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Tom "the turtle" Herman [Lame Duck or greatest 5d chess player ever?]


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2 hours ago, Randolph Duke said:

If the donors aren't willing to donate to help support the people who operate the program, we can't assume those donors care in the least about the program.

That's BS.  All you have to do is simultaneously hold the following two opinions, which are not in conflict:

  1. The athletic department is bloated and inefficient.  It could stand to lose a lot of dead weight.  Fiscal profligacy should not be encouraged/facilitated by donations.
  2. Top-tier coaching is important, and in competition for top-tier coaching talent, money talks.  Success on the football field is the lifeblood of the entire athletic enterprise.

Then it makes perfect sense to want to donate for a buyout, but not day-to-day operations.  Even for donors who care about the program.

Edited by Ultimate Failure
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2 hours ago, Randolph Duke said:

Making a clear statement that people (and students) don't matter, and that Texas football exists only for the benefit of millionaire coaches and millionaire donors isn't anything I could support.

Well then don't support it but just because you don't support it does not mean the department does not need to shrink. Last time I saw figures (2013 or so) we had more employees in the department then we had scholarship athletes while the ratio at other places was about 1 employee for every 2 athletes. So good if something is forcing a bloated department to shrink. Also, people will absolutely donate money for athletics that they will not donate otherwise. Hell it happens at the High School level. If you have not seen it happen then your opinions are not stupid they just come from a place of naivete and ignorance.

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4 hours ago, dingleberryswitzer said:

Everything you said is true.  In a perfect world the same guys willing to put up $15 million for a theoretical Herman buyout would just donate it to the school and say "here do what you think is best with it".  But shit don't work that way, and hasn't since forever.t

The reality is Football is king and pays ALL the bills.  Football can do what it wants.  Every smart leader on campus knows that a successful football team leads to more donation and support for all the other programs.  So yes they will cannibalize other sports or services to keep football happy.

The University of Texas athletics department couldn't meet its financial obligations and needed to defer a debt payment this year. And yet the "BMDs" have $40 million to "demand" the athletics director act "as if money is no object."

Let me speak more pointedly - We can't pay our bills, we have eliminated positions, we are today taking money from employee paychecks to keep the lights on because of financial distress. Yet, the complete assholes from our alumni base want to ignore the unpaid debt service, ignore the fact we are asking over 200 employee to sacrifice for the program, and to look the other way as "we" declare "money is no object."

NO!

The toxic element of UT athletics have become so self-centered they "demand" their own narrow interests be the only consideration for all of UT athletics.

The people insisting on this are a cancer on UT athletics. Those who are the core problem with the athletics program should not and can not be given control of our athletics program.

We neither need, nor do we want those assholes involved with the athletics program in any way.

The same alumni who aren't willing to step up and help make the debt service payment that we didn't have the money for are now insisting their voice be the only one heard when it comes to the best interests of the program.

 Fuck them. They are a cancer on the program.

Edited by Randolph Duke
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1 hour ago, DanTheHorn said:

Well then don't support it but just because you don't support it does not mean the department does not need to shrink. Last time I saw figures (2013 or so) we had more employees in the department then we had scholarship athletes while the ratio at other places was about 1 employee for every 2 athletes. So good if something is forcing a bloated department to shrink. Also, people will absolutely donate money for athletics that they will not donate otherwise. Hell it happens at the High School level. If you have not seen it happen then your opinions are not stupid they just come from a place of naivete and ignorance.

First of all, we are no longer in 2013, so wherever you got your 2013 numbers from, get current numbers and try again. You have no clue what the numbers are. Let's just admit that now.

I understand people donate money for athletics. But when UT athletics can't pay its debt service, and people who aren't willing to donate enough to help UT athletics pay its bills want to micromanage the athletics department according to their individuals whims, it's time to tell those people to go to Hell.

We have a cancer on our athletics program and it is the self-centered BMDs who only care about their interests and don't truly want to help promote student-athletes on the UT campus.

Fuck those alumni.

Pay the fucking bills first, then start making self-centered demands.

That UT athletics can't make its debt payments is a far bigger embarrassment than losing to any football team.

