It all started on Tuesday, November 15th with a chat session.
After spending much of the day connecting with a variety of high-level sources, it had become very clear that not only was Houston head coach Tom Herman the runaway leader to replace Charlie Strong, but that weeks of unofficial behind-the-scenes vetting had put him “on a silver platter” for the Texas administration.
What started just before midnight and went into the wee hours of the night turned out to be the unofficial kick-start to 12 days of reporting on Herman that eventually ended on Sunday with his introductory press conference.
Here’s a rewind and breakdown of what took place from that moment forward.
Wednesday, November 16
Literally, just a few hours after waking up the morning after the midnight chat, I learned that there was an issue that had the Pro-Herman faction of Texas a little spooked. According to a high-level Texas source aware of the specifics that had been passed along, there was a red-flag that had been passed along that morning that had given those in support of Herman pause for concern.
It was positioned to me by this pro-Herman voice as a very serious issue that had created a bridge that needed to be crossed.
When you consider that I had just passed along to everyone on Orangebloods how strong the Pro-Herman movement appeared to be based on conversations with the same sourcing just hours earlier, I was a little taken aback by what I was told through conversation, but the Orangebloods staff immediately starting vetting the new information through various sourcing, while not commenting about the new Intel directly on the site.
Yet, by the end of he night, leaks started to spring up on Orangebloods through a variety of posters and the “red flag” started to emerge as a talking piece, whether we were completely ready to address the discussion or not.
Thursday, November 17
This was probably the craziest day of this entire 12-day sequence, as multiple Texas sites reported that Herman had been crossed off as a possible candidate should Strong lose his job at the end of the season with the “red-flag” concern serving as the backdrop to the reports.
In the first official piece of reporting on the “red-flags” in our Thursday night War Room, the same-high level source that had passed along the information the day before told me, “I am just saying it is a red flag, not that (we) can’t work through it. Tom Herman could end up being the guy."
Among the other notes on Herman from that report …
* Herman had met with his agent Trace Armstrong to discuss, among other things, which assistant coaches he would bring with him in a possible move to Texas.
* Herman’s first choice on a new job was without question Texas by lengthy margins and high-level sources believed Herman was there for them “on a silver platter”.
* The information on Herman’s “red-flag” came from someone that knows him well enough that incredibly specific information was given.
* In speaking with more than a dozen sources in the Houston-area, none believed the concerning issue was serious enough to warrant standing in the way of him landing the Texas job.
* There was not a backup plan to replace Strong outside of Herman.
Of course, in the backdrop of the War Room and other reports from competing sites that night was Houston’s destruction of Louisville that night.
Friday, November 18
This was probably the quietest day of the 12-day stretch, as discussion of the “red-flag” continued to dominate conversations, but there weren’t any real updates to pass along from our sources.
Perhaps the only real event of note from this day was the fact that we were able to confirm one of the specifics that had been passed along by someone close to Herman to the team responsible for vetting Herman through a University of Houston source.
What’s really important to note is that by the end of Friday, the discussion of Herman’s social activity stopped being a talking point. Even sourcing that had been very adamant that it was a possible big issue seemed to back off of that stance by the end of the day.
Saturday, November 19
The bottom fell out on the Charlie Strong era, as the Longhorns lost to Kansas for the first time since 1938 and discussion of Strong being fired reached a fiery pitch.
In a report that night, high-level sources reported to Orangebloods that Strong would not survive the Kansas loss and that discussions between Texas president Greg Fenves and other high-level school officials would take place on Sunday. There were zero indications from our sources at that point that Strong wouldn’t be on the sideline for the season-finale against TCU.
Sunday, November 20
High-level sources confirmed that the decision to fire Strong had been made on Sunday after Fenves met with other Texas officials to discuss the scenario.
While I believed that a decision might be announced before Strong’s 11 a.m. press conference the next morning, sources confirmed that the Texas administration wanted to allow Strong to leave with as much “grace and class” as possible.
Monday, November 21
In a report that morning, I passed along that despite the uproar of the optics that were created by allowing Charlie Strong to have his normal Monday press conference without an announced resolution to his job status, Texas officials believed they were doing right by Strong in allowing him to finish the season. High-level sources also confirmed they had been informed that Strong had spoken with Texas AD Mike Perrin multiple times over the course of Sunday night, a note that sources close to Strong disputed.
Another significant point in that update was the note that there still wasn’t universal consensus among Texas officials with regards to Herman’s status as a possible replacement for Strong.
