Just four days after the Texas Longhorns defeated the Colorado Buffalos in the Alamo Bowl 55-23, the Longhorns have fired head coach Tom Herman after four seasons. Herman had two more years left in Texas. The school owes him $15 million after Herman committed to returning for the 2021 season. The Longhorns finished 7-3 this season.
The University of Texas released a statement on Herman’s departure, “With our football season coming to a close, our vice president and athletics director, Chris Del Conte, has evaluated the UT program’s strengths and weaknesses and where the program is relative to our goals. While we have made measured progress during the past several years under Tom Herman’s leadership, Chris has recommended to the university president, Jay Hartzell, that UT make a coaching change to get us on track to achieving our ambitious goals. President Hartzell and the chair of our Board of Regents, Kevin Eltife, concur with this recommendation and have approved the change. We thank Coach Herman for his service and dedication to our student-athletes, our program, and our university.”
Herman became the Longhorns coach in 2017 after spending two seasons at the University of Houston with a 22-4 record with the Cougars and was named the Football Writers Association of America First-Year Coach of the Year and the AAC Co-Coach of the Year along with Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo. Herman left for Texas shortly before the Cougars were set to take on San Diego State in the Las Vegas Bowl, which Houston lost 34-10.
Herman finishes at Texas with an overall record of 32-18 with one BIG 12 championship appearance in 2018, and four straight bowl wins in the Texas Bowl (2017), Sugar Bowl (2018), and twice the Alamo Bowl (2019.2020). As for Herman’s replacement, the Longhorns are targeting current Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian as the new head coach.
Alabama will play Ohio State in the CFP National Championship Game next Monday at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, FL. With Herman now a free agent, expect other college teams to pursue him for their head coaching vacancies like Boise State.
