Some of Burton (now at IT) on Herman
Monday’s recruiting diatribe by embattled Texas coach Tom Herman is just more of the same. It’s a tired act. It’s everybody’s fault other than his own. We are to believe that it is the anonymous sources and writers who are at fault for Herman’s recruiting shortcomings and his inability to secure commitments from many of the state’s top offensive linemen, including two legacy prospects.
So let’s suspend reality for a moment. It had nothing to do with Herman’s lack of personal engagement or acumen in the recruitment. It had nothing to do with Herman not offering James Brockermeyer a scholarship at the same time as his brother Tommy, instead first talking to him about walking on. The loss of those prospects had nothing to do with Herman’s hiring and retention of OL coach Herb Hand, who is channeling his inner Mac McWhorter as one of the worst combinations of recruiters-evaluators to ever mentor at Texas.
It had nothing to do with a team’s listless on-field performance for much of the past two seasons. We should believe it’s anybody’s fault other than Tom Herman. Bemoaning the difficulty of a job, any job, is nothing more than an excuse, and nothing more than inner-recognition that you're not the right person for it. Excuses seem to abound for Herman. There's Covid. There's staff turnover, which is particularly inexplicable since Herman is the one who fired his initial hires. There's "winning is hard". So "anonymous sources" are now his latest excuse.
While many may read this and immediately think that I am anti-Tom Herman or that I want Texas to perform poorly and replace him, that is not necessarily true nor is it my point at all. Instead, what I want is what I believe every Texas fan wants. I want a football team that performs to a standard every week, that is routinely winning conference championships and is competitive on a national level annually.
If those expectations are too high for Herman - or any coach - then that's too bad. Excuses won't mask reality. I suggest Herman focus on winning rather than excuse-making because excuse-making isn't going to save his job.