Tom Herman (American football)

Thomas Herman (born June 2, 1975) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at The University of Texas at Austin. He was previously the head coach at the University of Houston.

Coaching career

Early coaching career

Herman began his coaching career in 1998 at Texas Lutheran as a receivers coach. He then took a position in 1999 at the University of Texas at Austin as a graduate assistant under the mentorship of Greg Davis.^[1] During his tenure at Texas, Herman worked with the offensive line, which included All-American Leonard Davis.

Sam Houston State

After completing his graduate assistant position, Herman joined Sam Houston State as wide receivers coach twice sparking the Bearkats to Southland Conference championships and the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs. In his first season at Sam Houston State, Herman coached Jonathon Cooper, who was named the NCAA Division I-AA Wide Receiver of the Year. Herman produced all-conference receivers in each season and produced three All-American wide receivers.

In 2004, they finished 11-3 and advanced to the Division I-AA championship's semifinals. The Bearkats' offense was ranked second nationally in passing offense, averaging 358.5 yards, while the Bearkats' 471 yards of total offense ranked fifth among Division I-AA schools.^[2]

Texas State

After four seasons at Sam Houston State, Herman joined Texas State as the offensive coordinator in 2005. During his two seasons at Texas State his squads led the Southland Conference in total offense and the 2005 team ranked eighth nationally in scoring. The Bobcats went on to make a deep run in the NCAA in the team's first ever Division I-AA appearance, while Barrick Nealy finished fifth in the voting for the Walter Payton Award (top offensive player in Division I-AA).^[2]

Rice

In 2007, Herman then followed head coach David Bailiff from Texas State to form the new coaching staff at Rice. With a reputation for engineering high-powered offensive attacks, Herman’s offense smashed nearly 40 offensive records during his first season as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Owls.

Rice ranked in the Top 10 nationally in 2008 in passing offense (5th; 327.8), scoring offense (T8th; 41.6) and total offense (10th; 472.3). Two Rice receivers had more than 1,300 yards receiving that year, tight end James Casey had 111 catches and quarterback Chase Clement was the Conference USA MVP.^[2][3]

Iowa State

After building one of the nation’s most prolific offenses at Rice, Herman joined Iowa State as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.^[1][4] Herman installed his system and brought new life into the offense.

During his three seasons at Iowa State, the offense improved considerably and broke numerous team and player school records. Iowa State's 52 points in a win over Texas Tech marked the most points put up by the Cyclones against a conference opponent in 38 years. Iowa State quarterback Austen Arnaud ended his career as the Cyclones No. 2 all-time leading passer with 6,777 yards and 42 touchdown passes. His 8,044 yards of total offense is the second-best total in school history. Running back Alexander Robinson finished his Iowa State career as the Cyclones' fourth all-time leading rusher with 3,309 yards.^[5]

Ohio State

On December 9, 2011, Urban Meyer selected Herman as his offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Buckeyes.^[6] On December 9, 2014, after leading Ohio State's fourth ranked offense to their first national title since 2002, while playing two backup quarterbacks, Herman was awarded the Broyles Award, given annually to the nation's top assistant coach.^[7]

Houston

On December 15, 2014, Herman was hired by Houston as its new head football coach. He led his 21st-ranked team to an 11–1 start and the Western Division title in the American Athletic Conference.^[8] They won their first American Athletic Conference title by defeating the Temple Owls 24–13.^[9]

On December 31, 2015, Herman led the 14th-ranked Cougars to a 38–24 victory over the 9th-ranked Florida State Seminoles at the Peach Bowl. The Cougars had not beaten an AP top-10 team in a bowl game since 1979. After the game, Herman stated that the Cougars had completed their return to national relevancy. The Cougars ended the season 13–1 and ranked #8 in both the AP and Coaches Polls, their highest post-season ranking since 1979.

In 2016, Herman's second season with Houston, the Cougars slipped slightly to a 9–3 regular-season record but did record wins over Oklahoma and Louisville, each of which was ranked #3 in the AP Poll at the time Houston faced them. Herman's success with Houston brought him significant attention from the media and from multiple Power Five football programs throughout the season, which culminated in his appointment as the head coach of the Texas Longhorns immediately following Houston's final regular-season contest of 2016.

Houston's overall record under Herman was 22–4, which included unblemished marks in home games at TDECU Stadium (14–0), in games versus teams ranked in the AP Poll (6–0), and in games versus teams from Power Five conferences (5–0).

Texas

On November 27, 2016, Herman was hired as the new head coach at Texas. He is slated to begin his first season with the Longhorns on Saturday, September 2, 2017. He signed a 5-year contract with a base salary of 5 million USD per year.^[10]

Coaching tree

Notable head coaches under whom Herman has served:

• Mack Brown: Texas
• David Bailiff: Texas State, Rice
• Paul Rhoads: Iowa State
• Urban Meyer: Ohio State

Personal life

Herman was born in Cincinnati and still has family there, though he was raised in Simi Valley, California. Herman is a member of Mensa International and earned his B.S. in Business Administration from California Lutheran in 1997 where he was a cum laude graduate. He was a Presidential Scholarship recipient. At California Lutheran he was an All-Southern California Athletic Conference wide receiver. He also earned a Masters from Texas. Herman and his wife, Michelle, have a daughter, Priya, and two sons, Maddock and Maverick.^[3]

Media work

During college Herman interned and worked in various positions in the sports broadcasting industry. He worked in television as a sports production assistant in Oxnard, California, a highlight coordinator for Fox-TV in Los Angeles and a producer/production assistant at XTRA Sports Radio in Los Angeles.

Head coaching record

Notes

References

External links

• Ohio State profile