Texas Football: Yahoo Sports says Meyer is clear target if Herman is fired

Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports feels that the “clear” head coaching target for Texas football if they part ways with Tom Herman is Urban Meyer.

Everyone around the college football media landscape at this moment is throwing their opinion around on the situation surrounding the hot seat of fourth-year Texas football head coach Tom Herman. At least that’s what it seems like following the difficult Texas loss on Black Friday and Senior Day to head coach Matt Campbell and the No. 13 ranked Iowa State Cyclones.

Although it seems like it’s a good thing that Herman and the Longhorns remained competitive down to literally the final second of the game, it’s actually a sign of a bigger problem on the Forty Acres. Texas can’t get the desired results on the field and on the recruiting trail under Herman’s direction of late. And the frustration is boiling over with the way that the Longhorns can’t pull away from any Big 12 opponent, and some games fall their way and some don’t.

Moreover, one of the latest big voices around the media landscape to throw their opinion into the mix is Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports. The former Sports Illustrated long time college football writer/reporter Thamel gave his take on Herman’s hot seat and what the potential next move could be on the coaching carousel for the Longhorns.

Thamel arrived at the solution that a lot of other Longhorns fans are right now. If Texas does want to part ways with Herman this year, or in the immediate aftermath of this season, then the top target has to be the former Ohio State Buckeyes and Florida Gators three-time National Championship-winning head coach Urban Meyer.

Here’s more on what Thamel had to say in this matter concerning the Texas head coaching job between Herman and Meyer.

"So how does Del Conte view Herman? He has been relatively silent on the topic, and if any moment cried out for vocal support it would have been in the buildup to this game. Smoke about Texas attempting to hire Urban Meyer has been floating through Austin for weeks. There was an easy way to clear the smoke."

He elaborated more on the prospect of Meyer as the obvious Longhorns head coaching target if they part ways with Herman, in this piece over the weekend.

"It’s clear that Meyer would be Texas’ target it it moved on from Herman. It’s not nearly as clear if Meyer would have interest in returning to the sideline, as he has thrived in his new role as an analyst for Fox and still would have to make a health decision. Remember, it was an enlarged congenital arachnoid cyst in Meyer’s head that helped lead to his retirement, and whether he wants to take the health risk that accompanies coaching would weigh large on any decision.If Meyer doesn’t want the job, there’s no easy answer as to whom Texas would hire. And this is Del Conte’s biggest problem."

The point that Thamel hammers on in this piece on the Texas coaching situation is pretty accurate. While it’s nice to think of Meyer as a slam dunk coaching target if Herman is fired in the near future, there’s no guarantee that they’ll be able to lure him to the Forty Acres by the start of the 2021 season. That might not ever happen for that matter.

Texas moved to a record of 5-3 (4-3 Big 12) following the heartbreaking three-point last second loss to Iowa State on Nov. 27 at home. That loss to Iowa State snapped a three-game winning streak for Herman and the Longhorns, and largely decimated their chances to earning a spot in the Big 12 Championship Game, come Dec. 19.

The pressure continues to get pumped up around Herman, and all that is remaining on the regular season schedule for the Longhorns are the Kansas schools. There’s not a clear way that Herman could finish out the season to take all of this pressure off of his shoulders.