Tom Herman To Baylor Rumors Kick Off The 2017 Coaching Carousel

Post-scandal Baylor has been making some moves on the athletics front. The school hired Missouri AD Mack Rhoades. Rhoades, before he left for Missouri, was the Athletic Director at Houston when they hired Tom Herman. Naturally, that led to immediate (and perhaps wishful on Baylor fans’ part) speculation about Herman heading to Baylor next season.

Heartland College Sports and 247Sports have reports that a “face to face” meeting between Herman and Baylor representatives took place. The former says Herman’s agent was in Waco. The latter declined to offer “date, time, and details.”

Pat Forde, sighting a “source close to Tom Herman” said the report was “ridiculous” and “without merit.”

Would Baylor have interest in Tom Herman? Baylor is looking for a coach for 2017. Herman will be the hottest name on the coaching market. He’s spent the bulk of his coaching career in Texas. He has no baggage. It would be a home run hire that would make Baylor’s problems – on the football competitiveness and donor front – go away. There’s no reason to believe Tom Herman wouldn’t be near or at the top of Baylor’s list. A prime reason for hiring Rhoades would be his connection to Herman.

Would Tom Herman have interest in Baylor? That’s more complex. Baylor is a better job than Houston. So was South Carolina, where Herman took himself out of the running. Some major jobs – Texas, Texas A&M – look like they may be opening up in the near future. Houston more than doubled Herman’s salary. The prevailing wisdom is Herman can afford to (and will) wait around for the right job to come open.

Bidding if/when Herman leaves could be pricey. Very pricey. Every school has “well heeled donors ready and willing to make something happen.” Baylor was paying Art Briles north of $5 million per year. But, Baylor also had to buy Briles out of that contract. Further lawsuits from the scandal fallout may be coming. It’s not clear whether Baylor can dig that deep into the treasury to hire another football coach.

Baylor isn’t Texas. Baylor can’t outbid Texas. To be interested in Baylor, Tom Herman would have to be the type of guy who preferred a Baylor type place to Texas, or the equivalent high profile job. Those people exist. There aren’t many of them.

Did Tom Herman meet with Baylor? Tom Herman is a smart guy. We’d bet Forde’s source was quite close to Tom Herman. Coaches have agents. Agents handle such matters with delicacy and plausible deniability for their clients. Baylor could “reach out to Herman” by sounding out his agent. Even if both parties were on board, there would be no need to risk a face-to-face meeting in July.