Saturday, November 26, 2016
Coach Herman had a way of showing affection for his players at UH. ….
He kissed ’em once. ….
Kissed ’em twice ….
Kissed ’em once again ‘…. til all were kissed ‘fore each game.
Today he left the Cougars for the Longhorns …. and he got his first lesson in the kind of kiss-relocation that will do him more good at UT. ….
____________________
Hello, I Must Be Going Lyrics
Tom Herman Sings ….
Hello, I Must Be Going
First I would like to take a bow for Briles and Sumlin.
Hello, I must be going.
I cannot stay,
I came to say
I must be going.
I’m glad I came
but just the same
I must be going.
UH Fans Chorus of Remorse ….
For our sake you must stay,
for if you go away,
you’ll spoil this party
We are throwing.
Tom Herman Answers ….
I stayed a year – now two,
I coached the last game through,
but I am – telling you,
…. I must be ….. going.
UH Fans Get It and Conclude ….
Goodbye, we want no staying,
If you’re not in, then stop the spin
It’s truth decaying,
And hit the road ‘fore we explode
In ways dismaying.
And we’re not telling you,
But we are smelling you,
And you must – be – going.
____________________
Publisher, Editor, Writer
The Pecan Park Eagle
Houston, Texas
Tags: Judas Iscariot Rides Again, Tom Herman Leaves UH for UT
The Pecan Park Eagle 
November 26, 2016 at 11:25 pm |
I empathize with you, Bill. It seems as though coaches have less integrity than anyone else involved in athletics these days. Herman’s exit from UH still can’t match the gall of Tommy Tuberville’s method of ditching my alma mater, Texas Tech. Tuberville was at a dinner with two prospective recruits and some of his assistant coaches when he excused himself from the table to answer a phone call. He never returned to the table, choosing to lie low until he could announce that he was leaving to take the head coaching job at the University of Cincinnati the next morning. (This was after Tuberville had dumped Mississippi for Auburn, where he eventually found himself out of a job amid scandal). I’d rather my Red Raiders take 66-10 beatings from Iowa State than stoop to employ a man of such low character as Tuberville.
UH deserves better than Herman, who won’t be the second coming of Darrell Royal (or even Mack Brown) at UT.
November 27, 2016 at 1:40 am |
Durocher to the Giants. No one compares to the all time mercenary, Larry Brown.
November 27, 2016 at 1:55 am |
The whole damned philosophy any more is…..”follow the money”- which means sooner or later the successful coach is going to be faced with a SIGNIFICANT salary proposal (plus some super perks that probably do not exist int he business world) – to bring his winning techniques to a struggling (or failing) team; especially at the larger schools that have large programs and big incomes, etc.,etc. With all of this . . . . and ticket/seat prices – it’s no surprise that soccer (and soon rugby) are beginning to make inroads into viewer populations. Since the “taking the knee” @ SF-49er’s – I have not watched any NFL – the glory days were Lombardi’s Packers – Dick Butkus and the Bears, “Sweetness” = Walter Payton; and on, and on, and on……..
November 27, 2016 at 2:26 pm |
The perks in the corporate world far exceed any college football coaches. Ask Jim Crane….
November 27, 2016 at 6:35 am |
Money talks, although at times in odd idioms.
November 27, 2016 at 2:22 pm |
If not UT then A&M. I understand your angst but UH knew this was coming–he told them when he inked the well publicized UH contract that he’d leave for UT or Ohio State. Until UH is a destination school for head football coaches this will happen. Alas, it’s not the days of Bill Yeoman. Why wouldn’t a 41 year old want to go where he has a real chance of a national championship(s) as opposed to staying at a second tier job with minimal championship possibility? As someone once said, if you’re not changing, you’re dying. I’m sure you probably contribute to the UH foundation as I to the Longhorn Foundation. I was angry because I wasn’t getting my money’s worth and you’re angry because you hoped your money was enough to get him to stay. Something had to give. Frankly I’m shocked UT didn’t louse it up. However, a two year (almost) track record does not a Royal or Sabin make. You may get the last laugh yet. BTW, Art Briles is available again. I bet he’d return in a heartbeat. Probably Sumlin, too.
November 27, 2016 at 4:59 pm |
Coaches are hired just like any other employee at any other business. If there is anyone out there who has ever worked for any company who says that they would not even consider (and probably accept) a job offer from a better, more established company at the top of their industry at twice the salary than they are lying.
