Houston OL coach Derek Warehime will reportedly join Tom Herman at Texas

According to an ESPN report, the first coaching staff domino to fall to begin the Tom Herman era at Texas is Houston offensive line coach Derek Warehime, who will apparently join Herman’s staff on the 40 Acres.

Warehime spent the previous two seasons under Herman as Houston’s offensive line coach after leaving his role at New Mexico State as the tight ends coach, run game coordinator, and special teams coordinator for three seasons.

The last hire of Herman’s initial staff at Houston, Warehime’s time as an undersized center at Tulsa reminded Herman of his time as an undersized wide receiver for California Lutheran.

“I think him knowing the type of player that I was, undersized, so I had to be an effort guy and a chip-on-my-shoulder guy, and that’s kind of my style of coaching,” Warehime told The Daily News. “I think that’s what he saw in me as a young coach, as a graduate assistant.”

Warehime’s ties to Herman date back to 2007 when the two were on the Rice staff together. At that point, Herman was Rice’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach while Warehime served as a graduate assistant.

“We really just kind of clicked,” Warehime said.

In 2015, Warehime’s offensive line at Houston lost 34 games due to injuries, including three players lost for the season. Despite playing 11 different lineups in 14 games, the unit ranked No. 27 nationally in stuff rate and No. 30 in rushing yards per attempt.

Second-team All-AAC selection Alex Cooper played three different positions for the line and all-conference honorable mention selection Will Noble emerged at center despite the fact that he was scheduled to redshirt for the first six games.

“At the end of the day it’s our job to prepare these kids for the most difficult moment, and that’s what we do every day,” Warehime said. “We stress them. We’re hard on them. We love on them so whenever they go out there on that field with their brothers, they can feel comfortable and go cut loose and play ball the way everybody wants to go play ball.”

An Oklahoma native, Warehime started 34 games at center for Tulsa from 2001 to 2004 and was an first-team All-WAC as a senior.