Tom Herman was the coach in 2016. He was the up-and-comer poised to land one of college football's big-time jobs. P.J. Fleck had buzz, as did Willie Taggart, Neal Brown, and Bryan Harsin, but Herman was the guy. Shaka Smart was the guy, too. And neither is delivering on high expectations.
After Texas' loss to Baylor in Week 13, Tom Herman is just 23-15 in three seasons as head coach. He did win 10 games last year, the program's first 10-win season since 2009, reached the 2018 Big 12 Championship, and has upgraded talent with top-10 recruiting classes. However, for the second time in three years, they're nowhere near the Big 12 title discussion and need two more wins to avoid a second seven-win season in three years.
Is Herman the football version of Shaka Smart, whose on-court results have yet to match the buzz of his ticker-tape arrival four years ago?
We discussed it on this week's High Motor podcast (starts at 24:49):
