The loss of a home from Iowa State, Texas’ No. 23-20 home on Friday, could also double as a roster test on how you view Texas coach Tom Herman’s tenure. Is it close to the top of the Big 12, so surprisingly close? Or Texas is emerging as the decisive play of the season, characterized by a program stuck in neutral.
The loss pushed Texas down 5- to and officially pushed Herman to the hot seat, as he was 30-18 in his fourth season at InStin. How you look at Texas this season – like the recent White-knuckle loss – could also be doubled for how you look at Herman.
There’s ample evidence that Longhorns argues in the Big 12, as the game-tying 57-yard field goal rarely misses the emergence of time when Saturday’s show ends. If it had passed and Texas had found a way to win overtime, Texas could still have advanced in the conference title game and won the league. And Hermann would probably be safe.
But optimists who see it that way aren’t vocal.
The flip side of the Rorschchch test is that it can also be seen through the prism of opportunity that has been consistently lost this Texas season. Longhorns is plagued by special team errors and is ranked 120th in the nation in Iowa State games per game penalty. Harm left himself wide open for the game, trying to end the game on a second-to-last possession in the play-calling gender with eight minutes left to go seven, from a sickly advised fake punt to a failure to kick a field goal. Management second guess.
Ultimately, the case against Herman in Texas is that the program has turned out to be selective over the past two seasons. Just because Texas is close – like last year’s LSU game – doesn’t mean it’s close to a national title dispute demanding its fan base. Changing the momentum when things go wrong in Texas is like just trying to bench press using your pink colors, as every document is deafened and every negative moment is delivered by a megaphone.
Texas went 8-5 last year and is heading into a second middle season. And, ultimately, it will be up to athletic director Chris Dale Conte, who has not hired Herman, to decide the future of his coach. “Del Conte is feeling the pressure,” a top Texas source said.
The decision on Herman’s future will not come without interference. He owes more than 15 15 million if he is fired, and the total potential pay to employees is about 24 24 million. For a team that has legitimate shots for the league title over the weekend, especially during that epidemic, that’s a big number.
Herrmann won the Sugar Bowl over Georgia after the 2018 season (10-4) and has done a lot to upgrade and modernize the program since Charlie Strong never really ran after McBrown’s term ended. The recruitment section has been upgraded and the ancillary parts of the program – analysts, social media, graphics, video – look like a high-power five program. The football reason, for whatever reason, is yet to be caught.
So how does Del Conte view Herman? He is relatively silent on the subject, and would have been in the making of this game if a moment had called for support for the voice. Smoking about Texas had been floating in For Stein for weeks trying to hire Urban Meyer. There was an easy way to clear the smoke.
Del Conte, who did not return a phone call Friday night, did not raise the voice of Texas players during the “Eyes of Texas” controversy earlier this year. He chose a choice of boosters that have songs with racist origins, even after games are played. In other words, he gave money to the team. Maybe he knew he needed more to come in December.
It is clear that the mayor will be the target of Texas as he overtook Herman. It’s not nearly as clear whether the mayor is interested in getting back on the sidelines, as he has developed into his new role as an analyst for Fox and will still have to make health decisions. Remember, it was an enlarged congenital arachnoid abscess in the mayor’s head that helped lead to his retirement, and if he wanted to take the health risks that come with coaching, he would weigh heavily on any decision.
If the mayor doesn’t want a job, there’s no easy answer as to who Texas will hire. And this is Dale Conte’s biggest problem. This is an organization that wants big names, as it has long been in the lust after Nick Soap. But, the soap never went away, because of the lack of coordination in the leadership that occupied the Texas football .l over the past decade. In the next decade, no promises are included.
People remember that McBrown won two BCS title games in 2005, but forget that he only won the Big 12 twice in 16 years. Bob Stupes won it 10 times in 18 years.
If there’s one thing we’ve learned from Strong and Herman’s tenure, it’s that Texas demands so much from its coaches that this isn’t the job that training wheels provide. And that means that if Texas wants to upgrade from Herman, Longhorns will have to be lured into the seat power five head coaches. (The only coach comparable to the mayor, who is currently sitting, is Bob Stupp, and the man who created the modern Oklahoma juggernaut will try to dedicate the next decade to taking it down.)
Do you try and back up Brinks trucks for power five coaches like reg Reagan’s Mario Cristobal, Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly, Penn State’s James Franklin, Minnesota’s PJ Flake or Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgardald? This is a particularly fulfilling year to have one of those coaches, as with the exception of Franklin and Flack, meaningful games will be played on the weekend of December 18, two days after Signing Day.
If Texas decides to move ahead of Herman, will he do so before signing on December 16th? Until then it will be almost impossible to be a coach, which means that with the change you are leaving to have a competitive recruitment class. (Texas is currently ranked 17th.) Or you either have to ignore it or mislead recruits by letting them know that Herman will be there. The clock is ticking for clarity.
There are other options as well. Will Matt Campbell jump down from Iowa State? It is uncertain, as it is always increasingly projected as the Midwestern fit. What about Luke Fickle, who brought Cincinnati to historic heights? Will Texas be able to hire three directly former urban mayor assistants? Will he be able to inquire about Alabama OC Steve Sarkisian? If the mayor model doesn’t work, maybe there will be a soap model? Could an NFL name like Bill O’Brien or Dan Quinn be an option? After the mayor, there is really no clear answer.
To say Texas will definitely fire Herman is hyperbole. But as the face of the game’s hot seat 2021 for all, it’s much easier to imagine that scenario than to draw a picture with Herman returning with a tip-toe on thin ice. “It’s not for me to make a decision,” Harman told PostGame when asked if he was the right person to lead Texas. “Where is the program compared to when we took over – the future is very bright. I feel great about the way our program works. “
Whether or not Dale Conte feels that way is no secret. And until clarified from him, Herman will be square on the hot seat.
Texas is back, where we remember him. The last decade has brought him back to where he has been – with everyone in the stream and in the game guessing who will be next.
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