So it's not exactly breaking news that Tom Herman, founder of Mensa, the largest and oldest high IQ society in the world, is a pretty really good coach and a very hot commodity at the present time.
Tom Herman was the hottest coaching name in college football before the 2016 season even began, and it looks like he could have a handful of elite programs clamoring for his services heading into 2017.
Herman is 18-1 over a season and a half at the helm at Houston, going 13-1 last year and ending his first head-coaching campaign with a conference title and a Peach Bowl win.
He’s no stranger to big-time programs, either. Herman spent the three years before coming to Houston as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Ohio State.
It'd be difficult to argue with a record of 18-1 over a season and a half, especially considering that 13-1 of that came in his first year at the helm of a D-1 football program. It doesn't hurt that he cut his offensive teeth at tOSU under the watchful eye of the guru we like to call UFM either!
Now I'd say we can all pretty well agree with everything up to this point but buckle up because here's where things are going to get interesting. With a number of big-time programs either having coaching vacancies or soon to have coaching vacancies, the demand for Tom's services are really just beginning to heat up.
Let's take a look at where he's being rumored to at the present:
The Big Easy money is on Herman jumping to LSU after this season, following the firing of Les Miles in Baton Rouge. Speaking on ESPN’s College Gameday show, Kirk Herbstreit said Herman would fit perfectly in the Purple and Gold:
I think Tom Herman would be a perfect fit. Talking about the opposite? He would be a completely different approach to the head coaching position.
It's only week 5 of the 2016 CFB season and look at the rest of the list of possible landing spots for Herman:
There’s USC, where Clay Helton is just 8-7 over his short stint, including a 2-3 start in 2016. Or perhaps Oregon, where Mark Helfrich is off to a 2-3 start and coming off an embarrassing loss to Washington State. Both Pac-12 programs don’t take too kindly to losing records and not competing for conference titles and premier bowl slots, and could be looking to make a change depending on how the rest of the year shakes out.
He could dare to stay in-state and go to Texas, should Charlie Strong fail to right the ship in Austin.
Now don't think for a second that Houston and the U of H fans will take any of this "where will Tom Herman coach next year" talk lying down. Just take a look at some of the banter coming out of H-Town:
Houston fans aren't going to let Tom Herman go to #LSU without a fight pic.twitter.com/kdfHYKwH1l
— 247Sports (@247Sports) September 30, 2016
Tom Herman, ever the diplomat is saying all the right things about where he'll be come 2017.
I’m not going to talk about any other jobs. We love it here in Houston. My job is to maintain focus and to prepare our team to win football games each and every week. We have a really veteran and mature group that understands.
I’m just happy to come to work every day and get to coach these guys — they’re a joy to coach.
So, the question is where will Herman end up next season? Should he stay in Houston and continue to build a perennial contender and possible Big 12 member with the Cougars, or jump ship for the chance to run one of college football’s most storied programs?
Here's a link for the full story but let's talk about why we're really here this morning...
What say you 11W? I know we're all rooting for Tom Herman's continued success but what colors do you see him donning in 2017?