Tuesday, November 22
Despite reports from competing sites that Strong was still in a position to save his job, I reported Tuesday evening that high-level sources were reporting that Strong was most definitely out as coach, that no Hail Mary options for Strong existed and that a Saturday morning announcement was expected. At no point during the final week of Strong's tenure did we ever report anything other than Strong was out and that it was expected to occur Saturday morning, as the decision had been made on Sunday and things were past the point of no return.
I also reported that per high-level sourcing, Texas president William McRaven had approached Fenves on Sunday and told him that he was not in support of a Herman hire.
As of Tuesday, it had been nearly six days since Texas reps had any substantive conversations with Herman’s representatives and there was belief among Herman’s top supporters at Texas that the two sides remained in a holding pattern that had existed since the end of the previous week. On top of that, Herman’s camp reportedly had an offer of substance on the table and it was believed that Texas needed to give some indications by the end of Saturday if it wanted to be under serious consideration.
Still, every level of sourcing that we had reported that Texas remained “on a silver platter” if the Longhorns made the decision to act quickly and get into the Herman sweepstakes in a serious manner.
Wednesday, November 23
Call it the calm before the Thanksgiving storm.
While communication between Herman’s reps and Texas officials remained in a holding pattern, there remained some concern about the power structure in place (Fenves/McRaven) and whether it would prefer to swing for the fences for a more established big name head coach.
Despite reports of John Harbaugh (among others) had an interest in Strong’s job, we continued to hear that outside of Herman, no true No. 2 option existed.
On a relatively quiet day, what would happen after Strong was removed on Saturday remained in limbo according to very high-level university sourcing.
Thursday, November 24
It will be remembered as the Thanksgiving Day that ultimately caused the university to jump into action.
Former Orangebloods writer Chip Brown reported that Herman was on the verge of becoming the next LSU coach and in checking with high-level Texas officials, Orangebloods reported that there was real fear that they were going to lose Herman. In fact, we passed along a note from one university source that they had been told through their own source that Herman was going to accept the position.
In the immediate aftermath of the reports that Herman was on the brink of being LSU’s coach, the Texas universe exploded in anger at the idea of losing the coach it had on a platter, which shook the Texas administration into action, as communication between Texas and Herman’s representatives finally ignited after eight days of mostly silence.
Friday, November 25
Following the previous night’s burnt orange meltdown, a high-ranking Texas source told us Friday morning that president Fenves was telling Texas officials and high-level donors to show a little bit of patience and that they needed to “trust the process,” as his plan of action would take form once Strong was removed the next day.
"I think (the UT admin) wanted to look for a more established name, but over the last few days, the importance of timing and the urgency of the situation has become clear," one source said. "(Greg) Fenves has voices in his ears from all directions, but the risk of not hiring Herman is just too high."
All it took was a little fear or the unknown to hit the Texas brass and suddenly all of the roadblocks were being removed in rapid fashion, as one high-level Texas official confirmed that the process was expected to move very quickly once Strong’s firing was announced the next morning. Once it became official that the Longhorns were back in the game and in constant communication with Herman’s reps, only a fumble at the two-yard line would keep Herman from becoming the next Texas coach.
One source told Orangebloods that night: "This is all coming together very quickly and there is collective motivation to get our guy."
Saturday, November 26
LSU called a press conference to name its new coach at noon and almost instantly, everyone on the planet could see that Tom Herman was going to be the next coach at Texas based on the white flag LSU waved in settling for Ed Orgeron.
After a series of Saturday morning meetings, Texas fired Strong.
In what will go down as one of the shortest coaching staffs in the history of college football, Texas officials closed their deal with Herman in a matter of hours.
The rest as they say … is history.
No. 2 – Hitting all the right notes ...
As far as first impressions are concerned, Tom Herman checked all of the boxes on Sunday afternoon.
Express love for the Texas high school coaches? Check. Show love to Mack Brown and a keen awareness of the history in the program? Check. Perfectly explained his view of team building? Check. Honestly, once the Q&A session began after his introduction, he started taking batting practice with each question that was served up to him, growing in confidence along the way with each minute that passed.
Yet, the moment that stood out to me more than any other is when he was asked about handling the pressure of the job, especially after it seemed to unnerve both Charlie Strong and his players in the final few weeks of the season, a point all of them seemed to express whenever anyone would ask. I mean … Paul Boyette cried at a press gathering before Strong was fired.
