I was watching a video about the Rise & Fall of Tom Herman, a Youtube user named CrazyRussian16 made some valid points especially about Todd Orlando
1. He brought a Group of 5 staff with him from Houston, when he had the money and resources available for him to bring in proven P5 assistant coaches. This was Charlie Strong's nail in the coffin as well. On the defensive side of the ball, DC Todd Orlando is someone you would call "PlayStation" coach. Rather than tailoring a scheme to the talent available on the roster, TO is married to one specific scheme. In a state rich with DL talent he elected to run a 3 man "tite" front, where the main responsibility of the DL was to eat up blocks, while running "exotic" LB and DB blitzes. He also spent minimal time on teaching the fundamentals (tackling, shedding blocks). Position coaches complained that they didn't have enough time with their respective position groups. By years 2 and 3, opposing offensive and defensive coordinators figured his tendencies. Turns out that if you send a DB blitzing from 15 yards deep, he will never make it to the QB in time and there will be an empty chunk of grass for your WR to occupy. On offense, Tom's buddy Herb Hand was responsible for some of the weakest offensive line performances in years. Nine sacks given up to OU in 2019, with Texas linemen playing out of position should've been a fireable offense. His WR coach, Drew Mehringer, would get fired for being a complete asshole and having WRs threaten to quit the team if his behavior was not dealt with. Tom Herman got a do-over after a disappointing 2019 season and hired a new offensive and defensive coordinator. Chris Ash did okay as a defensive coordinator, as he only had 1/3 the practice time to install a completely new defensive scheme. The defense played better with a 4 man front and there was more focus on the fundamentals, rather than teaching idiotic blitzes. On offense, it turned out that the OC position wasn't as much the issue as was Tom Herman's meddling with the playcalling. Texas rolled out the same boring and predictable play script which featured Sam Ehlinger as a battering ram. It didn't take long to realize that Texas offense looking nothing like what the new OC, Mike Yurcich, like to run at his other coaching stops.
2. TH is a terrible game manager and gameday coach. There are many examples of him mismanaging the clock and placing the defense in a bad position before the end of half/game. Under Tom Herman, Texas has participated in an unusually high number of one possession games. These games featured peer level and inferior level competition. Since start of 2017, Texas has participated in 27(Highest in FBS) one score games, with a record of 14-13. Tom Herman has the second lowed number of 20+ point conference games wins in the entire Big12 during that time period. TH has had eight losses to unranked teams, seven of which came when Texas was ranked. These statistics are indicative of consistent 'playing down to the competition". Anytime TH got out to a 2+ score lead, the play calling went full 'turtle mode", as described by Texas fans. This was such a big issue, that according to the 2020 Alamo Bowl game announcers, Sam Ehlinger and Tom Herman got into multiple sideline altercation over this phenomenon.
3. Recruiting was starting to fade. Texas lost several key in state commitments during the 2020 season. Quinn Ewers elected to change his commitment to tOSU. The Brockermeyer twin (UT legacy players) elected to go to Alabama. Alabama is expected to claim the best Texas players at almost every position by the second signing day. Texas did manage to secure a #17 ranking after the December signing day, but the downward trend in recruiting is clear and is only expected to get worse. There were rumors of current and past Texas players discouraging recruits from playing for tom Herman. Recruiting was the last redeeming quality of TH.
4. Tom Herman is an immature asshole. Mocking other team's players, flipping the double bird to the Longhorn Network cameras (during a broadcast), and his gimmicky attempts to motivate and unite the team paint the picture of a narcissistic idiot, who thinks he is the smartest man in the room. TH would be the first person to tell you the he is part of a high IQ organization (MENSA), and would be the last to claim responsibility for a loss (throws assistant coaches and players under the bus). A number of players came out to say the he would not even greet or acknowledge their existence when passing them in the hallway. After his firing, there were several former player who "liked" the news or straight said "good riddance". I think Texas has had enough of hiring little league coaches. They what they didn't learn from the Charlie Strong experience, they probably learned by now. I would imagine they would have lost a fair amount of players to the transfer portal during this offseason, had he stayed.
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