LESS SHOWMAN, MORE WORKMAN
With Herman’s salesman’s savvy now at UT, Applewhite brings nose-to-grindstone mindset
Tom Herman would have said crazy things and done the unthinkable by now.
Intentionally locked the University of Houston’s football team out of its own locker room.
Made practice losers eat beans out of a can and allowed winners to gorge on steak.
Challenged sleepy students to finally start showing up to home games, while pushing the Cougars’ administration to publicly back its biggest athletic product with significant financial investments.
Swore day after day that a onceforgotten program just outside downtown Houston really could knock off the game’s biggest names, flirt with an undefeated season and compete for a national championship, all at once.
The big new man in Austin actually did all that in less than two years here. And it’s impossible to think about the Coogs’ new guy without reflecting on UH’s old coach, who went 22-4, won a Peach Bowl and reached No. 6 in the nation, then ruined last Thanksgiving by making all the endless Herman-toTexas rumors true.
No one is like Herman. But Major
Applewhite definitely isn’t like his old boss.
“Don’t look at yourself too hard, too seriously.”
“I’m humbled by that opportunity.” “It’s about players.” Those recent lines from Applewhite stood out, reinforcing a calm-and-cool persona from the coach charged with picking up where Charlie Strong’s replacement left off.
“The old staff was big on social media and big on stuff that would hit headlines,” UH junior offensive lineman Will Noble said. “It goes with coach Applewhite’s personality — it’s just kind of being quiet and putting your face down and going to work. That’s kind of what our program is now.”
Herman was a salesman’s salesman, constantly up-selling in a neverending quest to spread the reach of the H-Town Takeover like a raging wildfire.
It worked. Fawning national media coverage, 33-23 versus No. 3 Oklahoma, star local recruits, an increasingly packed stadium and enough swagger to turn the Cougars into one of college football’s hottest properties.
The burn also peaked too fast. UH was embarrassed at SMU a month before Herman left, lost three of its final six games in 2016, and answered a season-opening triumph over the Sooners at NRG Stadium by losing a 34-10 Las Vegas Bowl snoozer to San Diego State, leaving Applewhite 0-1.
Substance over show
Eight months later, UH’s new leader isn’t selling everything in sight and rabidly preaching to potential converts. He’s focusing on the present and building on the foundation Herman helped create, all while knowing the Cougars enter 2017 having to prove themselves again.
“Let’s see,” said Applewhite, capturing the national mood about his squad post-Herman. “‘Man that quarterback was really good. He made that offense go. Let’s see about this kid that came in and led them from behind against Memphis. … Or this transfer from A&M, let’s see if he can do it.’ ”
For all the local frustration that still colors Herman’s departure, it’s not like he left the shelves bare on Cullen Boulevard. Ed Oliver’s already a wrecking crew and only a sophomore. Kyle Allen gets a fresh start away from Kevin Sumlin and is now being taught by the man Herman trusted to run UH’s offense.
And for all the differences in the public styles of Applewhite and Herman, current players insisted that life really hasn’t been that different.
“You can say it’s a difference in coaching styles and stuff. But at the end of the day, all coaches want the same thing,” senior safety Khalil Williams said. “They want the best out of you, they want to push you every day in practice, and ultimately they just want you to be the best person you can be.”
This was mentioned, though: More substance, less show.
“We have different coaches who do aim to be more respectful of us and coach us more,” Noble said.
Herman rightfully took pride in changing the Cougars’ culture and altering expectations. The season after his departure, it’s on Applewhite’s first squad to bridge a 13-1 team in 2015 with UH’s long-term football future.
“The people who have been here, who have done this, who have the culture and live it every day, need to move it on to the next people, just so we keep this thing rolling year to year, no matter who this staff is,” Noble said.
Keeping it light
Applewhite said his relationship with Herman remains “the same.” Both are in their first years in new jobs. Both are endlessly busy and would text more if they still worked in the same building.
“There’s things that he’s come across in Austin that he’ll hit me up with, which makes me laugh,” Applewhite said. “And there’s things that I’m experiencing that I know make him laugh.”
When Applewhite stood behind a podium last month, he joked about not wanting to give a “state of the union,” then immediately erased any hint of pretentiousness.
“Any questions?” he said, before giving sincere — if sometimes dry — answers to a small collection of reporters.
Part of me missed Herman’s charm and bravado.
Where was the Coogs’ flag planted on a skyscraper? Who was going to wear a diamond grill, fake rapping about winning really big rings and nice things that come with no strings? Where was the addicting Twitter buzz?
Part of me also remembered Herman proudly calling UH one of the finest colleges in the country and Houston one of the greatest cities in America … less than a year before he moved to Austin.
“All that matters is winning,” Noble said. “So that’s what we’re here to do.”
If Applewhite wins like Herman did, no one will care how many crazy things he doesn’t say.