Texas Football: BR lists Tom Herman amid most disappointing HC hires

With the end of the tenure of now former fourth-year Texas football head coach Tom Herman arriving more than two months ago, this program looks to take its next steps into a hopefully brighter future starting this offseason. Texas replaced Herman back on Jan. 2 with former Alabama Crimson Tide offensive coordinator and the reigning Broyles Award winner Steve Sarkisian.

This will be the first head coaching job for Sark since he was the Washington Huskies head coach back in the early 2010s. Sark held a couple of head coaching jobs out in the PAC-12, with the USC Trojans and Washington, in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

Moreover, hopefully this head coaching hire for the Longhorns football program brings more sustainability and success on a national stage than Herman did over the course of the last four seasons. There was a ton of excitement that originally surrounded the Herman hire entering the 2017 offseason. He was very successful both on the field and elevating the Houston Cougars on the recruiting trail prior to taking the Texas head coaching job in December 2016.

Looking back on Herman’s tenure as the Longhorns head coach, there were a lot of highs and lows. And overall, Herman’s tenure did not end on the best of notes. His results on the recruiting trail were starting to dip, and Texas lost a few games they shouldn’t have during the regular season.

Disappointment of former Texas football HC Tom Herman

With that, a piece from Brad Shepard of Bleacher Report from last week mentioned the former Longhorns head coach as one of the more disappointing hires in the last five years. Herman rang in at No. 6 on the list. Fellow former Texas head coach Charlie Strong actually fell in line at No. 8 on the list, from the South Florida Bulls giving him a shot a few years back.

Here’s more on what this BR piece had to say on the spot that the Herman hire has on this list.

"You can’t go to Texas, be mediocre and expect to keep your job. That’s why the Longhorns job has been a revolving door since Mack Brown resigned back in 2013.Tom Herman wasn’t awful during his four years in Austin. The ‘Horns went 32-18, 22-14 in the conference and won all four bowl games in which they played. But that was not good enough, and he was let go after a 7-3 season last year and replaced with Steve Sarkisian.But the reason Herman is so high on this list is because of the massive expectations that he brought with him after a dominant 22-4 two-year run with the Houston Cougars after becoming a hot name as Urban Meyer’s offensive coordinator at Ohio State."

All in all, Herman’s tenure as Texas head coach wasn’t the worst in terms of actual success in the win column and with recruiting class rankings. Texas usually hauled in top 10 ranked recruiting classes in the nation during Herman’s time as head coach, and he finished up with a record of 32-18 (.640 winning percentage) with the program.

That also included a spotless 4-0 record in the postseason with the Longhorns.

However, Texas might be able to use this Herman-era to bridge to more prominent results under this new look Sark-led coaching staff starting in 2021. That would be the hope with how different this program will look from the staff down to the roster this year.

Under the direction of Herman, the Longhorns finished up with a record of 7-3 (5-3 Big 12) last season following their Alamo Bowl win over the Colorado Buffaloes. Since Texas parted ways with Herman back on Jan. 2, he was hired under head coach Matt Nagy with the Chicago Bears as an offensive analyst/special projects coach.