Photo via UT
There is no denying Tom Herman’s resume as a football coach. Herman’s tenure as an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Iowa State was so successful, he caught the attention of Urban Meyer. Herman helped Ohio State win a national championship with Cardale Jones, a third-string quarterback. After a successful stint in Columbus, Ohio, Herman became the head coach at Houston. He led the Cougars to a 13-1 record in year one. Houston won nine games the following year, and Texas convinced Herman not to take the LSU job.
Herman has not won a Big 12 title at Texas, but he has enjoyed successful moments with the Longhorns. Herman is 3-0 in bowl games at Texas. The Sugar Bowl win against Georgia has been his greatest achievement in the past three seasons. His second biggest win is arguably a regular-season victory against Oklahoma in 2018. He has been successful as a recruiter.
Nothing on Herman’s resume could have prepared him for 2020. Herman could not look for “Pandemic For Dummies” in his library and figure out how to approach this offseason. Herman’s team left for spring break and did not return to campus until mid-June. The Longhorns did not have spring practice. Everyone was forced to communicate through Zoom. Herman had multiple players deal with personal issues that were magnified without football as an escape. Coaches and players have been forced to deal with uncertainty for months.
Herman is coaching through adversity.
There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the upcoming football season. The Pac-12, Big Ten and SEC decided to play a conference only schedule. The Big 12 elected to play nine conference games and one non-conference game. The ACC decided to play an 11-game schedule, with 10 games against conference opponents and one versus a non-conference program. Texas was expected to host UTEP on September 12 in the season opener, followed by a road trip to Kansas State two weeks later. It appeared we were a few weeks away from the college football in front of a limited audience.
Then Saturday happened.
The MAC decided to postpone all fall sports, including football, until the spring. This was a day after UCONN announced it was pushing football back to the spring, which prompted most college football observers to say, “wake me when they cancel basketball.” We started seeing reports from national college football writers predicting football will be pushed back to the spring. Nobody explained what changed, or why administrators believe it will be safer to have sports at the beginning of next year. We just know national reporters do not believe college football will occur in 2020.
This news occurred one day after Texas announced it administered 153 COVID-19 tests among its five on-boarded teams (football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, volleyball and soccer) over the past three weeks, and there were no new positive test results.
“Our number one priority will always be our student-athletes,” Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte said. “Their health and safety is paramount, and our Texas Athletics team has been working tirelessly throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to not only put the guidelines, procedures and protocols in place to provide the safest environment possible, but also to educate, train and prepare them for all of the best practices to avoid the spread of the virus. We have five of our teams on campus now, and we are so proud of how they have managed this very challenging time, and we’re continuing to prepare them for all that is ahead. Most importantly, at the end of the day, we want our student-athletes, every single one of them, to be in the best environment possible and continue to have every possible resource necessary to excel at the very high level they are accustomed to.
“We’re so proud of the how our entire Texas Athletics team has managed this health crisis, but most importantly, the trust and understanding our medical team has established with our student-athletes, coaches and teams. They are on top of everything, constantly communicating, helping to educate and answering every question, while providing all the tools to help the student-athletes take care of themselves and those around them. It’s just been a truly awesome effort all the way around.”
That brings us back to Herman.
Training camp began on Friday. There was practice on Saturday. Texas will practice on Sunday. Heck, here is the upcoming schedule, which I recently shared in the War Room:
Monday – no practice (this day’s respite will not change during training camp)
Tuesday – shorts and pads
Wednesday – full pads
Thursday – walk-through (no pads)
Friday – shorts and shoulder pads
Saturday – scrimmage
August 16 (Sunday) – walk-through
Herman addressed this uncertainty during a Zoom conference call on Friday.
“Raise your hand on this call if you've been through a global pandemic before that's lasted six months,” Herman said. “I mean, nobody has, so we're all kind of going through this for the first time together. I think the kids are very cognizant of that, and they don't they don't hold us to a standard that is unreachable in terms of us having all the answers. We're going to make sure that we keep them safe and healthy.”
College coaches do not have all the answers.
Nobody does.
Football coaches know how to help a player who has a girlfriend break his heart. They know how to deal with a death in the family. Players fighting homesickness is nothing new.
A global pandemic?
There is not an instructional YouTube video for that one.
“It is deeper,” Herman said. “That was a big deal, and continues to be for us. One, communication and relationships. We’ve got to have and continue to build a great relationship with our players so that they feel comfortable talking to you about things that they are uncomfortable about. We've had all sorts of medical professionals come on our team meetings to try to educate our players.
“I’ve had a ton of one-on-one meetings and just listened. I think that's probably the biggest thing.”
There are a lot of hard decisions that ahead.
Texas running back Daniel Young is skipping training camp due to COVID-19 concerns. If the Big 12 pushes back its season, there will be players who decide to focus on the NFL draft. If the season begins on time, there will inevitably be delays due to the virus.
