Texas Football: Brady Quinn, Urban Meyer hint at him coming to Austin?

Texas football head coach Tom Herman is on the constant hot seat discussion right now with former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer looming large.

It’s not even the time of year yet where the Texas football program is supposed to set its head coach sitting in the midst of hot seat discussion, if it is warranted at that time. But 2020 is not a usual year for fourth-year head coach Tom Herman and his Texas team in the midst of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The 2020 college football season continues to get dramatically altered week over week. And the Longhorns were no exception this weekend, as their originally scheduled Nov. 21 game against the lowly Kansas Jayhawks and second-year former LSU Tigers head coach Les Miles was pushed back in the wake of COVID-19-related issues.

Texas now carries a record of 5-2 (4-2 Big 12), with their last game resulting in a narrow home win back on Nov. 7 over the West Virginia Mountaineers, by the final score of 17-13. Next up for Herman and the Longhorns will now be their Black Friday Nov. 27 showdown at home against the No. 17 ranked Iowa State Cyclones.

However, a subject that the Longhorns and Herman (in particular) can’t escape right now is the hot seat discussion. The de facto double bye week for the Longhorns created the opportunity for even more chatter concerning what this team could do if they were able to hire the likes of the former Florida Gators and Ohio State Buckeyes three-time National Championship-winning head coach Urban Meyer.

On Fox Sports “Big Noon Kickoff” on the morning of Nov. 21, the conversation of Meyer going to Austin (or at least the crew hinting at it) is something that couldn’t be avoided even on the bye week. Meyer and former Notre Dame Fighting Irish star quarterback Brady Quinn hinted at Meyer going to Austin, getting a slight smirk out of the former Ohio State and Florida bench boss.

The fact that Quinn just teasing this situation got such a positive reaction out of Meyer goes to show that this has at least crossed his mind at one point in time.

Herman added more fuel to the flame this week concerning his hot seat and the Meyer coaching rumors, when he addressed the chatter in his weekly press conference. This is not something that most head coaches, especially one in Herman’s position, would address in a weekly press conference (when we figured there would be a game next weekend).

All in all, Herman very likely needs to win out through the last three games of the regular season to keep job security on his side. Texas has Iowa State and the Kansas schools remaining on the schedule. If they can clear out the remaining schedule unscathed, they would likely find themselves appearing in the Big 12 Championship Game on Dec. 19.