Quote

In preparing for the fiscal year 2020-21 and beyond, Texas Athletics' top priorities are focused on protecting the health and welfare of our student-athletes and maintaining the services and coaching that directly support their academic and athletics pursuits. Strong measures have been taken to mitigate expected revenue losses — such as reducing team and department operating expenses, regionalizing team travel, reducing capital project expenditures, fully integrating the Erwin Center operations within the department and deferring a principal debt payment that totaled savings in excess of $21.3 million.

https://texassports.com/news/2020/9/1/forty-acres-insider-sept-1.aspx

 

Edited by Randolph Duke
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Damn Randy, this is is a moronic take, even by your standards.  The idea that people who donate millions of fucking dollars "don't care in the least about the program" is patently absurd.  Certainly they disagree with you about what the priorities should be.  But if they didn't care, they would spend that money on something else.  Duh.

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10 minutes ago, Ultimate Failure said:

Damn Randy, this is is a moronic take, even by your standards.  The idea that people who donate millions of fucking dollars "don't care in the least about the program" is patently absurd.  Certainly they disagree with you about what the priorities should be.  But if they didn't care, they would spend that money on something else.  Duh.

We can't pay our debt service. We can't pay our employees their full pay.

How are those not the highest priorities of any functioning business?

And yet, when we literally can't pay our bills, people want to declare "money is no object" and want to assert trying to stay out of default on debt obligations is "moronic."

UT athletics is broke and unable to pay its bills.

Can you see where my "cancer on the program" comment comes from? The BMDs don't care about UT athletics being on the verge of default on our debt of the fact that hundreds of employees are being deprived of their pay to help keep the lights on> To their narrow, self-centered minds, the "money is no object" attitude has to prevail.

No.

This entire episode is proving just how dysfunctional UT athletics is.

And people wonder why a completely dysfunctional program acts dysfunctionally.

If any "BMD" doesn't care enough to help the athletics program make its debt payments or pay the employees, to Hell with them.

Edited by Randolph Duke
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2 minutes ago, Randolph Duke said:

We can't pay our debt service. We can't pay our employees their full pay.

How are those not the highest priorities of any functioning business?

And yet, when we literally can't pay our bills, people want to declare "money is no object."

Can you see where my "cancer on the program" comment comes from? The BMDs don't care about UT athletics being on the verge of default on our debt of the fact that hundreds of employees are being deprived of their pay to help keep the lights on> To their narrow, self-centered minds, the "money is no object" attitude has to prevail.

No.

This entire episode is proving just how dysfunctional UT athletics is.

And people wonder why a completely dysfunctional program acts dysfunctionally.

If any "BMD" doesn't care enough to help the athletics program make its debt payments or pay the employees, to Hell with them.

I like I said above (in a post which you ignored), a BMD may care deeply about the program's future, but think that the department needs to be streamlined.  I think they have a point.  (Still the only department in the entire country with two ADs, last time I checked!)  To Hell with you, not them.

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10 minutes ago, Ultimate Failure said:

I like I said above (in a post which you ignored), a BMD may care deeply about the program's future, but think that the department needs to be streamlined.  I think they have a point.  (Still the only department in the entire country with two ADs, last time I checked!)  To Hell with you, not them.

Do all the mental gymnastics you want to justify your belief that being unable to make debt payments or pay employees means nothing. Like I said, there is a cancer.

The next financial reports don't get filed until Jan 15. I am looking forward to seeing them. The latest athlete head headcount I have seen is 556. With the cuts on Sept 1, employee headcount is probably down to about 450. (EIA report)

It is insane to not be able to pay debt service or make payroll, yet insist "money is no object" and alumni refusing to contribute to help keep the lights on because "operations need to be streamlined."

UT athletics unquestionably has a cancer on it. That cancer is the BMDs and alumni who don't first make sure the bills are paid. Ethically, we owe it to the debt holders, and we owe it to the employees who haven't been paid their full salaries.

It is far more embarrassing that UT athletics can't pay its bills than to lose to any football team.

