Former Texas football HC Tom Herman hired by Florida Atlantic

It felt like only a matter of time before someone made the move to hire former Texas football head coach Tom Herman. And that time came on the afternoon of Dec. 1 when it was announced that the Florida Atlantic Owls would be hiring Herman as its next head coach.

The original report that Florida Atlantic would be hiring Herman as its next head coach came courtesy of a tweet from Brett McMurphy of The Action Network on Dec. 1.

It would later be confirmed via a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Herman reportedly told Thamel that he accepted the job at FAU.

This is the first coaching job for Herman since he was fired by the Longhorns following the conclusion of the 2020 season. He was fired shortly after Texas beat the Colorado Buffaloes in the Alamo Bowl to round out the 2020 campaign.

Ex-Texas football HC Tom Herman will reportedly be FAU’s next bench boss

For the 2022 season, Herman was an analyst for CBS Sports. He was also a member of the Chicago Bears’ staff under head coach Matt Nagy as an offensive analyst and special projects coach during the 2021 NFL season.

Moreover, Herman will be taking over for the recently-departed FAU head coach Willie Taggart in 2023. Taggart was fired from FAU after going 5-7 (4-4 C-USA) this season, which resulted in the Owls falling short of bowl eligibility for the second straight year.

Taggart was FAU’s head coach for three seasons, starting during the 2020 campaign. The 2020 season was the only year that FAU finished with a winning record and was bowl eligible.

Herman will now be taking over an FAU program that was down the last couple of seasons. He’ll continue the trend of FAU hiring head coaches with Power Five experience in this same role.

Taggart and fellow former FAU head coach Lane Kiffin both have/had Power Five head coaching experience prior to taking this job.

This will also be the second time that Herman will hold a Group of Five head coaching gig. He was the Houston Cougars head coach for two seasons (2015-2016), posting a record of 22-4 (.846 winning percentage).

Herman held the Houston job prior to getting hired as Texas’ most recent head coach before Steve Sarkisian. He was the Texas head coach for four seasons (2017-2020), posting a record of 32-18 (.640 winning percentage).

Texas won its bowl game every season under Herman. The Longhorns also had a winning record in each season under Herman’s direction.

Herman reportedly told ESPN that he is meeting with FAU on Dec. 1 to finalize the deal to become their next head coach.