Herman’s answer was a drop the mic moment
“I think pressure is that uneasy feeling that you feel when you’re unprepared. Pressure is self-inflicted. Pressure is self-doubt when you’re unprepared. We’re prepared for this job. We’re prepared for success at this job. We’re prepared for adversity in this job. I don’t feel any sense of pressure at all.”
*mic drop*
Seriously, Herman jumped on the answer to that question like he was starving junkyard dog being given a freshly cooked ham hock.
I didn’t realize until he said it that it was exactly what needed to be said about this program as he takes over. The mentally weak stuff has to stop. Frankly, the more he spoke, the more I realized just how much of a mini-Urban Meyer Texas suddenly has on its hands.
That’s a good thing. This is a program that has needed a little more Urban/Nick in it for about the last seven seasons. It needs methodical. It needs unbroken confidence. It needs to be prepared at every angle.
This won’t be the wing it and fling it program that Charlie Strong ran for three years.
“The blueprint works,” Herman said with full confidence.
Finally, a blueprint.
No. 3 – Early thoughts on incoming assistant coaches...
If there’s anything I’ve learned about covering coaching changes over the last two decades, it’s this… new head coaches are going to take care of their guys.
Period.
When Mack Brown arrived from North Carolina, he brought Greg Davis, Tim Brewster and Cleve Bryant, among others. As everyone knows, Charlie Strong brought both coordinators and then some with him from Louisville. One glance around the nation during any coaching change and you’ll find similar evidence.
As I wrote three years ago when Strong was bringing his own guys, it’s a rare thing for a coach to get the job of his career and then turn his back on his closest assistants that got him there.
It’s fair to have concerns after the disaster that was Charlie Strong’s initial staff, but I’m going to give Herman the benefit of the doubt.
Why?
I’m going to go back to there being too much Urban Meyer in him for Herman to make the same types of comfort mistakes that Strong gave into. If Herman believes that Oscar Giles, Corby Meekins, Derek Warhime, James Washington and Craig Naivar are guys he can’t live without, I‘ll sign off on it, but I can’t ignore that a lot of people are going to wonder if they’ve exchanged Charlie Hook-up for Tommy Hook-up.
Herman has to know he can practically make a run at anyone in the nation that he wants on his staff, so if these are the guys… these are the guys.
If nothing else, he’s given the Texas fanbase something to bitch about and it had been almost 24 hours since that had been the case.
No. 4– Scattershooting on the Longhorns ...
... It was good to see Mack Brown back. It's time for everyone to welcome him back with wide-open arms.
... For those that weren't aware of what Oscar Giles had done since leaving Texas in 2013, he emerged as perhaps the game-changing staff member for Herman at Houston. The folks in the program viewed him as their superstar, so I'm curious to see what happens now that he's back in Austin.
… Has a game’s outcome ever been forgotten as quickly as the loss to TCU? By the next morning, there was absolutely zero talk about the game and we unpinned out game review content more than 24 hours earlier than normal.
… I’m fascinated to see what happens to Sterlin Gilbert moving forward. He’s not going to stay on the market long, but I’m not sure what level of power five jobs for which he’ll be in consideration.
… The player on the Texas roster that should be most excited by the Herman hire should be Devin Duvernay. We’re not going to be wondering why he’s not touching the ball next year.
… Emmanuel Acho is damn good at his job for the Longhorn Network. Damn good.
No. 5 – Buy or sell …
BUY or SELL: Coach Herman will inherit a more talented roster than Coach Strong did?
(Buy) I think it’s closer than some will suggest, but the quarterback situation being settled so much more than it was in 2013 renders everything else a moot point. Assuming that D’Onta Foreman departs for the NFL, I’d give the 2013 roster an advantage over the 2017 roster at running back, tight end, defensive line, defensive backs and special teams, while I give the 2017 roster the edge at quarterback, wide receivers, offensive line and linebackers. There’s better young talent in the program now than there was in 2013, but there’s probably more sure-fire upperclassmen headed to the NFL with the 2013 group.
BUY or SELL: Top 20 recruiting class?
(Buy) If Herman comes in and decides that he wants to take 20+ players, a top 20 national recruiting ranking is likely. Last year’s No. 20 team in the Rivals rankings was TCU, which finished with seven four stars and 15 three-stars. That’s very, very doable.
BUY or SELL: Texas gets a top 10 RB recruit to step in for D'Onta Foreman?
