After Tom Herman initially said he would remain coach of the Texas football program in mid-December, the Longhorns pulled a face on Saturday and fired Herman after four seasons with the team. Texas will appoint Alabama’s offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian as Herman’s replacement, says Dennis Dodd, a source close to the process.
The decision to move on from Herman was taken after evaluating the program’s strengths and weaknesses, according to a statement released by Texas. It comes just four days after UT blew Colorado 55-23 in the Alamo Bowl with many young players shining during the game.
Sarkisian, on the heels of No. 1 Alabama’s victory of Rose Rose Bowl by 31-14 at no. 4 Notre Dame, is expected to coach his final Crimson Tide game in the College Football Playoff National Championship on January 11th. 247Sport ‘Chip Brown first reports Sarkisian would replace Herman in Texas.
Although Sarkisian has served successfully as an attacking coordinator in Alabama and the Atlanta Falcons for the past four seasons, he has spent seven seasons as head coach in the Pac-12, first in Washington (2009-13) and then USC (2014-15). Sarkisian won 34-29 (24-21 Pac-12) with the Huskies, and the program led to four games in five seasons, and the stage for the success he achieved under Chris Petersen.
Sarkisian won 9-4 (6-3 Pac-12) with a win in the first season at USC, but was fired five games in the 2015 campaign after first taking leave amid a battle with alcoholism. After completing a rehabilitation period, Sarkisian joined the Crimson Tide as an offensive analyst and was promoted to the offensive coordinator role, just before a CFP national championship fight when Lane Kiffin left the coaching program at FAU. to take.
Herman owes a buyout of $ 15 million to his assistants who added up an additional $ 10 million in purchases for a total expenditure of almost $ 25 million just to remove the football staff.
Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte also posted a separate statement on Twitter in which he mentioned that Herman’s firing is a ‘very, very difficult’ decision that requires ‘a lot of deliberation and a lot of thought’.
Herman was 32-18 in four seasons in Texas and appeared in the Big 12 Championship Game only once in 2018; the Longhorns lost 39-27 to Oklahoma. Texas scored 6-3 in the 2020 season, missed the Big 12 title game and fell below the preseason expectation. Herman has scored one season out of ten in Texas, otherwise he has averaged eight wins a year.
The unfulfilled expectations led to rumors that Texas would follow former Ohio State and Florida coach Urban Meyer to her next coach. These rumors never followed up, and Del Conte issued a statement on December 12 in which he reiterated that Herman was the coach of the program.
Sarkisian will be Texas’ third coach in the past eight seasons as the Longhorns have struggled to find a replacement for Mack Brown. The program quickly shifted from Charlie Strong (2014-’16) and Herman (2017-’20) after Brown headed the ‘Horns’ for 16 years.
Texas and Alabama begin a 2022 home football series in 2022.