Fansided

Houston’s Tom Herman will be on the market next year

By Rucker Haringey

Oct 24, 2015; Orlando, FL, USA; Houston Cougars head coach Tom Herman coaches his layers in the first half against the UCF Knights at Bright House Networks Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 24, 2015; Orlando, FL, USA; Houston Cougars head coach Tom Herman coaches his layers in the first half against the UCF Knights at Bright House Networks Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports /
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Tom Herman surprised many schools by agreeing to stay at Houston for one more season, but he’s just waiting for the right job to open up

Houston head football coach Tom Herman has agreed to remain at the American Athletic Conference school for another year to the surprise of quite a few people around college football. Let’s not paint him to be some sort of loyal solider, though. He’s only hanging around Houston due to a $1.5 million dollar pay raise and the fact that one of his dream jobs hasn’t opened up yet.

Georgia and South Carolina are great college football jobs, but that doesn’t make them the right dream jobs for every college football coach. For Tom Herman, neither of those opportunities is all that special. I know it will baffle some SEC fans to read this, but some coaches really do have dream jobs that reside in other conferences; Herman is just this sort of football coach.

The most obvious job for him to hold out for would be the Texas job. It’s one of America’s best coaching jobs and Herman has a lot of experience in the state. He coached at various schools in Texas for a decade (’98-’08) including a one year stint as a graduate assistant at Texas. His time at Houston has only reaffirmed what he already knew, that the Longhorns are still a huge force in the state and are a sleeping giant nationally.

Charlie Strong has already been under fire this season and it’s easy to see why Herman might be convinced that he won’t last past next year. He can easily wait one more year at Houston with the added bonus of a massive pay raise on the Longhorn job to open up.

The other type of job that might really appeal to Herman would be a high level Big Ten position. Don’t forget that Herman worked under Urban Meyer at Ohio State, where he won the Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach. The super competitive man who Herman is would love the chance to come back to the region and match wits with one of his biggest mentors in Urban Meyer. The rivalry between Herman at the right Big Ten school –and Meyer at Ohio State– could be explosive to say the least.

Herman should be applauded for sticking with Houston for another season, but not because he is an intensely loyal coach. He should be credited, instead, for being smart enough to wait for one of his dream jobs to open up. He has seen too many coaches jump at the first Power 5 job that opens up and ruin their career as a result.

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