re: Why was Tom Herman unable to get Texas back on track?

The ghost of DKR.

His first offensive coordinator and WRs coach were massive busts. Just awful. This was the first year with replacements. With covid limiting practices in the new system and his senior QB sucking I think he did the best he could.

A few things. Herman has had a history of losing games to teams he has no business losing to throughout his coaching career. He did it at Houston when he beat Oklahoma and then went on to lose to Navy and SMU and he continued doing it at Texas, losing to the likes of Kansas and TCU. The fact that he came off as a pretentious douche and rubbed a lot of people the wrong way didn’t help him either. I mean shite, the Brockermeyer twins were a recruiting layup. 2 kids at positions of great need who not only were lifelong Longhorns fans, but their father and older brother played there as well. Herman still managed to lose them because they just flat out didn’t like the guy.

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I saw him at a couple UH booster events, small enough for everyone to fit in the same room at a restaurant. He just seemed kind of immature. Sounded fine when he was answering questions and speaking normally, but when tried to go into the sales pitch and project confidence, he just sounded like a nerdy, nervous douche. The first time I saw him as a brand new head coach before the season started - in a room full of people who were mostly much older and wealthier - he said something about being "winners" and how you can tell they're winners because all of his assistants had hot wives. It was just a little weird.

I just think he could have used a few more years on a smaller stage to get better at communicating w/ boosters and building relationships. The honeymoon for being a hot young up'n'comer

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this x1000

he is immature, a bit of a hot head and notoriously thin skinned

had mack just retired and stuck around Austin, he would have been the perfect mentor to herman

instead Herman’s mentor was Urban, the old mack crew washed out strong and turned on herman and he was cooked by the AD tired of taking bullets for him

herman should go out west, he would probably be good at a place like UCLA or Cal

Liked to drink lots of vodka nightly and bang chicks on the side...

Dude has lots of issues. Team turned on him and were telling recruits to look elsewhere.

Herman needed another year

Look at how well Shaka is doing

Bitch

The boosters hire and fire the coaches (often hiring coach B before Coach A is fired), the boosters push a lot of the recruiting, etc.

UT could tell half of their major boosters to piss off, still have more money than anyone else, and have a lot more stable of a program.

UT will never be more than an 9-3, 10-2 program until the coach and the administration regain control over the program.

Team wins Alamo Bowl Thursday, Sat morning coach is fired, Sat afternoon new coach is hired. AD says "I evaulate all my coaches after the season is over" No f'n way he did his evaluation between Thurs night and Sat, and hired a coach in 4 hours. No f'n way.

The boosters made the call to dump Herman, and the boosters made the call to sign Sark... only after the boosters were unable to land Urbs, Saban, etc.

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Why was Tom Herman unable to get Texas back on track?

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Many reasons.

1. Recruiting: this is the lifeblood of any program. Texas is an interesting state. Arguably the most skill talent in the nation, and it’s home to 5 P5 schools. It’s also a constant pipeline to Oklahoma, LSU, Ohio State, and now Bama. You have to recruit your own state well, and Texas hasn’t done that.

2. Coaching: the figurehead of this program under the last 4 years was a douchebag. Who knows if Sark is the right guy? This program needs a coach who is confident, firm, and a good communicator. I refuse to believe that the UT boosters meddle so much that they wouldn’t be happy with Saban’s process. They’ll gladly step aside if it yields trophies.

3. Identity: does Texas even have an identity? If they want to embrace the 7-on-7 style, fine. Go air raid and become Oklahoma. They are stuck in the middle of figuring out who they are. They constantly play to the level of their opponent. They’ll play OU, Texas, Georgia, etc. tough, and eke out a win. Then they’ll lose to TCU, Okie State, or WVU.

Texas is not a top tier program right now. That’s reserved for Bama, OSU, and Clemson. The next tier is probably LSU, OU, Georgia, maybe even Wisconsin.

Texas SHOULD be in that second tier, and they have the resources to get to the top tier. After all, the Texas HS players have fueled the two programs playing for the natty. Saying that all of UT’s success is because of Royal and Mack is a cop out. They were number 1 going into the ‘78 Cotton against ND. They fumbled away a title against Georgia in the ‘84 Cotton. Also finished 2nd in the AP in ‘81.

McWilliams was the bad hire, but even he won the SWC before Miami murdered the Horns in Dallas. Mackovic sort of got things going, then 66-3 happened.

I don’t see any reason they can’t get to the level of Ohio State.