Texas’ Tommy Boy Herman had this coming
If it makes you feel any better about your own job, Tom Herman’s compensation increased by $250,000 this year.
When he was hired away from Houston, Herman was made the sixth-highest paid coach in the nation with a five-year, $28.75 million base package from Texas; included in that contract is a $250,000 increase every year.
Also, please don’t forget that winning the highly coveted Texas Bowl over SEC power Missouri last year netted Coach Herman $75,000. Worth noting UT won that game mostly because of its punter.
Sorry, Tommy Boy, you earned this. All of it. And I’m not talking about the money, because no one earns checks of that size; they steal those.
No coach in recent memory thrust out his chest, strutted, smacked that bubblegum, scowled and tried to intimidate the masses while acting as if he owned the place without having done a thing on this level more than Tommy Boy Herman.
Weird is in the process of being priced out in Austin, but karma maintains its residency at DKR Stadium.
The UT job requires the ego of Nick Saban, and his coaching prowess, too. Herman is long on one, and just a bit short on the other.
Texas’ season-opening loss against a Maryland team that is beset with scandal, tragedy and an interim coach was surprising, only until it wasn’t.
The money is as staggering at UT as are the losses. We now expect Texas to lose.
No matter, per Tommy Boy, UT’s second-consecutive season-opening loss to national-championship contender Maryland was much different.
So I asked him how.
“We are much more cohesive; the results in the two may appear similar to the general public, or fan; they felt much different than that to me or the staff or the team,” Herman said on the Big 12 coaches’ conference call.
He’s right. They do look the same because, in the end, they are the same.
“This year’s team, the reason we didn’t play well early in the game is because we wanted it so badly,” he said.
Maryland, which was playing in honor of a teammate who died earlier in the offseason, didn’t want the win quite so much.
Whatever the reason Herman is selling to the media, his players need to buy it. He doesn’t have a quarterback, and his defense won’t be as good as it was last year when it was actually a solid unit that simply was on the field too much.
Herman knows he could lose this bunch, and a slew of games, if this crew gets dejected.
He warned of the dangers of growing accustomed to losing; a lot of his players are used to losing.
After Texas hosts Tulsa on Saturday in Austin, the Horns have No. 15 USC and No. 16 TCU the next two weeks. Then they go to Bevo-killer, Bill Snyder and Kansas State. Then it’s The Red River Beatdown against Oklahoma.
You would think UT will win a few of those, but no one will be shocked if Bevo starts 1-5.
Herman is in his second season in Austin, and Bevo looks the same as it did under Charlie Strong. Under John Mackovic. Under David McWillliams. Under Fred Akers.
In the modern era, two people made Texas special: Mack and DKR. The rest were guys stealing those burnt orange checks, and playing plenty of golf.
Tommy Boy has plenty of time remaining to reverse things, and is due such a large sum that AD Chris Del Conte could fend off angry boosters from forcing him to fire his football coach. Thus far, however, Herman has Bevo charging down the same path to Overpriced, Tex., he’s been on since 2010.
Tommy Boy is another tough guy coach who looks and sounds the part, but in the end we realize there are only a few men on this planet who can win at this job.
Right now that number stands at two and holding.
There is a reason why Ohio State didn’t fire Urban Meyer.
Texas struts as if it’s Alabama or Ohio State, when in fact it’s neither.
Sorry, Texas, Nick Saban ain’t walkin’ through that door. You’re stuck with Tommy Boy.
This story was originally published September 3, 2018 at 12:55 PM.