I would tell them:
“You have achieved beyond my wildest expectations and I really appreciate it”.
Integrity has to be at the top of the list. If your agent is negotiating with other programs, tell us. So we can start looking for a new coach. We’re “all in” (as the salary and facilities attests), so should you. I won’t ever expect the next Yeoman, but just be honest.
The next coach has to have strong recruiting ties to Texas and recruiting in particular. No more “We’re not a P5 program, we can’t compete with TU for recruits here.” Herman showed it can be done.
The next coach has to have a clear vision of every aspect of the program; from X’s & O’s philosophies (including being physical on both sides of the ball), to assistants and the support staff. Good assistants are key. Levine proved this.
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JTrue to form our guys here have just about covered it all. Just a couple points of emphasis. UH perfected the forward pass. We don’t want and won’t support any “old school” coaches telling us you have to run the ball to set up the pass. Our tradition blew that away decades ago, but they are still out there. We retired Keenum, Klingler, and Ware’s jerseys. Our new coach needs to take a knee on that No. 11 and swear an oath to the forward pass, maybe putting his hand in a Bible held by David Klingler who is an ordained minister.
I’m OK with Orlando as HC as long as he supports the philosophy of the forward pass. No more Helton’s and “power football”. Slice 'em and dice 'em!
I posted in Twitter that I was stunned by JD’s report that some donors to the program still support Art Briles. Stunned! Briles has had ample opportunities to come clean and ask for forgiveness from the victims of his program. He has yet to do so. I’m all for forgiveness and second chances. But he hasn’t earned that and we don’t need our reputation sullied by him or anyone from his staff.
This is Hunter’s first Big Hire. I caution patience and council. Lots of council. With Tillman and Khator he has a world class brain trust to guide him.
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One thing that we can learn from CTH’s tenure (no, it’s not “honesty,” sadly), is to aim high.
I want someone who has the same (or greater) “fire in the belly” as our rock-star president. I want a coach who will to try to win championships every season (whether it happens or not) – not just be content with a winning season.
That and, of course, someone who’s got integrity and is great at coaching.
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Amen Jimmy! Amen. For all the good Herman did he kept this program from reaching its full potential by his constant pandering to new job openings.
You can’t mail this stuff in. It takes 110% focus to do this job. As we learned from Sumlin and now from Herman any coach who is constantly chasing new opportunities isn’t preparing his team for it’s next game. That’s how you lose to UCONNs and SMUs.
If a guy gets married but continues to “check out” other women then that marriage is a sham and will not thrive. Same for coaching. You are in or you are not. There’s no middle ground and you can’t seek plausable deniability as Herman did hiding behind his agent. And preaching love only adds insult to the process. We call that hypocracy.
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That’s how I felt. Herman was hiding behind his agent, but under whose direction was this guy talking to other schools? There’s no way on this green earth that Herman was clueless throughout the process when suddenly his agent popped in with a “Guess where I just got you a job??” Herman knew all along, and in my opinion, directed his guy where to look. While the agent probably did handle the negotiations, there is zero credibility in the idea that Herman sat in the dark all season waiting to be told who offered what and where he would end up next year.
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A coach that knows how to sell the parents on the university. A coach that tells them how he will develop their sons’s integrity, character, responsibility, leadership, etc
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The coach should show how the university will prepare their son for a job in the Houston market after football and graduation and it is formally suported by the university with seminars, connections, job interview training, etc. Less than 2% of college players make it to the NFL
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Keep them coming guys!
Great thread!
- New Regime, Championship defense
- Pay the assistants
- Raise the marketing/recruiting budgets
- This one is a little out of their control, but they should be able to sell it. Have a plan to be ready for realignment, and/or to help Elevate the Conference.
- Plan to sell out all home games!
- A coach and staff that continues to sell UH as Houston’s University.
- Coach and staff that understands that recruiting Houston is not only a requirement, it is a long term necessity.
- Upgrade the Gameday Experience.
