How Tom Herman's Houston unleashes underdog speed
By
Ian Boyd
@Ian_A_Boyd on Sep 16, 2015, 12:54p
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Ohio State's former offensive coordinator knew exactly the kind of Texas talent he'd have available at UH, and early results suggest he knows exactly what to do with it, too.
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After a brilliant run at Ohio State paired with early success away from Urban Meyer's oversight, Tom Herman is a head coach on the rise.
Herman's initial climb through the ranks was quick and local. While working for several teams in Texas, Herman was recruiting and coaching Houston athletes, which would undoubtedly made UH an attractive job offer later.
"I learned football from (then-offensive coordinator) Greg Davis at the University of Texas," he says. "That was back in the I-formation days, and they were handing the ball to Ricky Williams 35 times a game in iso and power. That's what I believed in.
"(At Sam Houston State), I had some experience with a shotgun spread offense."
That changed everything.
Herman took his spread know-how and Texas ties to Iowa State, where his career almost stagnated. After improving Iowa State's Offensive S&P+ rank from 105th in 2008 to 42nd in 2009, the Cyclone offense crashed to 83rd in 2009 and 101st in 2010. Meyer plucked Herman from the wreckage, and they combined to guide
the power spread offense that just won a national championship.
Houston showcased Art Briles, Kevin Sumlin and Dana Holgorsen before Herman. His strategic philosophy is better suited to maximizing talent at a place like Ohio State than generating advantages for a program like Iowa State. While that part seems a strange fit, Herman was uniquely experienced to know what might be possible at UH. Two games in, the team is 2-0 with a 34-31 upset at Bobby Petrino's Louisville.
The situation at Houston
Herman has explained his staff philosophy as being about finding coaches who shared his philosophy, knew how to recruit, and could build strong connections with players.
This consisted of snatching up assistants from previous stops, rescuing a few from Texas and landing one of the top up-and-coming defensive coordinators, Utah State's Todd Orlando. Picking up where now-Wisconsin DC Dave Aranda had left off, Orlando's defenses finished sixth in Defensive S&P+ in 2013 and 32nd in 2014.
"I wanted to base out of a 3-4, because I knew it was always a big challenge for me game-planning against teams that were really good out of that,"
Herman said of Orlando.
Much of the talent produced by Texas comes from the Houston area, the Southeastern "Golden Triangle" and East Texas. Since Houston is in the middle of one of the richest grounds in the country, the level of athlete who will accept a Cougar scholarship is pretty high. Every year that region produces dozens of athletic players who are overlooked because of size, academics or some marginal flaw.
With a hard-working staff that knows the state well, Houston can eat well by simply snatching up two- and three-star players it's carefully evaluated in its own backyard.
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