A few notes to pass along.
1. There's no question that the Texas athletic department is still in a bit of a re-group phase following the failed pursuit of former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer over the weekend. If I had to compare it to anything, it somewhat reminds me of the period of time back in November of 2016 when it appeared that the Longhorns were going to opt out of the pursuit of Tom Herman, only to reverse field after about 48 hours of uncertainty.
What am I trying to tell you? I suppose that the immediate aftermath of this weekend involves a large degree of uncertainty. Part of regrouping is reassessing and everyone that we've spoken with seems to be incredibly un-emphatic in projecting what happens yet.
For instance, following the loss to Iowa State, there was a consensus among high-level university sourcing that the tipping point had been reached with regards to Herman. It feels like everyone has walked back the emphatic talk significantly.
2. In talking to sources today, where there was only a gas pedal in terms of financing in the pursuit of Meyer, there seems to be a brake pedal in play for non-Meyer options. I get the sense that there's still a heavy bit of exploration of what might be possible, but there's no question that the dynamics in play have changed. There is some very real pause to swallowing the full $24+ million buyout of both Herman and his staff. One of the reasons you'll probably hear some funky names floated around in the universe in the coming days is related to the idea of what the universe might look like if a new coach came in and retained the current set of assistant coaches, which as a group has a high positivity rating within the university.
3. The prospect of Herman remaining should be taken very seriously at this point. One high-level university source who I know is in favor of change handicapped the situation at 50-50, which represented a pretty eye-bulging response from yours truly, given where university officials believed they were 72 hours ago.
4. If a change is coming, I was told not to expect any movement until after the conference championship games next week.
5. Consider everything you've heard in the last 72 hours to mostly be noise.
6. One trusted source this afternoon emphasized that the idea that the university would give Herman some sort of extension as a sign of commitment in the name of recruiting as unlikely. (ie... he used upper-case letters for the word "NOT" when questioned about that particular rumor that has been making the rounds.
7. Within the football department, there's still a lot of anxiety about what may or may not happen to everyone. There's a lot of people over there that are wondering if they are going to have jobs after Christmas and the events that have unfolded in the 7-10 days have clearly had an impact on people working inside the program.
8. The lack of a strong fall-back plan beyond the pursuit of Meyer has a lot to do with what has happened on the field in the last few weeks in the world of college football. Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte has such good relationships with Penn State head coach James Franklin and Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal that if either was in the middle of a good season on the field, the entire conversation might look quite different. Twelve days ago, Cristobal was undefeated at 3-0 and coming off of a big 2019 season. Twelve days later, no one around the 40 Acres is floating his name at all ... and believe me ... his name was being floated 14 days ago. I'd strongly suggest that three weeks ago, Meyer was seen as Plan A and some combo of Cristobal/Franklin was seen as Plan B. The truth is that Texas is probably working on Plan C at this point, which is why the confidence levels are way down.
9. From The Department of "So, you're telling me there's a chance!"... For those wondering about Meyer and whether everything that has happened was some sort of hidden plot by Meyer to throw off the scent while Ohio State's season unfolds without distraction, only for him to be able to raid that program of key parts at a later, respectful date ... all I can tell you is that the rumor is out there, but none of our highest-level sourcing appears to be running a high-level con game in trying to mislead everyone to buy time. It doesn't feel like that. However, unless Meyer ever makes public remarks that emphatically end all speculation forever more, expect these rumors to exist.
Overall, we're essentially at a point where there's a vibe among decision-makers to give Herman and his staff another year as opposed to setting a bunch of money on fire in an effort to find an uninspiring Plan B.
1. There's no question that the Texas athletic department is still in a bit of a re-group phase following the failed pursuit of former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer over the weekend. If I had to compare it to anything, it somewhat reminds me of the period of time back in November of 2016 when it appeared that the Longhorns were going to opt out of the pursuit of Tom Herman, only to reverse field after about 48 hours of uncertainty.
What am I trying to tell you? I suppose that the immediate aftermath of this weekend involves a large degree of uncertainty. Part of regrouping is reassessing and everyone that we've spoken with seems to be incredibly un-emphatic in projecting what happens yet.
For instance, following the loss to Iowa State, there was a consensus among high-level university sourcing that the tipping point had been reached with regards to Herman. It feels like everyone has walked back the emphatic talk significantly.
2. In talking to sources today, where there was only a gas pedal in terms of financing in the pursuit of Meyer, there seems to be a brake pedal in play for non-Meyer options. I get the sense that there's still a heavy bit of exploration of what might be possible, but there's no question that the dynamics in play have changed. There is some very real pause to swallowing the full $24+ million buyout of both Herman and his staff. One of the reasons you'll probably hear some funky names floated around in the universe in the coming days is related to the idea of what the universe might look like if a new coach came in and retained the current set of assistant coaches, which as a group has a high positivity rating within the university.
3. The prospect of Herman remaining should be taken very seriously at this point. One high-level university source who I know is in favor of change handicapped the situation at 50-50, which represented a pretty eye-bulging response from yours truly, given where university officials believed they were 72 hours ago.
4. If a change is coming, I was told not to expect any movement until after the conference championship games next week.
5. Consider everything you've heard in the last 72 hours to mostly be noise.
6. One trusted source this afternoon emphasized that the idea that the university would give Herman some sort of extension as a sign of commitment in the name of recruiting as unlikely. (ie... he used upper-case letters for the word "NOT" when questioned about that particular rumor that has been making the rounds.
7. Within the football department, there's still a lot of anxiety about what may or may not happen to everyone. There's a lot of people over there that are wondering if they are going to have jobs after Christmas and the events that have unfolded in the 7-10 days have clearly had an impact on people working inside the program.
8. The lack of a strong fall-back plan beyond the pursuit of Meyer has a lot to do with what has happened on the field in the last few weeks in the world of college football. Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte has such good relationships with Penn State head coach James Franklin and Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal that if either was in the middle of a good season on the field, the entire conversation might look quite different. Twelve days ago, Cristobal was undefeated at 3-0 and coming off of a big 2019 season. Twelve days later, no one around the 40 Acres is floating his name at all ... and believe me ... his name was being floated 14 days ago. I'd strongly suggest that three weeks ago, Meyer was seen as Plan A and some combo of Cristobal/Franklin was seen as Plan B. The truth is that Texas is probably working on Plan C at this point, which is why the confidence levels are way down.
9. From The Department of "So, you're telling me there's a chance!"... For those wondering about Meyer and whether everything that has happened was some sort of hidden plot by Meyer to throw off the scent while Ohio State's season unfolds without distraction, only for him to be able to raid that program of key parts at a later, respectful date ... all I can tell you is that the rumor is out there, but none of our highest-level sourcing appears to be running a high-level con game in trying to mislead everyone to buy time. It doesn't feel like that. However, unless Meyer ever makes public remarks that emphatically end all speculation forever more, expect these rumors to exist.
Overall, we're essentially at a point where there's a vibe among decision-makers to give Herman and his staff another year as opposed to setting a bunch of money on fire in an effort to find an uninspiring Plan B.
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