After weeks of speculation and rumors around the Texas football job, school athletic director Chris Del Conte released a statement on Saturday saying, “I want to reiterate Tom Herman is our coach.”
“There has been a lot of speculation about the future of our football coach,” Del Conte said in a statement. “My policy is to wait until the end of the season before evaluating and commenting on our program and coaches.”
The Longhorns’ 2020 regular season came to an end last week, with this Saturday’s game vs. Kansas being canceled due to COVID-19. Texas went 6–3, with losses to TCU, Oklahoma and Iowa State.
The program was heavily interested in former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer, but ultimately was not able to bring him out of retirement. Last week, The Austin American-Statesman reported that Meyer, 56, was not pursuing any coaching jobs at this moment, and will remain in Fox’s TV studios.
There’s also a financial component to this decision to give Herman a vote of confidence.
Texas would owe the 45-year-old Herman $15 million to buyout the remaining three years of his guaranteed contract. The school would need to pay another $10 million to replace all of Herman’s assistants, who also have multi-year, guaranteed deals.
The athletic department was one of many across the country that implemented salary reductions and layoffs because of the COVID-19 global pandemic.
“This has been an unprecedented year for all of us, and we’re all disappointed that we didn’t meet our expectations,” Del Conte said in a statement. “Like the many fans that follow and support our program, I can’t help but think what could have been in 2020. There’s still more work to be done, but I’m excited to watch our players and program move forward.”
Throughout his four year career with the Longhorns, Herman is 31–18 and hasn’t won a Big 12 championship.