- Coach and staff that continues to reach out to our sport alumni as well as the university alumni and bring back our lost alumni generation.
- Football philosophy that makes attending games both home and away, fun.
- Not only no, but HE double hockey sticks, NO!!! to any and all involved with Baylor’s rape scandal…
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GAMEDAY EXPERIENCE YES!
Here’s the letter I sent to Cougar Pride, Dr. Khator and Hunter:
The search for a head football coach is an internal matter and what we read in the paper and online is purely speculative, so I hope that this letter is pointless, but I want to make sure that my opinion is heard just in case.
Art Briles should not be involved with our football program, or our school, in any way now or in the future. His actions as head coach at Baylor have proven that he is not a role model for the players in our program, nor does he seem have a moral compass. The reports that have been released about what happened all directly implicate the football staff, include Art Briles, in the cover up / hushing of rapes of Baylor students by football players. This is not acceptable on any level.
To be clear: If Art Briles is hired on at any level with the University of Houston, I will pull all support for the football program, athletics, and the university as a whole. Some things are more important than football.
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Herman is not retaining any of the previous UT coaches. There are several coaches with Texas recruiting ties that just came available. TE Coach and former East Texas high school coach Jeff Traylor, for example.
When the next coach comes in and has the same level of success Herman had, UH, its leadership and its fans will get the credit they deserve nationally.
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I believe Orlando eliminated himself with the loss to Memphis. We went from completely controlling Laman Jackson to giving up 21 points in 1 quarter against Memphis.
Also, I want to play UT, so Herman can see how good his UH recruits turned out after ripping them to shreds on the gridiron.
GOCOOGS!
A HUGE buyout clause and an upscale offense.
Here are the things I want Chancellor Khator AD Yurachek to know:
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Neither Art Briles nor Lane Kiffin are not welcome here. One is incredibly toxic (Kiffin), and the other started this trend of coaches abandoning their players before a bowl game. If you hire Briles again as our new HC, I will withdraw ALL of my support for my alma mater.
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Consider hiring Charlie Strong. Disregard what occurred at the University of Texas; he was never going to succeed there. Coach Strong has a strong resume dating back to his time as the DC for the University of South Carolina during the Lou Holtz years. I think he can for into the UH culture much better than he could ever in Austin.
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Consider keeping Todd Orlando. He should at least be given the benefit of the doubt, and he has expressed an interest in staying on. I have no issues with him as our HC.
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Do not EVER attempt to join the Big 12. How many times doe we need to be led down the primrose path, only to have the rug pulled from under us? I for one am not interested in any sort of SWC reunion, as most of our true rivals are actually in the American Athletic Conference anyway. If we’re going too target a P5 conference, let it be the ACC.
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It’s time to finally address the issue of attendance to our home games, as many of our alumni do not come to the home games. it’s embarrassing, and it negates our efforts of getting into a major conference. Address this issue please.
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Do all that you can to prevent UT from gaining any sort of footprint into Houston for a proposed business center. They need to stay in Austin. Get our CAT members and legislators in the capitol to fight them tooth and nail.
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Get the PUF!!!
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Whoever our new HC is, ensure the buyout is incredibly high. Let it be known that we are not going to be a steppingstone, but a destination location.
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I think this applies here:
“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low and achieving our mark.” - Michelangelo
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Okay, he’s gone. Now what can we do for the team? It’s awhile before we know what bowl we’ll go to, and awhile before they actually play and we can show our support. What can we do before then? Is there some sort of rally we can do? Have players and coaches show up with fans? A tailgating thing without a game? Something on a weekend when working alumni can show up too?
YES YES YES! Students need their own gate to get in. I took an Aggie buddy to the Louisville game and it was really embarrassing how entry to the stadium was handled.
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How do you do this? in what time frame? We have set record in season tickets the past two years, and we will soon push the limit on the ratio of season tickets to total seating. I can tell you that weekday and early Saturday games do not help get people into TDECU, and helps the perception that it is empty. We had a couple of games where the seats were empty but the concourses were full.