The head football coaching position at Florida Atlantic has become the new incubator for college coaches to attempt and rehab their careers. Former Texas head coach Tom Herman will be the latest to try it out as Action Network’s Brett McMurphy reports that he will be the coach of the Owls.
Former Texas & Houston coach Tom Herman has been hired as FAU’s new coach, sources told @ActionNetworkHQ. Herman was 54-22 in 6 seasons – 32-18 at Texas & 22-4 at UH. Herman’s teams were perfect 5-0 in bowl games, including 2 New Year’s 6 bowls
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 1, 2022
Herman will replace Willie Taggart, who was fired earlier in the week after going 15-18 in three seasons. Taggart had previously held coaching stints at Oregon and Florida State, both ending abruptly with limited success.
Taggart had replaced Lane Kiffin, who used a three-year stint with the Owls to resurrect his head coaching career and move on to Ole Miss.
Herman burst onto the national scene in 2015 by leading the Houston Cougars to a 13-1 finish and Peach Bowl victory. Two years later he was the head coach of the Texas Longhorns. However, a 32-18 stint in four seasons wasn’t good enough for the Austin faithful and he was fired in 2020. He did a brief stint on the Chicago Bears coaching staff last season and was also an analyst for CBSSN this year.
We’ll see if Herman’s time at FAU is more like Kiffin’s or Taggart’s, but in the meantime, the college football world had some thoughts on the news.
Tom Herman was better at Texas than most people give him credit for. This could work out for both him and FAU, who is seemingly always hiring a big-name retread. https://t.co/ygQ95b40Qb
— Kellis Robinett (@KellisRobinett) December 1, 2022
https://twitter.com/Jeff_Sharon/status/1598416107441979393
That's a big name for the Owls https://t.co/UG5VAYlFuX
— Matt Baker (@MBakerTBTimes) December 1, 2022
Damn. Felt like Tom Herman could do better than FAU. But Boca is nice this time of year… https://t.co/5qw82WRhYz
— Chris Gordy (@ChrisGordy) December 1, 2022
Wow. What a hire for FAU. https://t.co/AjgStStnAT
— Tyler Mansfield (@TMansfieldMedia) December 1, 2022
Tom Herman to FAU is interesting because he’s never coached in Florida but iirc he basically lived there as a recruiter when he was at Ohio State, so he may have sufficient Floridianship to FAU’s powerbrokers
— Alex Kirshner (@alex_kirshner) December 1, 2022
Taking that Lane Kiffin route. https://t.co/dKunSiPMT3
— AJ King (@allday__ajking) December 1, 2022
If nothing else, we know the Owls will be well-hydrated.