Edited by Randolph Duke
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Just now, Randolph Duke said:

Do all the mental gymnastics you want to justify your belief that being unable to make debt payments or pay employees means nothing. Like I said, there is a cancer.

The next financial reports don't get filed until Jan 15. I am looking forward to seeing them. The latest athlete head headcount I have seen is 556. With the cuts on Sept 1, employee headcount is probably down to about 450. (EIA report)

It is insane to not be able to pay debt service or make payroll, yet insist "money is no object" and refusing to contribute to help keep the lights on because "operations need to be streamlined."

UT athletics has a cancer on it. It is the BMDs and alumni who don't first make sure the bills are paid. Ethically, we owe it to the debt holders, and we owe it to the employees who haven't been paid their full salaries.

It is far more embarrassing that UT athletics can't pay its bills than losing to any football team.

No.  Ridiculous.  By the same token, you could say it is "insane" to donate to athletics instead of academics.  Clearly until all academic departments are at ideal funding levels, any money that is diverted to athletics is "cancer".  Ethically, we owe it to the world to spend all our money on research that can improve lives.

People are entitled to their opinion of how their money can best be spent, and to donate it with strings attached.  You may disagree with their opinion, but to call them "cancer" for their choice of donation target is moronic and self-defeating.

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12 minutes ago, Ultimate Failure said:

No.  Ridiculous.  By the same token, you could say it is "insane" to donate to athletics instead of academics.  Clearly until all academic departments are at ideal funding levels, any money that is diverted to athletics is "cancer".  Ethically, we owe it to the world to spend all our money on research that can improve lives.

People are entitled to their opinion of how their money can best be spent, and to donate it with strings attached.  You may disagree with their opinion, but to call them "cancer" for their choice of donation target is moronic and self-defeating.

People may believe they are entitled to spend their money as they wish, but insisting UT athletics do something against its long term interests because some lucky sperm club alumni wants to spend his money on hiring a human piece of shit to coach UT football isn't an absolute right.

The cancerous alumni who will ignore the defaulted debt and ignore the back pay owed to employees to insist their personal whims be granted are a cancer on the UT athletics program.

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1 minute ago, Randolph Duke said:

People may believe they are entitled to spend their money as they wish, but insisting UT athletics do something against its long term interests because some lucky sperm club alumni wants to spend his money on hiring a human piece of shit to coach UT football isn't an absolute right.

Goalposts successfully moved into uncontested territory.

2 minutes ago, Randolph Duke said:

The cancerous alumni who will ignore the defaulted debt and ignore the back pay owed to employees to insist their personal whims be granted are a cancer on the UT athletics program.

I mean, I would say you are a cancer on the UT athletics program, if your words were actually listened to.  Opinions vary.

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38 minutes ago, Ultimate Failure said:

Goalposts successfully moved into uncontested territory.

I mean, I would say you are a cancer on the UT athletics program, if your words were actually listened to.  Opinions vary.

If your position is that those who believe it is a priority for UT athletics to pay its debts and to again begin to be able to pay its payroll are a cancer on the program, I will stand in disagreement. 

If your employer was defaulting on outstanding debt and couldn’t make payroll for four months running, would you think you were a cancer for wanting your full paycheck? 

I have no wonder why CDC ignores the alumni. I’m beginning to think UT football sucks because the alumni got the program they deserve. 

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4 hours ago, Randolph Duke said:

The University of Texas athletics department couldn't meet its financial obligations and needed to defer a debt payment this year. And yet the "BMDs" have $40 million to "demand" the athletics director act "as if money is no object."

Let me speak more pointedly - We can't pay our bills, we have eliminated positions, we are today taking money from employee paychecks to keep the lights on because of financial distress. Yet, the complete assholes from our alumni base want to ignore the unpaid debt service, ignore the fact we are asking over 200 employee to sacrifice for the program, and to look the other way as "we" declare "money is no object."

NO!

The toxic element of UT athletics have become so self-centered they "demand" their own narrow interests be the only consideration for all of UT athletics.

The people insisting on this are a cancer on UT athletics. Those who are the core problem with the athletics program should not and can not be given control of our athletics program.

