Video of Tom Herman Lying Yet Another Example of Why NCAA Should Let Players Transfer When Coach Leaves
Tom Herman left the University of Houston to become the head coach of Texas over the weekend. This is a perfectly sensible career move, as regardless of recent results he is taking over a top flight program with the resources that will enable him to compete for national titles if he’s good at his job. He also got paid a mint for that opportunity.
Texas source confirms Herman will receive a 5-year deal for more than $5 million a year with escalators to over $6M in final year of deal.
— Kirk Bohls (@kbohls) November 26, 2016
Now refer to the video up top, which was an interview with ESPN the day before Texas formally fired Charlie Strong and announced that Herman would be their new head coach. Herman was asked how he was communicating with Houston players about the reports that multiple schools — the implication being Texas and LSU — were interested in his services and that he might not be the head coach at Houston next season.
“Honesty,” Herman said. “Don’t believe anything that you read.”
And could Herman confirm those reports are false?
“Absolutely, sure.”
As Herman would have you believe, the only thing that was on his mind while his representatives were negotiating the incremental figures on a deal that would give him a lifetime of financial security was Houston’s game against Memphis. (For whatever reason, the video no longer runs at ESPN.com.)
Obviously Herman was lying. This is what we’ve come to expect from these coaches — Nick Saban emphatically saying he won’t be the Alabama coach will come to everybody’s mind in these situations for perpetuity — and it’s hard for Herman to say anything in that spot without looking like a weasel.
But, the players who he recruited there and was, by his own account, lying to until the day before he left them are now stuck there with whoever Houston hires to replace him. Herman can bolt for Texas, where he’s probably already started recruiting, while if the players want to transfer they have to sit out a year.
Chance Allen: "He told us straight up (recently) that he’s here with us no matter what. He said he hasn’t negotiated with anybody.”
— Joseph Duarte (@Joseph_Duarte) November 26, 2016
This phenomenon gets brought up by lots of media members every time a coach takes a new job, but the rule never changes. It’s dog manure.
And of course, just about two days passed between Herman lying on national television and spouting platitudes about integrity, character, and class:
Herman: We will win championships. We will build men of character. We will graduate our players...we will do it all with integrity & class.
— Longhorn Network (@LonghornNetwork) November 27, 2016
Texas players should ask their counterparts at Houston how they feel about that.