Tom Herman
Tom Herman went 60–38 as a head coach, 2015–2024, at Houston, Texas and Florida Atlantic. Share
- Record
- 60–38 career
- Seasons
- 8
- Schools
- 3
- Final AP top 10
- 1 season
- Born
- Jun 2, 1975
- Alma mater
- Cal Lutheran
- Best season
- 2015 13–1, No. 8
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Houston | 13–1 | T–1st (West) | Peach Bowl W | 8 | |
| 2016 | Houston | 9–3 | T–3rd (West) | Las Vegas (not coached) | ||
| 2017 | Texas | 7–6 | T–4th | Texas Bowl W | ||
| 2018 | Texas | 10–4 | 2nd | Sugar Bowl W | 9 | |
| 2019 | Texas | 8–5 | T–3rd | Alamo Bowl W | 25 | |
| 2020 | Texas | 7–3 | 3rd | Alamo Bowl W | 19 | |
| 2021–22: not a college head coach | ||||||
| 2023 | Florida Atlantic | 4–8 | T–8th | |||
| 2024 | Florida Atlantic coached 10 of 12 games | 2–8 | ||||
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
Players he coached
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 26 | 15–11 | 58% |
| Against top-10 teams | 12 | 6–6 | 50% |
| Against rivals | 23 | 12–11 | 52% |
| Conference games | 65 | 37–28 | 57% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 5 | 5–0 | 100% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 43 | 20–23 | 47% |
| At home | 48 | 34–14 | 71% |
| On the road | 37 | 18–19 | 49% |
| At neutral sites | 13 | 8–5 | 62% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 61 | 46–15 | 75% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 37 | 14–23 | 38% |
His own 98 games on file, 2015–2024, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lincoln Riley 2017–2020 | 1–4 | Oklahoma | 5 | |
| Matt Rhule 2015–2019 | 3–1 | Temple, Baylor | 4 | |
| Matt Campbell 2017–2020 | 2–2 | Iowa State | 4 | |
| Mike Gundy 2017–2020 | 2–2 | Oklahoma State | 4 | |
| Gary Patterson 2017–2020 | 1–3 | TCU | 4 | |
| Philip Montgomery 2015–2018 | 3–0 | Tulsa | 3 |
Tom Herman’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Oklahomaseries | 6 | 2–4 |
| Tulsaseries | 4 | 4–0 |
| Kansas Stateseries | 4 | 4–0 |
| Baylorseries | 4 | 3–1 |
| West Virginiaseries | 4 | 3–1 |
| Texas Techseries | 4 | 3–1 |
| Iowa Stateseries | 4 | 2–2 |
| Oklahoma Stateseries | 4 | 2–2 |
National coaching awards
The awards- 2014 Ohio State: Broyles Award
National title staffs
Every title staff- Won a national title on Ohio State’s 2014 staff (offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, part of the season) · the staff · source
The champions’ staffs from 1990 on, as the schools listed them that season: Staff lists: Drew Hoover’s how-many-rings (MIT), from the schools’ media guides and staff pages. Roles as the source words them.
How he was hired
- Hired by Texas for the 2017 season from Houston, where he was head coach. He had a prior connection to the school.
Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Texas Lutheran | Wide receivers coach | |
| 1999–2000 | Texas | Graduate assistant | |
| 2001–04 | Sam Houston State | Wide receivers and special teams coach | |
| 2005–06 | Texas State | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2007–08 | Rice | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2009–11 | Iowa State | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2012–14 | Ohio State | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2015–16 | Houston | Head coach | |
| 2017–20 | Texas | Head coach | |
| 2021 | Chicago Bears NFL | Offensive analyst | |
| 2023–24 | Florida Atlantic | Head coach | |
| 2026–present | Florida State | Assistant head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Mack BrownTexas
- David BailiffTexas State, Rice
- Paul RhoadsIowa State
- Urban MeyerOhio State
- Mike NorvellFlorida State
Assistants who became head coaches
- Major ApplewhiteHouston, South Alabama
- A. J. RickerSaint Joseph’s (IN)
- Stan DraytonTemple
- Tim BeckCoastal Carolina
- Will SteinKentucky
- Chris AshRutgers
- David BeatyKansas
- Larry FedoraSouthern Miss, North Carolina, New Orleans Breakers
- Everett WithersNorth Carolina, Texas State, Temple, James Madison
- Chad LunsfordGeorgia Southern, Florida Atlantic
- Ed WarinnerAvila
Worked under (5)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mack Brown | Texas | 1999–2000 | Graduate assistant | |
| David Bailiff | Texas State | 2005–06 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| David Bailiff | Rice | 2007–08 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Paul Rhoads | Iowa State | 2009–11 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Urban Meyer | Ohio State | 2012–14 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Mike Norvell | Florida State | 2026 | Assistant head coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (11)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Major Applewhite | Houston, 2015–16: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Houston, South Alabama | |
| A. J. Ricker | Houston, 2016: offensive analyst | Saint Joseph’s (IN) | |
| Stan Drayton | Texas, 2017–20: assistant head coach, running backs coach and running game coordinator | Temple | |
| Tim Beck | Texas, 2017–19: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; 2019: quarterbacks coach | Coastal Carolina | |
| Will Stein | Texas, 2017: quality control coach | Kentucky | |
| Chris Ash | Texas, 2019: analyst; 2020: defensive coordinator and safeties coach | Rutgers | |
| David Beaty | Texas, 2019: consultant; Florida Atlantic, 2023–24: wide receivers coach | Kansas | |
| Larry Fedora | Texas, 2019: analyst | Southern Miss, North Carolina, New Orleans Breakers | |
| Everett Withers | Texas, 2020: analyst; Florida Atlantic, 2023: assistant head coach and passing game coordinator | North Carolina, Texas State, Temple, James Madison | |
| Chad Lunsford | Florida Atlantic, 2023–24: assistant head coach and special teams and tight ends coach | Georgia Southern, Florida Atlantic | |
| Ed Warinner | Florida Atlantic, 2023: assistant head coach, running game coordinator and offensive line coach | Avila |
Other assistants under him (13)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Craig Naivar | Houston, 2015–16: co-defensive coordinator; Texas, 2019: co-defensive coordinator | |
| Drew Mehringer | Houston, 2015: wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator; Texas, 2017–19: passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach | |
| Jason Washington | Houston, 2015–16: special teams coordinator and cornerbacks coach; Texas, 2017–19: recruiting coordinator and cornerbacks coach | |
| Kenny Guiton | Houston, 2015–16: graduate assistant | |
| Todd Orlando | Houston, 2015–16: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach; Texas, 2017–19: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Trey Haverty | Texas, 2017: defensive quality control coach | |
| Herb Hand | Texas, 2018–20: co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach | |
| Coleman Hutzler | Texas, 2020: co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach | |
| Dave Huxtable | Texas, 2020: analyst | |
| Mike Yurcich | Texas, 2020: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Brandon Harris | Florida Atlantic, 2023–24: co-defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach; 2024: interim defensive coordinator | |
| Charlie Frye | Florida Atlantic, 2023–24: offensive coordinator | |
| Roc Bellantoni | Florida Atlantic, 2023–24: defensive coordinator |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Texas | head coachbonuses up to $725,000; buyout $20,416,667 | $5,486,316 USA Today | |
| 2016 | Houston | head coachbonuses up to $447,500; $137,500 in bonuses paid | $3,003,500 USA Today | |
| 2015 | Houston | head coachbonuses up to $447,500 | $1,450,000 USA Today | |
| 2014 | Ohio State | offensive coordinatorbonuses up to $206,250 | $550,000 USA Today |
USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
Herman’s teams went for it on 24% of fourth downs and on 46% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 50% of plays and took 24.3 seconds a play, 2015–2024.
| Season | School | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 14 g | Houston | 26 of 104 25% | 46% | 42% | 23.3 | +0.12 | |
| 2016 13 g | Houston | 29 of 107 27% | 54% | 52% | 23.1 | +0.03 | |
| 2017 13 g | Texas | 30 of 130 23% | 44% | 53% | 24.3 | −0.04 | |
| 2018 14 g | Texas | 15 of 103 15% | 33% | 48% | 25.0 | +0.11 | |
| 2019 13 g | Texas | 19 of 91 21% | 44% | 53% | 24.8 | +0.17 | |
| 2020 10 g | Texas | 12 of 81 15% | 28% | 51% | 23.3 | +0.14 | |
| 2023 12 g | Florida Atlantic | 34 of 105 32% | 60% | 57% | 24.5 | −0.06 | |
| 2024 11 g | Florida Atlantic | 32 of 94 34% | 51% | 48% | 26.5 | 0.00 | |
| All 100 g | 197 of 815 24% | 46% | 50% | 24.3 | +0.06 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.