Brian T. Smith, Jenny Dial Creech columns.
Tom Herman said and did all the right things at Houston, including win, but then Texas came calling
Thank Tom Herman. Praise him. Hate him. You have the right to do it all. Just understand that the creator of the H-Town Takeover was always going to leave the University of Houston and Cullen Boulevard was never going to contain him.
Herman was too big for UH. And if a self-made 41-year-old man ends up taking over Austin like he did TDECU Stadium the last two years, his all-too-brief 26-game ascension as a bleeding-red Cougar will ultimately end up as a blip on college football’s radar.
I know what you’re thinking. So go ahead and say it, because it’s true.
UH was a steppingstone — again. Art Briles used the Coogs. Kevin Sumlin did the same. Then came Herman, doing what Tony Levine could never do and turning a flimsy, made-up takeover into a national rage.
Times truly have changed, though.
Power Five and the 1 percent. Cross-country conference realignment. College Football Playoff. A few years, at best, to prove your big-time name, or the boosters start searching for the next Nick Saban.
It took Briles and Sumlin nine combined years and 114 games to leap from UH to Baylor and Texas A&M, respectively. Herman didn’t even make it to his second bowl. And when he traded “Whose house? Coogs’ house!” for “Hook ’em Horns!” two days after Thanksgiving, the 165-mile divide between two worlds was bridged with silent steps into UH’s parking lot and a flag-waving quote that immediately made Austin burn orange.
“I’m excited to be the head coach at the flagship university of the greatest state in the union,” said Herman, sounding like he just defeated Donald Trump in the presidential election.
Charlie Strong and his 16-21 résumé were finally canned at 9:32 a.m. Saturday. The first report of Herman to Texas was issued 51 minutes later.
Big 12 decision sealed exit
Time moves faster than ever in 2016. And the second that the small-minded Big 12 stiffed Houston and all the other pawns that desperately tried to pry their way into the Power Five’s holy gates — Oct.17 unofficially marked the end of Herman in red and white — there was no way in the world he was continuing the second-rate Coogs life for another year.
Herman can have anything he wants in Austin — especially if he wins.
There’s so much weight to carry at Houston. And the heavy lifting never ends.
“The opportunity to come back to Texas is a dream come true for me and my family,” Herman said.
Dream come true? Flagship university? A “greatest state in the union” line that sounded painfully similar to all those big, heartwarming things Herman said about UH from December 2014 until Friday afternoon?
Of course, the hate and frustration from the jilted came quickly. Readers and fans: “What happened to all the ‘I love you’ and pregame kisses on the cheek? Did those mean nothing?”
“You have to start asking how he really operates. UH deserves better.”
“I guess Austin will now be the ‘greatest city in America.’ ”
“Is (an) HC leaving supposed to hurt like this? Don’t remember having this feeling when Sumlin left.”
Then four words that would have been unthinkable just a week ago: “(…) you, Tom Herman!”
There’s that name again. You couldn’t flip the channel during the holiday week without having Herman chatter take over your TV.
Herman could write a selfpromotion book from memory and has the diamond-encrusted grill to prove it. He also reached and inspired young men (and non-five-star recruits) whom so many others fail to connect with.
“If you want to win championships and you want to win New Year’s Six bowl games and win 13 games and kiss trophies … you can certainly do it at one of the finest institutions in the country and … the greatest city in America,” Herman said after 38-24 UH in the 2015 Peach Bowl put the Cougars back on the national map.
Aggressive agent
If you want to be mad at someone, blame Herman’s agent, not the man who beheaded No. 9 Florida State, No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 5 (CFP) Louisville in less than a year, lifting UH football to its greatest height since Bill Yeoman’s best years in the late 1970s.
It was disturbing and insulting seeing “Herman could close deal with LSU on Saturday” constantly scroll across the TV ticker while Ed Orgeron beat down Sumlin’s Aggies on Thursday night. It wasn’t a coincidence that Tigers athletic director Joe Alleva spent a portion of Orgeron’s “You’re hired! (After we lost out on Herman)” news conference taking an apparent shot at agent Trace Armstrong.
“It was all orchestrated by someone, and you can figure that out,” Alleva said.
Herman chose Armstrong to represent him and act in his behalf.
There often is an “I” in team. “Student-athlete” is an old joke. Family rarely lasts in the top-25 game.
Could Herman have found a better way to leave? Sure. But post-Strong Texas was waiting with open arms, and a onehorse town — where college football always rules and there’s no such thing as the NFL, MLB or NBA — was ready for a takeover of its own.
Connecticut, Navy, SMU and Memphis will soon be forgotten. A 22-4 mark and confetti angels in the Peach Bowl is one heck of a two-year legacy.
Herman began building what UH was waiting for. Now Hunter Yurachek, Renu Khator, Tilman Fertitta and the next chosen man must finish it off. If the Coogs can’t, they’ll always be a brilliant season away from losing the next Briles, Sumlin or Herman to the schools where college football really is king.
All Herman has to do is barely move his fingers to turn the Coogs’ hand symbol into the hook ’em sign.
UH must find the next Herman. And it can’t afford to miss.