I think all new coaches come in with the "drill sergeant, time to toughen up" mentality. But Herman's off-the-field changes have definitely been more pronounced so far IMO. On top of social media and facilities, hiring Bob Shipley to head HS relations is pretty big. Bringing in Belichick to head their coaching clinic the same weekend as A&M's spring game is also a very calculated move that I don't think Strong would've done. Definitely agree with the roster Herman is inheriting, not sure how much debating there is over this.
Agree that Herman's off-the-field measures are significant and more in line with what the best coaches in CFB (Saban, Meyer) are doing. That said, when Strong was first hired and said that the facilities were fine, etc..., fans spun that as Strong being a pure x's and o's football coach that focused on what mattered - winning games, players graduating and staying out of trouble, etc... There's always a new coach optimism, and I'm just holding off on judgement until sometime late this fall. Many people will look at recruiting rankings and see that Mack's 2011-2013 classes were ranked pretty high: 4, 2, and 17 (2013 being lower was mostly due to it being a smaller class). Strong's 2015 and 2016 classes were 10 and 7. Using that 'data,' it's certainly arguable whether Herman is inheriting a more talented roster. I follow recruiting more closely and know that Mack's classes were full of 4-star guys that committed super early and didn't really go down in rankings too much even though they weren't being hotly pursued by lsu, bama, ou, a&m, etc... at the end of the recruiting cycle. Strong, on the other hand, got most of his commitments late in the cycle, and even his early commitments only became more highly recruited as time went on.
Unless UT has someone better than Ed Oliver, this statement carries little to no merit. UH had NFL prospects throughout the defense. Some that got drafted, and play major roles in the NFL at it's highest level, the Super Bowl (Elandon Roberts from NE Patriots) Coach Herman is a good salesman, and knows how to assemble a coaching staff, but he is no where the recruiter Charlie Strong is. He's been at UT for almost 4 months, and he has only had one commitment from the 2018 class. I actually think the Texas job is over his head coaching wise. Hopefully, his assistants bail him out the way they did at UH.
Herman inherited quite a bit of talent on the defensive side of the ball at UH. He inherited two DB's in the NFL currently, and a third that is about to be drafted. He inherited a LB that is currently a starter for the Patriots. Another that is likely to be a 1st rounder and third that is a lock to be drafted. Herman in the past has said he had 5 NFL players on the DL. Other than being defensive, I am not sure why Herman would say what he said. Whatever, he needs to worry about his team in 2017 and not his teams in the past.
He's not worried about his former team. He's attempting to inspire confidence and hope in the players and fans with his new D.C. People weren't exactly blown away with the hire but I don't think people hated it. Just neutral.
That's Herman's shtick - being defensive and giving kisses. Did you not hear the 610 interview with Lopez?
That defensiveness and those kisses took Houston to heights they haven't been in like 20 years, so... Again, no guarantee that Herman does well at Texas but there's no point in eating all those sour grapes.
Come on don't be defensive like Herman, there's no way you can deny he's ultra defensive and loves kisses enough to kiss everyone of his players before games to show he cares. He's a great guy, great coach, definitely will fit in better than Strong and make everyone more comfortable.
I'm not denying it or being defensive. I just am not seeing the relevance. All those sour grapes are going to give you reflux. I completely disagree that he will fit in better or will make people more comfortable relative to Strong. I actually do think he's kind of a big weirdo. I just don't think that precludes him from being a more successful football coach at Texas. Saban and Harbaugh are weird as hell, and they're decent coaches.
Agreed. But think he does make boosters and admin more comfortable in that he seems to vocalize his confidence and direction than Strong did throughout his tenure. Saying we're not going to win a championship this year or the next, that he doesn't want to walk into College Station right now, etc...is not something any student, fan, boss, booster of any team wants to hear, regardless of its truth.
More than several. As far as I can remember, none of those guys really did anything at their new schools. Could be wrong.
You know, for the extra 100k in media resources you would think they could afford a lav mic. They sell ones that you can connect to your phone for $70. Cool program though.
It's really pretty simple regarding Herman's approach - winning games. No one at UH was upset at Herman when they were winning 10+ games a season and the Peach Bowl. Now that he's gone, they've resorted to critiquing everything he did. People at UT will be criticizing Herman in the same way if he doesn't win games, and the opposite will be the case if he gets us back to prominence. I'm planning on going to the Student Appreciation Day. I'll let y'all know if there's anything shared with us students.
Ehh. That is some of it but a lot of it is the way he left. Leaving the boosters car at the airport without warning... then saying he wouldn't recruit kids he recruited while at UH... claiming he hadn't spoken to Orlando when it was proven false... making comments about the talent of his former players. Ultimately the whole business of college football is nasty and attracts nasty people as coaches. Ultimately if it were the other way around and UT had been burned, UH would support Herman. UT fans will support him unless he fails to meet expectations and then he will be discarded and forgotten. I have heard some fans rooting for him to fail.. but he already won. He is around 40 years old and is extremely wealthy and could retire any time he wants. His wife isn't very bright but supports Tom and is loyal and his kids are by all accounts great.
When Tillman Fertitta is the face of your university, you pretty much forfeit the ability to call other people "assholes".
My point was Tom Herman appears to have a pretty good life...... and all these people hoping he fails and gets what is coming to him is wasting their time.