(Sell) Basically, you’re asking me if Texas will land J.K. Dobbins or Eno Benjamin and I’m not sure that I can sign off on either of those things at this moment, especially with Dobbins seeming to be very solid with his commitment to Ohio State. Considering Benjamin was offered by Houston and has only taken two official visits thus far, you’d have to think he’ll get a call early this week from the new staff.
BUY or SELL: Charlie would have been back at 7-5?
(Buy) Deep down, I think President Fenves wanted to keep Charlie Strong if it was at all possible. A 7-5 record might have made it possible.
BUY or SELL: Walker Little will commit to UT, and Marvin Wilson will decide to join him?
(Sell) I’ll buy Texas getting Little because I think deep down he wants to be a Longhorn, but it feels a little homerish to assume that Wilson swings Herman’s way this early. Ask me again in a week or so.
BUY or SELL: Herman should accept invite to a bowl (if we get one) to get more time with D'Onta and convince him to stay?
(Sell) With all due respect to the extra practices, Herman will want to focus on recruiting and the current Texas assistants are going to want to focus on landing new jobs. I have to think the players need the break as well, as I can’t imagine the team would respond well to playing in a bowl game in the next few weeks. The final two games revealed that this program needs a fresh, new start.
BUY or SELL: Herman understands the Saban style backroom football support organization necessary to win in today's game and the admin supports him in building it?
(Buy) Buy, buy and more buy. Three years with Urban Meyer will paint a picture of what’s needed to win at the highest levels of college football.
BUY or SELL: Offseason 2017 > offseason 1998?
(Buy) Recruiting was actually fairly slow-going in the summer of 1998, as Mack Brown offered a number of kids that should have never been offered out of concerns no one would sign with him after the 1998 season. Of course, Ricky Williams won the Heisman and everything changed from that moment on.
BUY or SELL: Kyle Allen is the starting QB for the Texas Longhorns in 2017 vs Maryland?
(Sell) I don’t know that I’m willing to buy that Allen is better than Shane Buechele.
BUY or SELL: Ketch will work harder and be busier in 2017 because of the hire of Tom Herman?
(Buy) You can’t be comfortable when a new regime comes in. It’s time to get our A++ game on
BUY or SELL: The Herman hiring will result in more OB subs than any other event since its inception?
(Sell) The Ryan Perrilloux was worth 2,000 subs in two months. That’s almost unheard of in this day and age.
No. 6– LSU is more like Texas Tech than it is like Alabama ...
I know LSU fans are in love with a coach they believe hung the moon because he sounds exactly like them, but what in the hell did LSU administrators just do?
With more than a year to put together a potentially elite option in place of the fired Les Miles, the Tigers went from having discussions with college football’s hottest young coach to naming the interim head coach as their new coach, despite the fact he finished the year with exactly the same record that Miles likely would have over the course of seven games.
Are you kidding me?
It’s as if LSU was shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue, looked at the prices on everything in the store and decided that a trip to Target was more in tune with its bank account.
At a school that fancies itself as one of college football’s big dogs, the Tigers signed Ed Orgeron on the cheap, giving him a five-year deal that is worth between $3-4 million per year. Basically, they gave him what Kyle Whittingham makes at Utah. Or Pat Fitzgerald at Northwestern. Or Mark Stoops at Kentucky.
Look, I love Orgeron as a guy and would go to any crawfish boil he ever invites me to, but no one can overlook the fact that he was a failure in his only head coaching effort at Ole Miss and that the school went the cheapest route possible by hiring a guy that started the year as a position coach. It would be the equivalent of Texas hiring Jeff Traylor because he has high school connections and can relate to folks in East Texas. I’ll be rooting for Orgeron because he’s an absolute character and there aren’t enough of those guys in college football, but in no way, shape or form was he the best option LSU could have chosen to be its head coach.
It looks like the cheapest, laziest, most comfortable hire the school could have made and if that had happened at a real big boy program, no one would be declaring a Tigers victory after the announcement.
No. 7 – College Football randomness ...
… If I had a vote that mattered
1. Alabama
2. Ohio State
3. Washington
4. Clemson
5. Michigan
6. Wisconsin
7. Oklahoma
8. Penn State
9. Colorado
10. USC
… Big 12 Power Poll
1. Oklahoma
2. Oklahoma State
3. West Virginia
4. Kansas State
5. TCU
6. Texas
7. Baylor
8. Texas Tech
9. Iowa State
10. Kansas
… I can’t even imagine how devastated Jim Harbaugh must have been on Saturday night. There was a time on Saturday when Michigan was in complete control of The Game, but things just got away from the Wolverines in the final 18 minutes. To essentially come up a yard short in double-overtime had to have sent him into psycho Jim mode. That’s a loss he’ll stew over for the next year to say the least.
