Semi-OT: Texas disappointed in 2017 Recruiting Class - Upside? Still better than Sparty.
Coaching transitions are never easy - but expectations still remained high in the first recruiting cycle for "our friend" Tom Herman.
This is the difference in Tom Herman’s world from one signing day to the next. A year ago as the coach at Houston, he was celebrated for landing what Rivals.com ranked as the No. 41 recruiting class in the nation – considered one of the best hauls ever for a program outside the Power Five conferences. This year at Texas he signed what Rivals ranks as the No. 31 class, and nobody is celebrating. “Little different expectation level,” he observed.
Herman already was putting '17 behind him and looking forward to the '18 recruiting class:
At Texas, an anticlimactic National Signing Day 2017 was primarily devoted to working on National Signing Day 2018.
Although Herman's first class seemed to be somewhat of a disappointment - he couldn't help but take a shot at one of his prior foes in the B1G:
They say if you're not first, you're last. Well, we are definitely not first...but we still did better than Mork Dontanablio up at Michigan Staee. What were they, like 3 spots behind us and it's my first year? All I can say is :WOW."
Wise words from Mr. Herman. Glad he could find the humor in the situation and could troll Mr. DiGiorno so hard.
February 2nd, 2017 at 2:59 PM ^
Buddies from around Texas told me that a lot of the families down there were really close to Strong and didn't like the way he was let go at UT.
Herman couldn't make up that gap soon enough.
2018 will be interesting. UT needs Ws on the field, then the families and kids will come around eventually.
In the meantime, Michigan should go see what's up in Texas. I figure it'll be easier to recruit down there instead of California now that UW and USC are both back.
February 2nd, 2017 at 2:59 PM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 3:01 PM ^
I thought it humorous from multiple angles. Guess I was wrong.
Oh well!
February 2nd, 2017 at 3:02 PM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 3:03 PM ^
I'm gonna sit back and ring my own bell for a bit.
February 2nd, 2017 at 3:03 PM ^
The Sparty obsession is fierce here.
February 2nd, 2017 at 3:08 PM ^
Pretty shocking. You expect more when you hire the biggest name coach on the market. One of his top recruits was pushed out of Georgia's class. At least he's outrecruiting Baylor by a healthy margin.
February 2nd, 2017 at 4:37 PM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 7:40 PM ^
but Herman had some advantages over Harbaugh. He was already coaching and recruiting in the state, Texas has a ton of talent. TCU and especially Baylor are way down. He had a few extra weeks to recruit.
I don't think Texas had ever before come close to getting shut out of the top ten recruits in-state. I don't know that anyone saw that coming.
February 2nd, 2017 at 3:08 PM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 3:08 PM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 3:14 PM ^
So fucking dumb.
February 2nd, 2017 at 3:19 PM ^
Their last two classes were 28 and 29 players, so I don't think there was a lot of room there. I'd expect Texas' 2018 class to be much better.
Where was MIchigan's 2015 class ranked?
February 2nd, 2017 at 3:19 PM ^
Comparing Texas and MSU recruiting is like comparing apples and rhino semen.
February 2nd, 2017 at 3:30 PM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 3:43 PM ^
Like Candy Apple Faygo?
February 2nd, 2017 at 3:19 PM ^
I guess this makes sense, because it's Texas and Herman was THE splash hire of the offseason, but this doesn't seem all that different from Harbaugh's transition class.
Michigan handled the transition away from Hoke better (Strong was, indeed, treated pretty badly by Texas) but that is balanced out by Harbaugh getting a much later start, since Michigan couldn't hire him until San Francisco's season actually finished. The first class was small-ish and not terribly impressive, as is visible in the "junior" column of the depth chart on this page. But for whatever reason I don't recall that getting nearly the press that Herman's soft start has.
I believe the better barometer will be next season. Texas made some strides last season and I would expect them to be a winning team this year, and when you combine that with Herman's allegedly sharp recruiting abilities and the Texas brand in a state teeming with talent, I would think Texas should at least be a top five class next season.
If it isn't, then people can start worrying about Herman. But there are a lot of players that left Texas this season that won't be leaving in the future.
February 2nd, 2017 at 8:49 PM ^
In fact he did nothing in three years. His defense was abyssmal, and he didn't win any big games
February 2nd, 2017 at 3:20 PM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 3:51 PM ^
I've never thought very highly of Tom Herman as a coach. Houston shit the bed last season (relative to expectations) because Herman was busy dreaming about other jobs. They didn't even play in their conference championship game. I don't get why this guy was seen as such a rockstar.
As for the quality of his first Texas recruiting class, it's an incredibly bad look for him to even acknowledge the chatter about how far Texas' recruiting has fallen. Everyone knows that Texas isn't recruiting like they used to and that things are especially challenging this year due to the coaching transition, but all Herman needs to say is, "We're very pleased with the class we signed this year, we've got some talented, high-character kids who are passionate about Texas, and we're excited to build for the future." He doesn't need to make excuses or talk about rankings or star ratings. But all I've heard from Herman are whiny remarks in which he throws his own recruiting class under the bus and makes excuses. Pretty pathetic.
February 2nd, 2017 at 3:54 PM ^
Would have been the perfect time to thank Charlie for building such a strong foundation, 2014 -16 and both 15 and 16 top in BIG 12 and top 10 nationally and state something to the effect, "We expect this transition period to be quick and successful." Have no idea how he thought he stood to gain by insulting MSU and Dantonio. With all the surprises in cfb, one never knows when they could square off in a bowl game. Seems unlikely, but best not to insult anyone else in the same business.
This is not uncommon for a coach hired at season's end to experienc a down class when the players have developed such a strong chemistry with the previous staff. Think he had better check himself. I am sure, if he pays attention to his job and prepares his team in the manner he did for the Lousiville game of last season - featuring a defense that looked as good as any in the nation that night - in all his contest this year, it will pay off in a big jump in recruiting next year.
Stilll amazed at how many coaches don't hesitate to make statements of this nature, seemingly clueless the recruits he did manage to grab are hard pressed to interpret it as anything other than the insult it is, regardless of intent.
February 2nd, 2017 at 4:46 PM ^
Do you seriously think Tom Herman said "Staee" "Mork" and however the OP purposely butchered Dantonio's last name? It was a poor attempt to mock sparty using the class ranking of Texas.
February 2nd, 2017 at 6:25 PM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 9:34 PM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 9:42 PM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 3:25 PM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 3:37 PM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 4:39 PM ^
it was fun! :)
February 2nd, 2017 at 3:39 PM ^
Go Blue!!
February 2nd, 2017 at 3:40 PM ^
You put "but we still did better than Mork Dontanablio up at Michigan Staee" in a quote block. Did he really say that?!?!?! Or did you take liberties with the quote?
February 2nd, 2017 at 3:43 PM ^
Is he going to kiss all his players before every game like he did at Houston? If so, that ought to go over pretty well.
February 2nd, 2017 at 4:28 PM ^
Old men kissing young men just doesn't work where I'm from. That said, guys like that deserve to fail. Especially since he worked under the snake that goes by the name Urban Meyer. I hate the Longhorns and lucky rich oil boosters. They think they're special. No, their ancestors were just stupid enough to settle in Texas. Stupid people can get really lucky though.
February 2nd, 2017 at 4:24 PM ^
February 2nd, 2017 at 7:09 PM ^
I think it's really a mixed bag.
Lots of chips.