Tom Herman will remain as Texas head coach, AD says
It appears Tom Herman will be back at Texas in 2021.
Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte released a statement on Saturday saying that “Tom Herman is our coach.”
“There’s been a lot of speculation about the future of our football coach. My policy is to wait until the end of the season before evaluating and commenting on our program and coaches. With the close of the regular season, I want to reiterate that Tom Herman is our coach,” Del Conte said.
Rumors swirled for weeks that Herman was on the hot seat and that Texas was pursuing former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer behind the scenes for its head-coaching position. Reports surfaced last week that Meyer informed Texas officials that he would not be returning to coaching next season.
Texas is 6-3 this year and was scheduled to play on the road against Kansas on Saturday. That game was canceled, however, due to COVID-19 cases within the UT program.
With the postseason ahead, as well as the early signing period, Del Conte issued a vote of confidence for Herman, who has a 31-18 overall record at Texas that includes a 22-13 mark in Big 12 play.
“When I look at our football program right now, I see tremendous young men and promising talent. Our student-athletes are developing and they play their hearts out,” Del Conte said.
“This has been an unprecedented year for all of us, and we’re disappointed that we didn’t meet our expectations. Like the many fans that follow and support our program, I can’t help but think what could have been in 2020. There’s still more work to be done, but I’m excited to watch our players and program move forward.”
The Longhorns have never won a Big 12 title in Herman’s four seasons, though they came close in 2018. After going 7-6 in Herman’s first season, UT advanced to the Big 12 title game in 2018 but lost to rival Oklahoma. Texas rebounded by beating Georgia in the Sugar Bowl that year to finish 10-4.
There was some real optimism and momentum around the program entering 2019, but Texas disappointed with an underwhelming 8-5 record. The underwhelming play continued in 2020. The Longhorns needed overtime to beat a bad Texas Tech team in Week 2 before dropping back-to-back games to TCU and Oklahoma.
The Longhorns would win their next three games, but lost a pivotal game to Iowa State on Nov. 27. It was a game that would have given Texas a good chance to advance to the Big 12 title game. Instead, the Cyclones scored a late touchdown to win 23-20 to essentially wrap up their own spot in the conference championship game.
Despite Saturday’s vote of confidence from Del Conte, Herman will likely on the hot seat yet again as the 2021 season begins.
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