Texas Football: Writer doesn’t think Tom Herman will be back in 2021

Texas football head coach Tom Herman is falling under a lot of criticism in what will be a long bye week for him. What’s the next step for him?

All of the pressure in the world it seems during this bye week is falling on the shoulders of fourth-year Texas football head coach Tom Herman. Following two straight losses in two very winnable games for Texas since the beginning of October, the seat of Herman really started to heat up.

What made matters worse for Herman and the Longhorns is that one of those two losses came in a very winnable game in four overtimes at the hands of the Oklahoma Sooners in the annual Red River Rivalry game. The Longhorns fell short to head coach Lincoln Riley and his Sooners by the final score of 53-45 in four overtimes.

Prior to falling short to the Sooners on Oct. 10 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, the Longhorns couldn’t get it done in their Big 12 home opener back on Oct. 3 against the TCU Horned Frogs. Texas fell agonizingly short of the Horned Frogs after junior running back Keaontay Ingram fumbled the ball and the game away on the goal line with less than three minutes to go in the fourth quarter, resulting in the TCU victory by the final score of 33-31.

After the losses to Oklahoma and TCU, Texas carries a record of 2-2 (1-2 Big 12). They are now bounced from the top 25 in both major polls and sit well outside of Big 12 Championship contention. Texas is also effectively eliminated from College Football Playoff contention as it stands now.

With all of this in mind, it is easier to understand where Herman’s seat is heating up so fast. And one 247Sports writer/podcaster Josh Pate “believes the end is near” for Herman with the Longhorns. In a recent episode of the “Late Kick” podcast from Pate on the 247Sports network, he declared that he didn’t think Herman would be back as soon as next season.

Here’s more on what Pate had to say on the matter.

"“Texas is a keystone program,” Pate said on Late Kick. “What happens there, affects everyone. It affects the entire sport, the entire ecosystem is affected if there is a job opening at Texas. And there might be one in the not too distant future. I told you last Saturday, the Red River (Showdown) between Texas and OU, it was a game that Oklahoma would love to have but it was a game Texas had to have. Texas lost that game. I don’t think Tom Herman is going to be the head coach at Texas next year as a result of that. I don’t think anything’s happening this week but things were set in motion after that loss that will result in you having a new head coach at Texas in 2021.”"

It would really have to be a tremendous finish to the 2020 regular season for the Longhorns to keep the heat off of Herman heading into the 2021 offseason. They could technically still get into the Big 12 Championship Game if they won out, or got some lucky help with three losses in conference play.

But the first step to the Longhorns getting down the right path this fall is just winning the next game. Texas is supposed to face the defending Big 12 runner-up Baylor Bears in their next game, at home on Oct. 24. But Baylor is currently dealing with more than 25 active cases of COVID-19, as of earlier this week.

The two wins for Herman and the Longhorns this season came over the UTEP Miners back on Sep. 12 in their season opener, and on Sep. 26 in their Big 12 opener on the road against the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Texas definitely has a difficult road ahead with Baylor and the No. 7 ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys looming large in the remainder of this month out of their bye week.