BOSS TO BEAR
With big jobs come big expectations — and little security
Tom Herman was college football’s “It” coach last year, the rising star seen as the savior for whichever power program could lure him from Houston. There, he’d turned an invisible roster into a top-10 team, going 22-4 in two seasons, after winning a national championship as Ohio State’s offensive coordinator.
Herman, 42, was a candidate who doesn’t come around every year, a coach who could win national titles, and stay at the same dream job for decades.
Now that he’s taken over at Texas, the glitter is a bit duller. Now, that the Longhorns’ season is starting, potential isn’t what it was a few months back.
Results are everything, even if the program has endured three straight losing seasons.
“I don’t know why we’re ranked in the top 25,” Herman said of his 23rd-ranked Longhorns on a conference call Monday. “I hope it’s not because of me. I think it’s more of because we’re Texas and we’re a national brand.”
It’s both. It’s the reality when you sign a five-year, $28.75 million contract, and plan to revive one of the biggest football programs in the country.
The expectation is the same even if you’ve never coached a game before, like 33-year-old Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma’s former offensive coordinator who is replacing the retired Bob Stoops.
Riley takes over the back-to- back Big 12 champions, and has a built-in floor with two-time Heisman finalist Baker Mayfield returning at quarterback. Most importantly, he has the support of a national championship-winning coach.
“I was hired here because I’m ready,” Riley wrote in The Players’ Tribune this summer. “Coach Stoops knew I was ready. That’s the best endorsement I could ever hope for.”
LSU also has an idea of what to expect from its new head coach, Ed Orgeron, who was hired fulltime after going 6-2 on an interim basis last season, following the firing of Les Miles.
The ousting of LSU’s longtime coach last year was no surprise, and with a new season started, the end is near for several more head coaches.
Just six years ago, Kevin Sumlin finished a one-loss season at Houston, and accepted a far more lucrative position in the same state, ending his first year at Texas &M as the fifth-ranked team in the nation. But since Johnny Manziel left, the Aggies have had three consecutive five-loss seasons, failing to finish ranked each year. Another uninspiring campaign could mean the end, even with a $10 million buyout.
Texas Tech’s Kliff Kingsbury, who was Manziel’s offensive coordinator in 2012, has also transformed from a popular young coach to someone who might be shown the door. Kingsbury ,38, hasn’t recorded a winning Big 12 season in four years at Texas Tech, and has gone 16-21 over the past three years overall.
Other well-known coaches who could create desirable openings with another poor season include Notre Dame’s Brian Kelly, Tennessee’ s Butch Jones, Arizona’s Rich Rodriguez and UCLA’s Jim Mora Jr.
Some will survive. Some will thrive. Some will never hold such prominent positions again.