After a two-year hiatus, former Texas coach Tom Herman is back in football.
The former head coach for the University of Houston and the University of Texas at Austin is now the head coach for the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Owls football team, Fox News reported.
From 2017 to 2020, Herman coached the Longhorns in Austin. Before that, he spent two seasons as the head coach of the Houston Cougars.
Herman said in a press release from Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Athletics that the Owls are looking forward to a successful season.
“It is an honor to have the opportunity to lead the Florida Atlantic football program. I’m incredibly grateful to Brian White, President Kelly, Mary Giardina, and everyone else who was involved in the search process. All the pieces are in place at FAU for us to be successful,” he said in the press release. “There are already great young men on this team, great facilities, a great location, a great recruiting base and great leadership, all of which are important to building a successful program.”
Herman was hired a week after Willie Taggart was fired as head coach, Fox News reported.
During three seasons, Taggart went 15-18.
Brian White, the FAU Director of Athletics, said Herman was the right person to replace Taggart.
“We are incredibly excited to welcome Tom Herman to Paradise,” White said. “Throughout the process and the more we talked with Coach Herman, the more it became apparent to me that he was the right person to lead our football program. Beyond his knowledge of the game, which is obvious by his success over the years, he also truly cares about the young people in his program. He has coached winning programs everywhere he has been and we believe he can be tremendously successful at FAU as well.”
After coaching the Cougars to a 22–4 record, Herman became highly sought-after by multiple college football programs before settling on Texas. During each of the four seasons Herman was with Texas, he led the team to a bowl game. In 2018, he coached the Longhorns to victory in the Sugar Bowl. The team had a 10-4 record the same year. Despite achieving four bowl wins in his four seasons at Texas, Herman was fired in 2021.
Herman previously served as an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Ohio State during the Buckeye’s 2014 national championship season, according to AP News. He has also worked as an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Iowa State.
For the 2021 season, he worked as an offensive analyst and special projects coach in the NFL for the Chicago Bears, Yahoo Sports reported.
FAU President John Kelly shared in the press release that Herman has proven his ability to lead a team to a win.
“We are thrilled to welcome Coach Herman to the FAU family. He is a proven leader with a history of coaching winning teams, and a commitment to developing student-athletes who succeed on the field and in the classroom. I have no doubt that Coach Herman will lead the Owls into a new era of success as we prepare to join the American Athletic Conference,” Kelly told FAU Sports.
This will be the Owls’ first season in the American Athletic Conference.
FAU has not reached a bowl since 2020.