We neither need, nor do we want those assholes involved with the athletics program in any way.

The same alumni who aren't willing to step up and help make the debt service payment that we didn't have the money for are now insisting their voice be the only one heard when it comes to the best interests of the program.

 Fuck them. They are a cancer on the program.

Yeah but Tom Herman fucking suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks.

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13 hours ago, Randolph Duke said:

Herman has long seen himself as being the smartest person in the room. He has been exposed as not being anywhere close to that.

I see Tom Herman as someone completely lost. He has lost his personal identity. He has lost his professional identity. I don't see him as someone capable of turning his current challenges into an opportunity to grow as a person or a professional.

I am sure Herman thinks all that is going on around him as everyone else's fault. I am just as sure he has no clue what part he personally played in his current freefall.

Tom Herman, for all his positives, has simply reached the limits of his ability as a football coach. He makes a competent offensive coordinator. He is competent as a mid-major head coach. But he lacks the ability to compete against his peers at the highest levels of his profession.

I think the upside for UT football in 2021 is the Cheezit Bowl. Maybe the Texas Bowl in Houston, if he gets lucky.

Lincoln Riley has to laugh when he hears mention of Tom Herman's name. No coach in the Big 12 has any doubt he can beat a Tom Herman coached football team.

It is what it is.

Turtle-Tom.jpg

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13 hours ago, F250 said:

Never get involved in a land war with Randolph Duke.

 

the princess bride sicilian GIF

 

 

We will never have the program we hope until and unless we are willing to accept there will be decisions made along the way that require some (or all) of us to sacrifice.

Tom Herman is not the coach we hoped for. He is not a coach who will ever win a national championship. Until he goes back down to the mid-major level, he won't win another conference championship. But we are stuck with him for the time being.

We owe it to the kids who are at UT now and who will go through the university in years to come to get this right. We owe it to ourselves to get this right.

If we are stuck with Tom Herman, it is up to Chris Del Conte to get Bellmont sorted out while the rest of us suffer. He not only has to get rid of the bloat, he needs to convince us he has gotten rid of the bloat within Bellmont. He owes it to all of us to build an athletics program that performs to the expectations of the alumni (not all the alumni, but at least the non-scumbag alumni who truly care about the kids and not about their individual, petulant desires).

The first thing we need is transparency. This shit is anonymous "BMDs" making wrong head coach hire after wrong head coach hire have to end. The "BMDs" behind the scenes have to be made known so there is some level of accountability for their fucking horrendous mistakes.

1) The concept of being born into the lucky sperm club gives one a lifetime pass on having no clue whatsoever on how to run an athletics department are given the most consideration regarding decisions on how to run an athletics department has to come to an end.

2) There needs to be greater transparency into Bellmont's financial position. As it stands, Penn State University stands as the paragon of transparency when it comes to the financials of college athletics. https://gopsusports.com/sports/2018/8/8/ot-financial-reports-html.aspx

Let me state this more clearly. Penn Fucking State is the paragon of transparency in college football, at least as far financial transparency is concerned. That not only says a lot about Penn State (at least SOMEONE gets it at Pedo State), but it also says a lot about college athletics. The ADs want us to pay for it, but they won't be up front about how they spend the money. Fuck that. The ADs, starting with Chris Del Conte need to grow the fuck up and start teaching that accountability matters.

So (for now) I will leave it at this. We have to put up with Tom Herman in 2021, but we get to tell "the smartest person in the room" to either put up, or shut up. I have no doubt this will be nothing more than a 12 month lesson in humility, topped off with (yet another) Cheezit Bowl invite. I will never again be able to think of Tom Herman without thinking of Cheezits. He should be their spokesperson. I hate Cheezits.

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20 minutes ago, Randolph Duke said:

He not only has to get rid of the bloat

he's been here three years and we're still talking about the problems he has to overcome

at some point Del Conte is responsible for the existence of even the problems he inherited  and hasn't fixed-- I'm not saying we're there yet necessarily, but the fact that we still have a bloated athletic department foots with my impression of Del Conte as being a lot more talk than action

Edited by SwanderedTalent
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Nice to see Herman did everything in his power to gift OU another conference title. If we were actually good, then he would’ve knocked out OU himself. If we were consistently terrible, then we lose to  OSU and they probably take TCU more seriously and then OU’s out of the title game. But instead, we were classic Herman levels of inconsistency and gifted OU their 50th conference title in a row.

