The topic of sources was just brought up to me because I just had a college friend text our close group of friends saying Herman is coming back. My buddy is a rabid fan and he has deep ties to the school through his grandfather who was deeply generous to UT. He is involved in some business deals with a current BoR member and they have known each other for a long time. Thats his source when he says Herman is coming back. Sounds pretty legit right?
Here's the problem. Most of the time BoR members are basically in the dark about this stuff until right before something takes place and they need to execute on a decision. Usually there is one key board member who is also a donor or in the donor group. If that was the source then I'd raise my eyebrows but its not at all.
I can remember talking to a friend about Charlie Strong while he sat on the board. I was shocked at how out of the loop he was. This was right before the Kansas game and he basically said to a group of us that we need to just cool our jets because the board felt like it was too soon to get rid of him. Little did he know, he was speaking directly to a donor that had put a lot of ground work into bringing Herman over, and that donor was working directly with the person who has the ability to both fire Strong and hire Herman. When the regent walked away, I looked at the donor and he looked back at me with a face saying "keep your mouth shut."
There are so many people at UT that you would logically think would be in the loop, but in my experience its usually a small handful of folks that really know whats going on and are doing the actual work. I happen to be on a text thread with a donor that I know is helping steer the bus right now. While I havent heard from him since December 5th, I have heard that there isnt a new thread and that things are silent for a reason. If UM told us "no" and it meant anything, there would be a big enough shift that Id bet a lot of money Id hear about it. The fact that hasnt happened along with a lot of other factors tells me to just sit tight and that UM is still very much the plan.