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Declining to make a decision about the future of Texas Longhorns head coach Charlie Strong until after Friday’s game could cost the program a chance at landing Tom Herman from the Houston Cougars.
Multiple reports surfaced on Thursday evening indicating the LSU Tigers are nearing a deal to make the former Longhorns graduate assistant the next Tigers head coach.
Tom Herman is close to being named the next coach at #LSU, multiple sources told https://t.co/XBNn1eMJ5K Thursday.https://t.co/bvJJ2lOWaB
— Chip Brown (@ChipBrownHD) November 25, 2016
In the initial Horns Digest report, Chip Brown noted that Herman “definitely has an offer from LSU but that they doubted Herman would accept it until he knew what was going on at Texas with the fate of coach Charlie Strong — after Friday's game against TCU.”
That may no longer be the case. The report stated that LSU wanted an answer from the Houston head coach by Wednesday night and according to Orangebloods, that decision has been made.
A very, very, very pro-Tom Herman Texas source told me minutes ago that he is hearing that Tom Herman has accepted the LSU offer.
— Geoff Ketchum (@gkketch) November 25, 2016
According to USA Today, LSU officials made the Thanksgiving Day trip to Houston to meet with Herman.
ESPN also weighed in with a report:
#LSU has zeroed in on Houston's Tom Herman after Jimbo Fisher elected to stayat FSU. Deal with Tigers not yet done, according to @ClowESPN
— Mark Schlabach (@Mark_Schlabach) November 25, 2016
Based on reports coming out as recently as last Saturday and leading in to this week, there have been some heavy hitters for Texas pushing for Herman. There’s also been resistance, in particular from UT system Chancellor Bill McRaven, according to Orangebloods, but the news is supposedly causing quite a reaction in Longhorns circles:
Pro-Tom Herman UT folks are on tilt right now over the Herman to LSU reporting. The word "distraught" was used to describe the mood.
— Geoff Ketchum (@gkketch) November 25, 2016
So, yeah, it looks like Texas might have made a big mistake.
University of Texas representatives may now be realizing the reality that Herman will so be off the market, possibly in a matter of hours, as FootballScoop is reporting that school officials are now on their way to meet with Herman, as well.
We can confirm through a source that #LSU has "no done deal" with anyone, including Tom Herman.
— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) November 25, 2016