I reckon it begs the question, who cares if it's free agent chaos every year. Is that a problem? It sounds more like free will. Happens every day in the real world, but doesn't seem to be a big issue. This is all about the Universities controlling their interest. There would be better ways to do that by giving the player an incentive to stay rather than a penalty if they leave.
It's lost on me how people think it's ok for Herman to cite wanting to play "at the highest level" and "for championships" as some plausible excuse. What do you think he sold his recruits on? What do you think he and his agent sold UH on to become, after 1 year, the highest paid G5 coach in the country? Think he walked in to Ed Oliver's living room, brother alongside, and told Ed he wouldn't get a chance to play for championships? Think he told Kyle Allen that the Poulan Weed Eater Independence Bowl, circa mid 90's of course, would come calling at season's end as the pinnacle? Don't be a condescending jerk with your - when convenient - honesty and integrity crap Herman. And what's more, don't troll the "Championships" line out there as though you didn't tell every single recruit that he could accomplish that or have a chance at that if he came to UH. It's THAT simple. No one is acting like he took the first bite of the apple - and if they are it's out of line and inaccurate. It's all in the details breh. And if you can't see that, you're trying too hard not to. It's not a good look.
#1 I have never heard it put that UT holds "too high a standard",it is more that the donors wield too much power and attempt to influence the schools football decisions than most universities and that is absolutely true. Look no farther than Red McCombs statements about Charlie Strong. #2 The claim that the fans didn't support Herman or UH is false. The averaged 95% capacity for the season, and that doesn't include several games where fans were turned away. Also the television ratings were high. The idea that fans stopped showing up this year is simply FALSE. #3 The plans to expand and improve the facilities were already plotted and planned out before Herman became the coach. The credit belongs to Renu and TF. Those two deserve all the credit/blame. #4 Tom Herman certainly energized the fan base and deserves a lot of credit doing so. He recruited very well and (when focused) proved to be an exceptional strategist and game manager. For as much as he grits his teeth at the media and nosy boosters, he will get the type of control he craves at UT if he wins. He can work a room when he needs to and you will be hard pressed to find a sharper football mind.
Hey it isn't okay and it speaks to Tom Herman and the profession on a personal level. Tom Herman is willing to lie and deceive 18-19 years to get what he wants. Is that shitty and should it bother him late at night? Yeah it should... but Herman isn't the first football coach to sell out his recruits... it is par for the course in that profession.
Good thoughts. Nice to hear an objective viewpoint enter the fray. I suspect all the warm media love Herman has received nationally since Friday night - and in particular since his Saturday morning interview - really affirms your meaningful, unbiased, entirely useful, and certainly necessarily input......oh, wait. And yeah, everyone is going to come in and say the same thing - though not everyone will be douchey enough to make honesty and integrity the fulcrum of his pitch - with absolutely 0 intention of honoring it via the status quo. And, since you seem to have a list handy - how many guys proclaim they can win championships in locale X, recruit kids to locale X on said premise, and every offseason hunt what's out there under the auspicious of winning championships at future locale Z. Go ahead...I'll wait...
The signals were clear from the middle of last season but most chose to ignore it and buy into the belief Herman wouldn't leave us (this quickly). What's done is done. He's followed our unfortunate tradition of successful coaches leaving us behind. He's shown his character and who he truly is in the process. No point in keeping that convo going as he's gone and ain't coming back. Our focus should be directed at how to better manage our circumstances of being the best G5 football program and keeping our future coaches a bit longer. What can be done from a contract standpoint for our next coach to prevent him leaving us within 2 years? What provisions can be added to deter the next coach to leave abruptly (after a season)? A contract with much higher buyouts that remain high? Stipulations that require at least a 2 game series with the school we lose the coach to by committing to a payment for a nonconference series? His contract should be filled with incentives as well that are tied into attendance, wins, conference championships, a NY6 bowl and a national championship. Plus, the NCAA requires transfer students to wait a year before playing at their new school, why isn't there a similar rule for coaches or a moratorium for when the coach can be considered and/or hired for a new job?
I hear it a lot. Texas doesn't give their coaches a chance yada yada. Red McCombs complained about Charlie after he was hired because he had no say in the hiring. That's a very clear example of a donor not having influence. UT is big enough and has enough donors that they don't have to bend over to anyone. They just have to listen to all of the rich dudes but the coach doesn't take those calls. I don't believe the donors meddled with Charlie. The attendee started strong and declined. I don't know why it's unfair to say that people stopped showing up when that's what happened. An average doesn't have anything to do with the data trend. It's misleading to only cite the percentage of capacity without regard to the total seats since their stadium is on the small end of stadiums. You should aways have more than 40,000 fans that want to go to watch a game with a city of 4 million people. I'm not going to harp anymore about it. I said as much but a lot of things are planned without given green light and construction dates. As I said, he sort of forced them to start or at least added a lot of pressure.
