Texas Football: 3 HC candidates that would be better than Tom Herman

There are mixed reactions coming from Texas football fans after the announcement that head coach Tom Herman will be back for 2021.

Heading into next offseason, a lot of Texas football fans likely thought that the process for this program would be at least seeking out what potential replacements there could be for fourth-year head coach Tom Herman. But Texas athletic director Chris del Conte announced this weekend that Herman will remain as this team’s head coach for 2021.

Herman and the Longhorns weren’t a great mix in 2020. The overall results from the regular season weren’t the worst. Texas finished up the 2020 regular season slate with a record of 6-3 (5-3 Big 12) after their scheduled Dec. 12 road matchup against the Kansas Jayhawks was canceled in the wake of novel coronavirus related issues.

That meant that the Longhorns de facto regular season finale wound up still being the Dec. 5 dominant win on the road over head coach Chris Klieman and the Kansas State Wildcats, by the convincing final score of 69-31. Texas did at least round out the regular season winning four of their final five games.

The losses to the Oklahoma Sooners, TCU Horned Frogs, and Iowa State Cyclones still hurt, though. And if not for the Oct. 31 road upset win over the Oklahoma State Cowboys earlier in the season, Herman might be out of a job already. That win was very timely for Herman when his back was very much up against the wall.

Nonetheless, a lot of Longhorns fans are going to be disappointed with CDC given the fact that Texas didn’t really look into any candidate other than Urban Meyer. And since the Meyer pursuit didn’t work out, Herman is likely to get another year at the helm.

Here’s a look at a few possible head coach candidates that Texas could’ve been better off with than Herman, that were realistic hires for the job.