In all honesty, if the team runs the table and gets into the Playoff Series I can't be mad at Herman and his staff for heading towards bigger pastures. What I won't be able to forgive him and/or his staff is pulling a Sumlin and letting the cat out of the bag days before a big game leading to his players going into said game already defeated.
Has Orlando indicated he's interested in being a head coach? I know UH wanted to interview David Gibbs for HC he wasn't interested but wanted to come back as DC. Wondering if Orlando is one of those guys happy with being a coordinator.
Orlando was offered the DC position of his Alma mater Wisconsin and turned it down. That tells you right there he is waiting out for a head coaching position.
The biggest obstacle in retaining Herman will be UH getting into a P5 conference obviously. From there, Houston has a pretty compelling case to retaining Herman. The media blitz, #htowntakeover, has a Schnellenberger of U of Miami feel to it where he was very effective at acquiring great talent from local and surrounding areas. The Houston metro has good talent coming out annually (most of the major metros of Texas do for the matter) with a still growing population/media market for viewership dollars. Lastly, I don't see another situation where he will have as a long of leash to operate on. He has the school's backing, he has the boosters' backing, and the natives', all with less expectations than his suitor's.
Why don't yall enjoy the amazing season you're having and worry about next year next year? There's no guarantee this will happen again anytime soon. Trust me, I'm a longhorn.
You enjoy the season when the games are on and then do the sports talk fretting in between games. Speculation, conjecture, assumptions. This is tabloid talk for guys. This is what sports fans do. That's what sports media is built on.
Applewhite will get calls for HC? Not sure on that. He's having his best year by far but you always wonder how much it's the OC versus an offensive minded HC. Major has had a few stops as OC with mixed results really.
Orlando is clearly our most talented assistant, however, his entire supporting staff is full of very decorated and celebrated guys. Craig Naivar, Oscar Giles... both of those guys could be DCs in a heartbeat. I wonder how badly Orlando wants to be an HC. He doesn't seem to be a very CEO type of guy... more Xs and Os. Major... I have mixed feelings on. I think Tom is very involved in the offense and so it's hard to get a real read on Major's fingerprints. I think he has probably helped Ward mature and develop as a QB no doubt. I think you have to offer Orlando the job if Tom leaves and hope you can keep the swag level high even though Orlando isn't the most charismatic guy on the planet.
There's really nothing to complain about the offense, but Applewhite has been over-committed at times to running up the middle, difficulty in the red zone, and running that jet sweep. He's shown the ability to evolve on all three fronts eliminating the jet sweep, not running up the middle the last two games when it wasn't there, and getting creative even if unsuccessful in the red zone. In general the offense doesn't feel as high powered as the Sumlin era, but it's still running at about 90% that clip. And to see Ward's evolution over the last 2 years is an accomplishment. Major has exceeded my expectations given what I knew about him. Orlando's defense lost key players last year, especially in the secondary, and it's stronger than it has ever been in my entire life. I never thought I would see defense before I died. And here we are. It happened. We are competing with the P5 schematically, physically, and getting results unlike the past where we were gashed and prayed that the offense would keep up. The defense is aggressive, unpredictable, takes out the key players, and maintained what it had been doing well before he got here, which is to get negative plays, and turnovers. 100% sold.
I don't think Applewhite calls will be at any big name schools. However when you have been an OC in programs like Texas and Bama and currently top 12 in scoring offense, and 2015 #10 scoring offense someone will come calling. Hell Kliff Kingsbury had half the experience as Major has and Kliff is making over $3 million. Side note: He's barely a .500 coach. So yes some program will take the chance, Major may not like the school or maybe the offer won't be tempting enough to jump but the phone will ring. Rice needs somebody for starters. If Herman goes to Texas, naturally Major would get a big fat raise to follow him back to Texas as the OC.
Not everybody is as stupid/desperate as Tech. Applewhite will get a call from a program like Rice or Tulsa.
Kingsbury also won back to back Offensive Coordinator of the Year awards, and led both UH and A&M (in the SEC) to 1st and 3rd ranked offenses. Even then, a lot of people questioned the hiring and still are really. But ya I agree, it won't be a big name that comes calling if one does. Not sure how natural it would be for Major to come back either. His time back as UT-OC wasn't all that great and was topped off by an affair which could still leave a bad taste in some folk's mouth. With that said, don't think UT would say no if Herman wanted him back.
At the time, I thought Kingsbury was going to be a great coach and I was pissed at the administration for not offering Kingsbury for our vacancy over Levine. I guess it worked out though.
Someone put together a GoFundMe to have 40,000 Herman "Come and Take Him" shirts printed for the Louisville game. The goal was $20,000 and it's already over $16,000 in just two days. The few bucks I donated is less than what I'd pay for the shirt on its own. Sounds like a good investment to me.
I'm scared too, but I really like the message it sends. It shows a ton of solidarity and unity (something I've never really seen out of the alums and students), and Herman seems like the type of guy to eat that stuff up. It's wishful thinking, but maybe it will make him feel like he's part of something bigger. Or maybe we're all just idiots and he jumps ship no matter what
Don't worry, the people of Gonzales were afraid too when they first put the flag up and if the Mexican soldiers had just rolled in immediately there's nothing that little cannon or the people could have done to stop them. Hopefully a similar thing happens here.
