" * * * He sort of approached the player’s families in the same way in his initial meeting with them. Numerous parents told us he was treating them like children.
*Charlie Strong’s 2015 class clearly dislikes Herman to this day. Many in that class are of the belief Herman and Yancy McKnight negatively impacted draft grades with NFL scouts and GM’s. One player put it to us in very different terms, “they messed with our money.” Maybe some of the players weren’t as good as they thought, but that’s not the point. Plus, some of them were drafted lower than they should have been. Herman had a chance to create allies and instead did the opposite. This ill-will filtered into the following recruiting class. Failure to create allies was a common theme with Herman. So if you’ve wondered where the vitriol on Twitter comes from...
*The man who publicly preached “family” was notorious for passing players in the hallway without any sort of acknowledgement. A few players would even say 'hi' with nothing in return. The players just stopped talking to him. If you weren't Sam Ehlinger or Bijan Robinson he didn’t have much time for you. You can see why the trilateral commission were smitten with Sarkisian’s use of ”authentic.” When Herman was hired we said you can only be Nick Saban or Urban Meyer if you win. He didn’t win and his demeanor bit him on the backside.
Imagine preaching family, but then when a player of yours is sick you call his house to not check up on him, but rather to see how his brother’s recruitment is going.
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*The inability to be genuine cost Herman on the recruiting trail. He wasn’t a terrible recruiter, but there were times he was too distant, and there were times he was too hands on. Two recruitments that stand out as Herman blunders were Noah Cain and Garrett Wilson. After putting in great work late in the Cain recruitment, Drayton and Herman had Cain all but locked up. At the last minute, Herman got antsy and hard-pressed when it wasn’t needed. He basically challenged Cain and in the process pushed him to Penn State.
Wilson’s recruitment was screwed up a couple of times, and Herman wasn’t aided by Drew Mehringer. Sidebar: An issue we heard about a handful of times was coaches using their current players as whipping boys. They’d show tape and talk down the current player to recruits. This was understandably off-putting, but it was consistent with Herman and McKnight talking down their players to the NFL. That upset Wilson, but there was also a time when Herman was... less than presentable around the parents. The Wilsons didn’t have a favorable impression of the head coach and a recruitment that should have been an easy layup was rejected to the rafters.
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*Meritocracy was absent for much of his time in Austin, especially on offense. Herman was notorious for playing his favorites, which should come as no surprise. It drove a wedge within the team when parents driving to Austin during game week to complain about playing time would actually influence playing time.
*There’s a feeling within the current team Herman started learning too little too late. He became more approachable this year. Mike Yurcich became the primary yeller in practice and Herman toned down some. Previously we wrote there were no good cops to offset Herman’s bad cop routine. That stemmed from Herman keeping yes-men around who were trying to act just like him. It seemed like Herman finally started to get it...."