Herman should take high road, leave antics to players
The day after Texas defeated Missouri in the Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium to finish the season 7-6 — the Longhorns’ first winning record since 2013 — the trending story about the Longhorns wasn’t about their play or their victory.
Instead, a Google or social media search Thursday brought up one thing: Tom Herman celebrating by mocking Missouri’s quarterback.
If you’ve been on Twitter since late Wednesday night, you’ve seen the video. Moments after an 18-yard touchdown run by Armanti Foreman with 1:39 remaining, Herman appears to mock Missouri quarterback Drew Lock with a victory dance.
Lock did the celebratory dance — dubbed the “secure the bag” — earlier in the game after the Tigers’ first score.
A few Texas players mocked the dance when they locked up the 33-16 victory late in the game, and then Herman joined in. Soon after, video of the celebration went viral.
Just like that, the conversation shifted from the Longhorns’ victory to Herman’s antics.
Celebrations, trash talk and mocking are part of the game. Players are going to get into the competition, which leads to scrutiny and criticism.
That’s all fine. But coaches should leave that to their players. Coaches should stay out of the noise and keep the focus on what’s important: the wins.
Missouri players were giving the horns-down hand signal before and during the game. So if Texas players wanted to mock Lock’s dance or anything else the Tigers were doing, that
would have been a blip on the radar.
As soon as a 42-year old man — twice the age of the quarterback he was mocking — joined in, he took it to another level. It was hardly the high road.
Herman, as he often has, stole the spotlight, attention and headlines from his team.
A lot of these celebratory acts in college football are disrespectful and classless. Oklahoma quarterback Baker Mayfield has replaced former Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel as the most obnoxious player in terms of his bravado and cocky attitude — shown in his antics on the field. Whether planting a flag on the field after a victory at Ohio State or grabbing his genital area during a game against Kansas, Mayfield detracted from his team’s efforts.
Leave showboating to others
Herman did the same thing when he mocked Lock on Wednesday. The head coach should have known better.
Lock and other Missouri players were in good spirits about it. Lock took it as a compliment that the head coach at a prominent university such as UT paid close enough attention to him to imitate him.
There don’t seem to be any hard feelings between the teams. This conversation will fizzle out, and everyone will move on. Still. The day after a bowl victory, days after Texas signed a stellar recruiting class, the dominant conversation about the Longhorns surrounds Herman’s dancing (poorly) on the sideline to rub in his team’s win.
The optics aren’t great. It’s not the conversation anyone at Texas should want to have about the football team right now.
Herman is a showy coach. He always has been. During his time at Houston, his personality often overshadowed the team. It helps him bond with his players, helps him recruit and gets national attention. It can certainly be a positive. It can also be a distraction.
Let winning do the talking
It’s hard to imagine some of the best coaches of all time acting the way Herman does. What would Nick Saban look like dancing on the sideline? Or Bear Bryant or Bud Wilkinson or Darrell Royal?
When those guys made headlines, it usually was because their teams were winning.
Texas is on the right track. The Longhorns finished above .500 and played a lot of good football this year. They have a strong group of recruits arriving. There is a lot to talk about.
It’s too bad that right now all the talk is about Herman.