“Parents have been extremely supportive,” Herman said. “Obviously, just like all of us on this call that are parents, you're going to be worried, but when you send your child off to comply with the University of Texas, we tell them and swear to them that we're going to treat their sons like ours, and the proof is in the pudding right now in terms of our handling it as a department, and as a program.”
Herman is coaching through adversity.
Funniest Things You Will See This Week
Which is worse: wearing a G-string at a public pool or losing your wig at the same place?
This is why we love dogs
Might not be hilarious, but it will give you a chuckle (spoiler alert: we’re old)
Sports On A Dime
1. I am not sure why Texas isn’t promoting a “Sam for Heisman” campaign, but it seems like a no-brainer. Ehlinger is UT’s best quarterback since Colt McCoy. When you consider most recruits were children when Texas was on top, promoting Ehlinger for the ultimate individual prize would pump up a university that has been watching Oklahoma send it players to New York, and it could help recruiting. Until Texas is back, these are the little things that could help the Longhorns.
2. Herman on his players adapting to wearing face shields: “If the question is would they prefer them or not them, the answer is not them, that's for sure. They certainly prefer the shield as opposed to wearing a mask under their helmet. They understand that this is a problem that is not unique to Texas. This is something that everybody in the country is dealing with. It's part of doing business in 2020, and they're going to try like heck to find the most comfortable option for them. All of them have the face shield on their helmet, and then 95 percent have the little pull-up mask when they want to take their helmet off. Other guys have chosen to just not take their helmet off at all, and just use the shield the entire time, but those guys are definitely in the minority. They don't like it, and that's okay. There's a lot of stuff about this game that they don't like, and we don't like, but it's obviously part of playing football in 2020, and you can't get around it. They've tried all the different options out there, and this is the one they feel is the best for them right now.”
3. Herman’s response when asked if the Big 12 should adopt the SEC’s rule that states every person on the sideline should wear a mask: “I was under the impression that it was [a rule]. I don't know if it is or isn't, but I would assume that if it's not a national rule, most if not all conferences will adopt that.”
4. Herman on balancing seven new coaches and instilling his culture: “We've had multiple staff meetings, in terms of discussions about how we do things around here, and what our culture is. Again, there are things that are going to show up every day. I've got a sheet of notes that's from a two-hour practice of just different things that you say, 'Okay, this coach coach is new and he wasn't aware that we do this way.' But they're all pros. Chris [Ash] and I have worked together at numerous different stops, so he's pretty aware of the expectations, and been a head coach. With Mike [Yurcich], we haven't changed a whole lot offensively. We've kept two coaches on offense, so those guys have been able to say, 'Hey, we do it this way or that way.' I think early in the pandemic we had a lot of staff meetings to where we kind of laid in front the overarching theme and culture of our program, but that was done back in January, too. These guys were out there and walkthroughs and all that with our players, and meeting with them in January and February. We had to do that in a hurry post Signing Day in February. It was a mad dash to get these guys up to speed on the expectations and what we believe here at the University of Texas. Again, this isn’t their first job. You know that they are all pros.”
5. Herman on Stan Drayton’s role if the head coach was forced to quarantine: “I mean I would miss a two-hour practice and two-hour, three-hour game. I wouldn’t be dead, I hope. So, I can certainly attend every meeting remotely. I would think my phone would still work and could make a lot of advanced decisions remotely. Then really you're talking about on the practice field and then on game day. What we talked about is certainly coach Drayton would be the voice, along with Chris Ash, certainly for the defense especially since he's had had coaching experience. I think it's a different circumstance because it's not like you're going to be incapacitated you just can't be around people. Your brain still works. You can still make decisions, and still communicate with people. I’m not too concerned about it, but it's certainly something you plan for.”
6. Herman on Mike Yurcich’s impact: “Mike's done a great job of studying what we did well last year, and making sure that we don't throw everything out just because he's new. You’re always looking things to enhance. He has brought some interesting and exciting new tempo ideas to us. A couple new route concepts. For the most part, to the layperson, I know that it's going to look a ton different. I think we'll execute at a higher level. I think the tempo part with a few route concepts, Sam's ability, and Sam's has really taken to coach Yurcich. I think that's going to be a really fun relationship to watch throughout the season as well.”
7. This might be my favorite tweet of the year:
8. Robin Ventura has to be challenged at every bar after this beat down:
9. Most people remember the moment that hooked them to a specific sport. As a newbie to F1, the British Grand Prix finish last week is all it took to make me into a lifelong fan. For those who did watch, Mercedes was one lap away from another dominating performance before Valtteri Bottas blew on a tire on the final lap, which knocked him out of the top three. A few moments later, Lewis Hamilton’s tire blew. Hamilton had a sizable lead, but nearly lost the race after that tire blew. Do yourself a favor a watch this video because it shows how exciting F1 racing is.
The Rolex British GP 2 is on Sunday.
10. As the owner of a dad bod, I have to right to say Gervonta Davis better lose the belly before his fight against Leo Santa Cruz on October 24.
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