Somehow Mike Leach had a guy like this ever other year. Some random dude who had been in the program for three years without starting and then averaged 300 yards a game.
I'm going to take it as a good sign that Herb Hand still has a job for the moment. You can't have the season Herman just had without making some changes. Hand stank up the joint on the field and in recruiting.
I think Herman could be a really good coach at the right school. Texas is not that school. His ego probably wouldn't let him accept this, but Houston was probably the perfect job for him. He was motivated enough to knock off OU and FSU and Houston wasn't a big enough school that losing to SMU and Navy was a shock. A school like Kansas or Vandy would probably also work out well. He'd be an underdog for most of his games and probably win enough that fans would forgive the annual losses to the LA Techs of the world. And the fact that he's an asshole. I doubt his ego will let him settle for that though. So he'll probably get a G5 job, do well, get another top tier job, and fail again.
The really shocking part was Burnt Orange Nation didn't suck ass back then. It was probably the best Texas board when Recruiticosm began. Then Wescott Eberts, who was functionally illiterate at the time, took over and made it what it is today.
I was walking around campus yesterday and saw this guy who was clearly lost and totally wasted. I asked him if he needed help. He puked in the bushes and then said he was looking for the head coaches office. I said, "the homeless encampment is over there." He said, "I'm not homeless, I'm from Alabama." So I gave him a line of coke and a McRib and then walked him to the stadium. He said he went to LA once and everyone treated him like crap, but everyone in Austin was so nice that he was moving here for five years at $5 million per year.
I don't care if you believe me or not. It happened.
Florida and Texas are in the same tier of schools and ND is close behind. How often do coaches make a lateral move without a break in between or extenuating circumstances (like Jimbo escaping the dumpster fire he left at FSU)? I can't think of any examples.