From what I understand from what I learned today, it is looking less likely that a conference championship would save him. I know, I know, incredible, IMO. But I've been told there is something else behind the scenes going on with 1) BMDS and TH, and 2) CDC and TH and some of it, for lack of a better term, is unforgivable.
I'd love to know what that would be. But thats all that I heard.
I was on the side of giving Herman more time until the recruits bailed. At that point it looked like he lost the program.
However I'm still not convinced he can't get it done here (or somewhere else). He's worked through some growing pains as a young head coach, but we accepted those risks when he was hired.
To me getting rid of Herman to just replace him with another young coach is a push that doesn't make sense. Herman certainly isn't where he should be in year 4, but further along than any first year coach would be. These magic one year turnarounds that people point to are unicorns that happen but never predictable.
Herman also rubs the wrong people the wrong way. I don't see his ego being any more or less than most HCs, most of which are at the far end of the bell curve. If he's burned bridges with CDC or the BMDs past the point of no return, then that's a different story. However the grass is not always greener... in fact most times it's not.
The only exception would be bringing in UM. He's the closest thing to a sure thing a program will ever get. He brings ethical baggage but less likely to make the same mistakes here since the penalty for those was severe for him personally.
If Herman wins out and makes the B12 championship game, then he's shown us something. Something that neither Strong nor Mack could do when they knew their jobs were on the line. At that point it doesn't make sense to replace him with another unknown quantity (meaning a good coach at a smaller school). The only exception to that, still, is Meyer who could immediately repair any recruiting losses.
It's been a weird year for everyone, on just about everything. The team lost focus on football for a while, with UT facing issues unique to any other school in an already tough year. I really don't know how any coach keeps all that together... keeping players focused with so many threatening to transfer, etc. Maybe you'd rather see them all leave, but along with them go some wins and a uniquely negative impact to recruiting. Seems like an almost impossible task, and if he wins out despite all that it is a bit impressive.
