Texas Football: Does Tom Herman really want out from the Longhorns?
Fourth-year Texas football head coach Tom Herman reportedly had contact with the South Carolina AD for their job opening. But it likely doesn’t mean much.
The recent report that surfaced on the “Paul Finebaum Show” earlier this week that there was contact between the athletic director of the South Carolina Gamecocks and fourth-year Texas football head coach Tom Herman didn’t catch much attention on the Forty Acres. Once the announcement was made by Texas athletic director Chris del Conte that the football program was planning on keeping Herman around heading into 2021, most of the interest in any coaching search died down.
The Herman hot seat situation came to a climax once the rumors surfaced that the Longhorns were going after the former Ohio State Buckeyes and Florida Gators three-time National Championship winning head coach Urban Meyer. The recently retired legendary head coach and current Fox College Football analyst ultimately decided to stick to retirement for 2021 instead of taking the Texas job.
Missing out on a potential home run hire in Meyer likely brought the Longhorns to not want to pursue any additional candidates at this time. There wasn’t really any home run hire that the Longhorns could make beyond Meyer. And given the large buyout for Herman and his coaching staff that would need to take place to part ways with him heading into next offseason, it didn’t sound like it was worth it to the Texas administration to continue the search for anyone else.
Moreover, it’s a bit unexpected that Herman could be looking into another job. South Carolina did fill their head coach opening with the former Oklahoma Sooners assistant, and the son of legendary Virginia Tech Hokies head coach Frank Beamer, Shane Beamer earlier this month.
The very fact that Herman might’ve been in contact with another AD for the South Carolina job could be a sign of his mindset on the Forty Acres. But in all likelihood, it was just contact from the South Carolina AD doing his due diligence since they made such a quick hire with Beamer.
"I'm not gonna say he begged for the job, but my sources say he was quite interested." --@Sapakoff reports that before the Gamecocks hired Shane Beamer, Tom Herman was pushing himself for the job. pic.twitter.com/kAe2o02Mp9
— Paul Finebaum (@finebaum) December 15, 2020
South Carolina parted ways with the former Texas defensive coordinator and their now ex-fifth-year head coach Will Muschamp earlier in the fall. Hiring Herman would be an interesting move for them, but it sounds like he was at least a consideration in their search.
Again, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Herman is looking for any avenue off of the Forty Acres that he can find. But it does signal the possibility that there could be other factors in play next offseason that changes the coaching situation for the Longhorns.
Change might not come from Herman himself, but there could be other changes on this staff to help move this program forward heading into their head coach’s fifth year. Texas did a major staff overhaul last offseason, but any lagging pieces (like offensive line coach/co-offensive coordinator Herb Hand) could be on the way out next offseason if Herman and CDC want more change.
Next. Position-by-position grades for Longhorns 2021 class. dark
Texas finished up the 2019 regular season with a record of 6-3 (5-3 Big 12), after their scheduled finale against the Kansas Jayhaws on the road on Dec. 12 was canceled in the wake of novel coronavirus-related issues. Texas’ last game they played in resulted in a 69-31 dismantling of the Kansas State Wildcats on the road on Dec. 5.