I'll own the ambiguity. My request probably came off as "name me any other big name coaching changes." My intent was to source the type of script I outlined: Coach publicly says he can win Championship(s) at school X, Coach recruits espousing his belief, Coach leaves citing opportunity for Championship(s) at school Y. RE: Find me where Brian Kelly said he can compete for championships at Cincinnati only to use it as the reason he's leaving for the ND job (and I think he did use it, but need step 1 also). And Kelly had the type of success at UC to where he could legitimately make the claim. Hope you find where he quoted it publicly so I can stop b****ing but even Kelly's sorry ass probably outclasses the Hermclown. Hermclown, on multiple occasions - a recent national stage being his Dan Patrick interview, has authored the scenario I've illustrated above.
I wonder what Herman is going to do with that fancy grill he had made. Maybe just wear around the house?
Basically every coach that has left a job for a better one in the last ... forever? Charlie Strong did it when he left Louisville, just as one example. He handled it better, but it's exactly what he did. Coaches are douchey. Nick Saban, greatest coach ever, did it at Michigan State when he left for LSU. Urban Meyer did it at Utah. Mack Brown, nicest guy in the world, did it at North Carolina. Every coach sells their kids on a chance at championships, and outside of the ones at the top programs, virtually every coach that gets an opportunity eventually leaves. The big exception was Chris Peterson, when he and his family really wanted to stay at Boise State for the longest time. The issue with Herman is not really what he did or that he did it. Its mostly the optics of how he handled it (walking out without informing the team, etc).
Most coaches don't recruit publicly. When Strong, Mack, Saban, Kelly, Meyer etc were all in the top 10, what do you think they were recruiting kids with? Hey come here and we'll be top 10, but we we're already at our pinnacle? Of course they all claim that they have a shot at championships - kids don't want to go places where they have no shot to win.
Didn't think you were being ambiguous. All of the guys listed were in similar, if not exact situations and told the same lies. I'm not condoning it by any means but that is the nature of the business. Do you think Saban told LSU recruits he would leave for the NFL if they came calling? What do you think Urban was telling kids at Utah and Florida before bouncing out of there? Think Petersen was selling kids on the beautiful city of Boise? What do you think Herman told Ohio State recruits before leaving for UH? He lied to them for sure but you guys had no problem then right? What if Fertita jumped in during UT negotiations, offered Harbaugh money, and UT said no thanks. You guys wouldn't care at all that he contemplated leaving and possibly stayed just for the money . He would've cited the same Championship quotes and that he never thought about leaving and y'all would've eaten it up just like UT fans are now. If fans like the outcome, they are willing to overlook lies and the fact that they looked around (i.e. SC and USC last season). But don't like the outcome and you can't fathom that they lied. And that goes for all fans for any school, team, city, etc... But just for reading pleasure...here are just a few articles on Saban, Urban, and Kelly. Google search will give you almost infinite articles on the same. Like I said, not condoning it at all and yes it absolutely sucks for the student-athletes. But Herman is no where near the first person and definitely won't be the last. http://www.espn.com/espn/columns/story?id=2718798&columnist=forde_pat http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/20...state-11_1_urban-meyer-new-head-coach-uf-fans http://bleacherreport.com/articles/306769-brian-kelly-packs-up-bag-of-lies-and-moves-to-notre-dame
Yes, it's an insane idea. If the head coach who recruited you when you signed on the dotted line leaves at any point during your eligibility, you get to transfer without having to sit out. Problem solved.
To echo others, of course that's what a coach sells players on. But the hurdle that any coach and player at UH has to overcome is the margin for error: there isn't one at a G5 school. Did the Cougars want to compete for a national championship? Then they shouldn't have lost to UConn last year or Navy this year (I will grant that SMU and Memphis were probably the result of injuries and uncertainty surrounding the team). One loss as a G5 school means you're finished. However, as a P5 coach, you can get into the playoff with two losses (if Michigan manages it this year). It sucks for y'all, but that's the way it is. A major conference, be it the ACC or Pac 12, will come calling for UH some day and this will all be a distant memory. If you want to cheer for a team that doesn't use the "national championships" angle to secure recruits, you should cheer for Rice.