In conclusion, Fuck Tom Herman. 

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Isn't it common for a Coordinator to announce he's leaving a program BEFORE the bowl game? One, to help recruiting at the school he's headed for (which is his first priority), and two, get a little extra out of his old squad as a send-off. (Asking for Sark.) That strategy also helps his soon to be former school begin looking at replacements. 

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On 12/18/2020 at 7:41 AM, A’Dam Psycho said:

How would the fanbase view Herman and Co if we won the Big 12 next year? 

After bitching every game of the season? 😅  I would guess margin of victory, or the losses that kept up out of the Championship series.

 

I also sort of wonder about any rumors that Herman is looking around for another job.  Shit the thought will be to win and get and extension.  You are not going. to get any poorer coaching at the University of Texas.  Right now financially, looking around would be mathematically insane from an income perspective.

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56 minutes ago, Brothahorn said:

Knew a guy who declined an invite like that twice. And then wouldn't answer his phone. Just sat in his office until HR came and got him.

Hilarious. I worked at a company that had a legend about a big, mean, older woman that everyone was afraid of, and no one had the courage to tell her she was fired so she held on for another year or so. 

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As Texas offered a scholarship to a highly talented yet under the radar high school receiver from Arizona yesterday, I was reminded of the quality job overall that the Texas personnel department has done for Tom Herman and his assistants.

Uncovering players like that is easier said than done.

Yet there has been ample dysfunction and mostly disappointing results in recruiting this year.

On the way to getting a player’s signature, the Texas assistants have too often been out-recruited or out-maneuvered for most of the state’s elite targets. Some may say it’s a lack of winning on the field, but too many of these recruiting battles were lost before the football season even began.

Frankly, some of the assistants are poor recruiters. Offensive line coach Herb Hand simply doesn’t connect with recruits well enough. In a year where OL recruits in-state were plentiful, the Horns hit below the Mendoza line.

Likewise, Jay Boulware has done very little on the recruiting trail this cycle, his first in his return to Austin. The tight end staff position is typically manned by a strong, haymaker recruiter. That’s clearly not Boulware, who also was a minus recruiter while at OU. Even receivers coach Andre Coleman seems to be a little wishy-washy with the receivers he is pursuing (see the loss of JJ Henry to Ole Miss) and that impacted his recruiting haul.

There are other macro factors to consider besides winning and individual recruiters.

Some of that has to do with the timing of scholarship offers.

Herman mandates that any in-state offer be a committable one. It’s an understandable decision from a coach not wanting to make enemies with high school coaches. However, it has caused unnecessary delay and irreparable harm in multiple recruitments.

Texas, and whoever is leading the program next, must streamline its approach to in-state offers. There needs to be greater urgency or Texas will continue to come up short.

And finally, it’s not the personnel department’s problem if they recommend and present a player to be offered to the coaching staff and an assistant coach won’t sign off on the offer or the head coach won’t overrule them.

There are a lot of problems with Texas recruiting right now. Not just a single one.

Winning would help. Better recruiters would help. A more streamlined and urgent process would help.

Every single one of the factors above are the responsibility of the head coach to address and overcome.
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6 minutes ago, Gil Bang said:

 

Uhhh, I made an A at UT from a C because I did this. Professor always said if you make a better grade on your final you get it. I thought it shit. I call into TEX. Psychology 325 with a grade of.................... A. Got drunk. 

Still could coach this team better. 

Edited by PassiveAggressiveCoach
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3 hours ago, Chuckie Finster said:

It just pisses me off. Tom should have been the guy. These Bowl games show he has the ability to get it done here, but he was too fucking arrogant to put it all together.

He's the same here he was at Houston. Winning some big games, losing games he shouldn't have, and generally not up to the consistent week-in week-out preparation and performance this job demands.

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