… Urban Meyer’s teams can never be discounted. Damn, he’s good.
… If Jake Browning played in the SEC, would he be the Heisman leader?
… The American Athletic Conference might have more decent/good teams in it than the Big 12. I’d suggest Navy would be the No. 3 team in the Big 12 and I’m not sure Oklahoma State would be it.
… The Alabama defense didn’t allow a single touchdown in November. How is that possible in 2016?
… I don’t think Will Muschamp has a chance at South Carolina.
… I don’t see how you can give the Heisman to Lamar Jackson after the last two weeks. Maybe that’s not fair, but it is what it us.
… How does a team with DeShone Kizer at quarterback go 4-8?
No. 8 – A request from a Cowboys fan ...
Please, for the love of God, stop comparing the 2016 Cowboys to the 1990s Cowboys.
When Brandon Marshall said on Inside the NFL this week that the 2016 Cowboys were the better team, I nearly fell over.
If anyone needs reminding of what those teams were all about, let me know and I’ll send you over my library of games on VHS tape.
At this point, I just hope at the end of the season that I can definitely say that the 2016 Cowboys were better than the 2007 Cowboys and we’re not quite there yet.
I needed to get that off my chest. Thank you for listening.
No. 9 – Eternal Randomness of the Spotty Sports Mind …
… I’m not even going to write anything about Brock Osweiler, Texans fans, because what is there to say that hasn’t already been made about the fact that Rick Smith had his lunch money taken from him?
… Do the Texans have any chance of pulling off a Tony Romo trade in the off-season?
… Colin Kaepernick played his guts out on Sunday and came up a yard short. There’s a metaphor in there somewhere.
… Are the 2008 Lions sitting around rooting for the Browns to match their 0-16 record like the 1972 Dolphins sit around rooting for all of the unbeaten teams to lose?
… Ho-hum, Justin Tucker. 4 for 4 with makes of 52, 57, 54 and 36 yards. Again, ho-hum.
… What in the world are the Bengals supposed to do in the off-season?
… My favorite Joel Embiid Tweet from the weekend
… Don’t look now, but Kevin Durant might be having the best start to a season in his career, at least from an efficiency standpoint. Check out this section on Durant from an article on The Ringer.com
“Durant is posting his lowest usage rate (28.1 percent) since his rookie season, but he’s still averaging 26.9 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game — numbers either in line with or better than his career averages. Playing off his superstar teammates has increased his efficiency astronomically. No matter how the Warriors use Durant on offense (transition, pick-and-roll, isolation, spot-ups, cuts, or screens), he grades as one of the league’s most effective scorers. Over the last five seasons, Durant posted a dominant 56.1 effective field goal percentage (eFG); now, with Golden State, his eFG has risen to 62.4 percent, which is bordering on historic. No player has ever finished a season attempting more than 15 shots per game with an eFG higher than 63.0 percent, per Basketball-Reference. If Durant even only slightly improves upon his early clip, he could beat the record held by (who else?) his bandmate, Stephen Curry.”
... Fingers crossed for Philippe Coutinho, who has a scan scheduled for Monday on his injured right ankle. Liverpool’s need to purchase an impact winger in January might be even more urgent if Coutinho is out for extended action.
… I’m so glad that Jose Mourinho is at Manchester United. That team might not be more than a Europa League quarterfinalist this season, but damn he makes them interesting. Never change, Jose, never.
… I can’t figure Tottenham out.
… Congrats to Bob Bradley for nabbing his first EPL victory, the first by an American manager, in what might have been the craziest final 20 minutes of any game in the league this year.
… Newly minted Ketchum world rankings:
1. Real Madrid
2. Barcelona FC
3. Athletico Madrid
4. Bayern Munich
5. Liverpool
6. Man City
7. Juventus
8. PSG
9. Chelsea
10. Arsenal
No. 10 - And finally …
With the holiday season upon us, I wanted to pass along a note that if you're interested in having your business spotlighted on Orangebloods during this very busy season, drop me an email at gkketch@gmail.com. Let the power of Orangebloods work for your business.
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