thinks Herman was wrong for calling this POS (and his anti UH agenda) out go ahead and keep on believing whatever you want to believe. What's the old saying "those that mind don't matter and those matter don't mind". DAMN STRAIGHT!!! Like Herman pointed out, Lopez has NEVER been over to UH to speak with Herman, he's never been to a practice, and since it's "dangerous" to go to a game because of the area we know he's never done that either, nor has he had Herman on his show (when practically every other radio sports shows, both locally and nationally have had him on). All of this over the past yr, and during this time (one yr) he was able to get the #4 rated player in the country to commit to his program (Oliver, who by the way is a HOUSTON kid as well), and has a top 25 recruiting class thus far, started the season off 10-0 AND just beat the **** out of FSU in the Peach Bowl when everyone outside the UH program/alums/fans thought FSU would DESTROY the Coog's and finished up 13-1 and more then likely will finish in the top 10. Higher then Lopez's Aggies or the Whorns mind you! Every true UH alum/fan who heard (or knows about this conversation with Lopez) is happy as hell that he had the BALLS to call this POS out and that it was LONG overdue!! Go Coog's!!!
Before you pass out... as I said in my very first post: if Herman's account is accurate, he has every right to be upset and set the story straight, which he did, via the press release. Press releases are safe; press releases are agnostic - especially when you're dealing with an obviously angry/emotional man. And that’s why he never should have gone on the air, because… ...when you're angry and emotional, you tend to go off message and say things you're going to later regret. And, IMO, it cost Herman some credibility, at least with this issue. When he said something to the effect of taking food out of his friends' (they're friends?) mouths; ie they could have/did get in trouble for being scooped - that very much exposes their tit-for-tat relationship. Joseph Durate doesn't work for Tom Herman - why does Herman care if he gets scooped/in trouble? Think about that for a minute........ Do you think Bill O'Brien or AJ Hinch care if John McClain or Evan Drelich get in trouble for being out-scooped on the Texans/Astros?... And btw, if the story is, as Herman claims, 100% wrong - then why would Durate and/or Berman get in trouble for missing it?... Think about that, too. Again: release a statement; don't go on air and pop off. You end up saying way too much. Beyond that, his "how many practices have you been to" rhetoric strongly implies that Herman gives journalists preferential treatment if they treat the program nicely. That's SOP, frankly - but it's not really something you want the coach explicitly stating - especially if you're one of the journalists in question. Again: release a statement, walk away. And whatever you do, don't wallow in the mud with the pigs. If I were working PR at UH, I wouldn't have let him within 3000 miles of that show. While all likely true, it's 100% irrelevant. Journalists, good or bad, do not owe Herman - or any other coach/player, or other journalist, for that matter - a thing. And by pointing it out, again, he strongly implies that he gives preferential treatment to journalists that are friends of the program (and with him, personally, it seems). You're obviously a big fan; Herman seems like a terrific coach. Good for you and the program. But his performance on the radio was not his finest moment, IMO Uhm… it's just “Coogs”....
