Herman era begins at Texas
Since reaching the 2009 national title game, the Texas Longhorns are 46-43. That’s why the ‘Horns again have a new coach.
The Tom Herman Era begins Saturday against Maryland, and Herman says whatever success he finds won’t happen overnight.
“Bad habits rear their ugly head when you’re dealing with 18- to 22-year-olds,” Herman said. “You’re dealing with many, many years, a lot of times, of some bad habits.”
The Longhorns are coming off three straight losing seasons, which cost Charlie Strong his job, and optimism runs amok in Austin that Herman will change UT’s fortunes.
Herman said the changes in the ‘Horns since his arrival might be 180 degrees. “They’re definitely in line with what we want and what we need,” Herman said. “I have talked about the difference between compliant and committed. I do believe these guys, there’s a lot of them now that are doing these things because they have conviction, that it’s the right way to do things rather than, ‘Hey, I don’t want to get in trouble so let’s do these things.’”
Texas still has quarterback issues. The ‘Horns basically have been searching for a QB since Colt McCoy’s final game, in that 2009 championship against Alabama. Will incumbent Shane Buechele hold off ballyhooed freshman Sam Ehlinger? We start to find out Saturday.
“I’m excited to see them play on Saturday,” Herman said. “Like I said, the biggest test is when we face some adversity, do we respond the way we’re trained or do we respond by falling back into bad habits? That will be a big, big crossroads for us to go through.”