As to the premise that somehow coaches in the old days showed loyalty, that’s pretty far-fetched, too. Take Bear Bryant, for example. Hard to find a coach more closely aligned with a given school, yet he quit on Maryland to take the job at Kentucky, quit on Kentucky to take the job at A&M, quit on them to take the job at Alabama. Lombardi? Quit on Fordham to go to West Point then quit on West Point to go to the NY Giants then quit on that organization to take a job with the Packers, and he ended up with the Redskins. Leaving for a better job is nothing new, nor is it a sign of betrayal. As Wayne says above, Tom Herman did precisely what he had told UH he would do, and he spoke to his players and the school leadership about his decision in a straight forward manner. Coaching changes have been handled with cowardice and zero class (see Saban or Franchione), but this was not one of those cases.
November 27, 2016 at 6:48 pm |
My apologies for coming off as someone who doesn’t understand the ways of business and the importance of power and money, but you and Wayne Roberts both have your facts a little askew from all that really happened, although Wayne, to his credit, is not cursed with your inability to understand why our UH loss of Herman was not digested by UH fans with complete dispassion and admiration for the man’s forthrightness.
First of all, if Herman offered his two caveats about UT and OS when he signed his big contract, those warnings were not communicated to any of us fans. But guess what? We UH fans were even smart enough to figure out those two major risks for ourselves, as we tried even harder to wrap our trust around Herman’s constant reassurances that he loved Houston and wasn’t going anywhere..
I don’t like liars or disingenuous people of any kind. And I can’t say for certain that he lied, or didn’t lie, about his long term plans. I just know that he wasn’t as straightforward with us fans as you make him out to be. As a recent Houston Chronicle portrayed, he wanted us to believe how fully invested he and his family were in UH and the City of Houston. On the other hand, he left us yesterday, and all those players he claimed to love with hugs and kisses, at what appeared to be “the drop of a hat”.
Apparently, from all that I have been gathering from the momentary gloom, it was not. My Longhorn/SABR friend, Wayne Roberts, tried to tell me this was coming a year ago, but I wouldn’t listen. I chose to believe the external behavior of reassurance that exuded from Tom Herman.
Boy, were a lot us wrong!
I wouldn’t buy a vacuum cleaner from Tom Herman today. If you can’t understand the presence of that emotion, I have no language that is capable of reaching you on this subject.
That being said, we also are not fools at UH. More of us today understand the point that David Munger expresses so clearly in one of the comments that follows, when he says: “until the U of H finds a way to become part of a Big 5 Conference this will happen every 3 to 4 years.”
“In Time” is still our UH motto. It shall remain our timetable for a new day in college football.
November 27, 2016 at 10:31 pm
The points about the UT and OSU releases in his UH contract were reported extensively here in Austin over the last week. The contracts are public records. I’m sure the Chronicle sportswriters knew about it.
During a job negotiation “mistruths” aren’t the same as “lies” in MHO. I didn’t put stock in anything I heard on social media or statements by Herman or Strong. Or anyone going into Trump Tower to talk to the new prez.
November 27, 2016 at 5:29 pm |
It’s all in the perception, you can’t be part of the Big 12 declared the University of Texas to the University of Houston but we will take your Coach. It’s sad but until the U of H finds away to become part of a Big 5 Conference this will happen every 3 to 4 years.
November 27, 2016 at 5:45 pm |
Sorry, but that’s not what happened. UT’s president and athletic director were both on the very public record supporting UH’s entry into the Big 12. It was OU that led the vote against expansion, an irony since they had been the one pushing for it. But if you really want to get to the bottom of the non-expansion, look no further than ESPN which was on the hook for tens of millions. I suspect they paid the existing Big 12 schools a few mil not to expand until the TV contract ends.
November 27, 2016 at 10:36 pm
The information I have from a knowledgeable participant is that UT publicly supported UH’s entry but was namby-pamby behind closed doors. That said, it wasn’t just OU but also Oklahoma A&M, KU, KSU and ISU who all thought the state of Texas already had too many members. That block killed it whatever UT, Tech, Baylor or TCU wanted. Made good sense to me.
November 27, 2016 at 6:49 pm |
Yep, just like Herman said, don’t always believe what you hear or read. I’m not into the Illuminati Theory but regardlass, their nose is against the window looking in.
At 67 years old and a 3rd generation Houstonian I’ve lived and died with the ups and downs of the Cougars. I might be an LSU Alumnus but I think I might have experienced what goes on in my home town. I’m not here to argue with the enlightened, I’m here to comment on the latest winner of let’s make deal. Briles and Summlin sure have raked in the National Championships since they left, haven’t they. The grass always seems greener, more maroon, or burnt orange but regardless of what is being argued its all a moot point until years down the road. My only question is how do these kids that are losing and going a coach benifeit from being
SOLD OUT by the Almighty Boosters…..lmao, they don’t.
November 28, 2016 at 4:04 pm |
Well, thank goodness these are all institutions of higher learning.