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College Football: Texas Coach Tom Herman Says That He Never Spoke To LSU About Coaching Job

By Chris Featherstone
Published on: 09:34 PST, Nov 28, 2016

Tom Herman has become one of the most sought-after head coaches in all of college football. In 2012, Herman assumed the Offensive Coordinator position for Ohio State under the leadership of Urban Meyer. In just three seasons as OC, Herman managed to coach the offense to rack up over 1,500 points, which immediately gained the interest of school executives for a head coaching job.

The clincher was his efforts during the 2014 season. In the first year of the College Football Playoffs, Herman was able to lead an Ohio State Offense – who experienced their leading quarterback J.T. Barrett miss the rest of the season due to an injury late in the season — to shutout Wisconsin for the Big Ten Championship, and defeat powerhouses Oregon and Alabama en route to the first-ever CFP National Championship.

The next year, Herman was hired at Houston for his very first head coach job. In his first year, he was able to turn a team who had previous records of 5-7 (2012), 8-5 (2013), and 8-5 (2014) to a 13-1 record, and a ranking of No. 8 in the nation. This year, he also experienced success, with only three losses and maintaining a top-20 ranking for most of the season.

Accepting the Texas head coaching job brings the Longhorn fans a great sign of relief. For many years, a once-relevant Texas team has been a constant subject of ridicule, due to the inability to produce a good-enough team to consistently qualify for post-season play.

Under the leadership of Charlie Strong, Texas failed to have a winning season. They were able to garner a 6-6 record in 2014, but lost to Arkansas 31-7 in the Texas Bowl, ending their season at 6-7. Even Mack Brown, who coached Texas for sixteen seasons and led the team to a National Championship in 2005, struggled for his final few seasons before being let go.

Before accepting the head coach position for Texas, there were a massive amount of reports stating that he was close to finalizing a deal to sign with LSU, a team who is experiencing a sense of refreshment while being led by interim — now official — coach Ed Orgeron.

ESPN reported that the two were just about to finalize an agreement. This was based on information reported from HornsDigest.

“A third source close to the situation said Herman definitely has been offered the head-coaching job at LSU but wondered if Herman would wait to finalize any agreement until he saw what happened at Texas with the fate of coach Charlie Strong — after Friday’s game against TCU.”

However, in a recent interview he had on ESPN’s Mike & MikeShow, Herman stated that he has not spoke with LSU about being a head coach for the team. He then went on to say that it is “irrelevant to how we got here,” and his focus is on getting the Longhorns back on track to once again be a threat in the Big 12 conference.

Interestingly, this is not Herman’s first time working for Texas. From 1999-2000, he was a graduate assistant for the Longhorns, and this position propelled him to become a wide receiver and special teams coach for Sam Houston State for three years.

The year 1999 was also the last time that running back Ricky Williams played for the Longhorns. On January 1, Williams led his team to a 38-11 win over the Mississippi State Bulldogs. Herman stated on the Mike & Mike Show that this was also the first time that he learned how to do the “hook ’em” sign, as he was taught by Williams, and that he also had the opportunity to ride alongside Williams on a float during a parade of their Cotton Bowl victory.

With his momentum coming from both Ohio State and Houston, Tom Herman looks primed and ready to reignite the Texas fanbase, bringing them back to success in both the division, as well as nationally.

[Featured Image by Eric Gay/AP Images]

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