Herman running program just like Meyer
At 40 years old, Tom Herman’s knees aren’t what they were when he was a college receiver for California Lutheran.
But there was the former Ohio State offensive coordinator 10 days ago, running punitive sprints along with everyone else in the Houston Cougars program.
Houston is undefeated at 7-0 and ranked 18th in the Associated Press poll, bolstering Herman’s status as one of college football’s hot young coaches. But Herman learned from his mentors, especially Urban Meyer, the importance of instilling a culture with high standards.
So what was the horrible transgression that Herman deemed worthy of forcing the Cougars to run?
“The locker room was a mess,” he said.
So everyone — players, coaches, video guys, even Houston’s longtime trainer, Mike O’Shea (Texas, Class of 1968) — ran gassers.
“I was pretty close to last on all of them, but that’s OK,” Herman said. “I gave 100 percent.”
His rationale was simple:
“If you’re going to be a championship program, you have to be a championship program every second of every day,” Herman said. “We were slipping in that (standard), and I wanted to make sure they understood that there are no days off.”
There have been no days off for Herman in quite awhile. The day after Ohio State won the national championship in Dallas by beating Oregon, Herman drove to Houston to begin his new job.
The Cougars weren’t a broken program. They’d won eight games each of the previous two seasons and won the Armed Forces Bowl last year.
But Herman sensed that not everything was the way it should be. Players too often missed class or tutoring sessions, or showed up late for workouts.
Just as Meyer did when several players didn’t show up for his first Ohio State team meeting in 2012, Herman imposed his will immediately. Like Meyer, Herman kicked players out of the locker room, although only for a few days.
“I pounced on the opportunity to instill the culture of accountability around here very early,” he said.
Herman said he’s grateful to several coaches he worked for — Texas’ Mack Brown, Rice’s David Bailiff and Iowa State’s Paul Rhoads — but it’s clear that Meyer had the biggest impact.
“I tell people all the time that I felt I went to headcoaching school for three years,” Herman said. “I learned from the best, and a lot of what we do is modeled after the plan we had at Ohio State.”
Herman said he still texts and talks to Meyer regularly. Herman was quarterbacks coach at Ohio State as well as offensive coordinator, and he communicates often with J.T. Barrett, Cardale Jones and Braxton Miller.
As for the Buckeyes’ quarterback derby, Herman deliberately has avoided offering an opinion.
“I have such a good relationship with J.T. and Cardale that I figure if they talk to 1,000 people, 999 of them want to talk about the QB situation at Ohio State,” he said. “I want to be the one person they could call and talk to and ask how their (non-football) life is going.”
Besides, Herman is busy enough coaching his own team. The Cougars, who play in the American Athletic Conference, are averaging almost 48 points and are outscoring opponents by 29 points per game.
But Houston is playing with a patchwork offensive line because three starters have been lost for the season. The next three games — Vanderbilt, Cincinnati and undefeated Memphis — will determine just how good the Cougars are.
Herman acknowledged that he is still adjusting to the demands of being a head coach.
“Every decision as a head coach is the first time I’m making that decision,” he said. “You can prepare all you want, but as old saying goes, assistant coaches make suggestions and head coaches make decisions.”
All in all, Herman’s first head-coaching job has been a joy.
“Yeah, I love it,” he said. “I’m having a blast.”