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


Neonmoon

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I didn't look it up like some people.
I'm no longer posting on fact rather 100% recollection. Hazy or not.
I thought we Mensa qualified folk supported one another.
Also, why the fuck are we arguing about this again? Is it off season?


I helped cover that team for The Daily Texan so this has been a fun trip down Memory Lane. Certainly more fun than Saturday’s game.

Mack ran a lot of split back formations IIRC so Ricky was a fullback in name only. It’s not like Ricky was a blocking fullback. As good as Shon was, it was clear Ricky was going to be special. Shon ran strangely — like he didn’t lift his feet far off the ground when he ran. I seem to remember a bunch of 5-6 yard gains in the seam between guard and tackle that he was fast enough to take to the house where he’d get tripped up by a shoe-string tackle.
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I helped cover that team for The Daily Texan so this has been a fun trip down Memory Lane. Certainly more fun than Saturday’s game.

Mack ran a lot of split back formations IIRC so Ricky was a fullback in name only. It’s not like Ricky was a blocking fullback. As good as Shon was, it was clear Ricky was going to be special. Shon ran strangely — like he didn’t lift his feet far off the ground when he ran. I seem to remember a bunch of 5-6 yard gains in the seam between guard and tackle that he was fast enough to take to the house where he’d get tripped up by a shoe-string tackle.


You mean Makovic of course but I do remember Mitchell’s weird running style. # 11 Ricky had some killer lateral speed. He was a decent(not great) blocker as a freshman as well.
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11 hours ago, NorthLoop said:

I don't listen to a lot of sports talk radio but I tuned into the horn a little today. They were ripping his ass up and down from what I listened to. Is that normal for them to do? 

Isn't the horn Chip Brown?

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Gay slur
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8 hours ago, NorthLoop said:

I don't listen to a lot of sports talk radio but I tuned into the horn a little today. They were ripping his ass up and down from what I listened to. Is that normal for them to do? 

Not really.  They're always pretty critical after losses, but they were never this negative in season 2 of strong's shitfest.  

He really has lost a huge chunk of the fanbase. 

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9 minutes ago, TXs said:

A very large portion knew Charlie wasn't the guy after game 1 of year 2 and wanted him out but it wasn't near this unanimous.

The downside to being a smug prick. Most will put up with a smug prick if we’re winning, but not when they lose to Maryland in season opener two years in a row.

If he would just show the tiniest bit of accountability or any sort of indication that he or his staff was going to make a change it would be different. His ego won’t allow it though.

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1 minute ago, Enchubben said:

The downside to being a smug prick. Most will put up with a smug prick if we’re winning, but not when they lose to Maryland in season opener two years in a row.

If he would just show the tiniest bit of accountability or any sort of indication that he or his staff was going to make a change it would be different. His ego won’t allow it though.

Correct answer.   When you're losing to programs like Maryland, twice, and still think that your shit doesn't smell, then it's not going to go well.  

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1 hour ago, Enchubben said:

The downside to being a smug prick. Most will put up with a smug prick if we’re winning, but not when they lose to Maryland in season opener two years in a row.

If he would just show the tiniest bit of accountability or any sort of indication that he or his staff was going to make a change it would be different. His ego won’t allow it though.

The_Great_Gatsby.jpg

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Is it possible the team just sucks this bad and it’s not mostly coaching? Sam cant throw and no vision. Colin can’t block. O lone can’t block.  We just suck as players first and for most. Coaches aren’t helping with play calling and personnel decisions but which one is the biggest problem. Shitty players with only one year of toms players or shitty coaches and decent players?

 

Edited by Eugene11
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2 minutes ago, Eugene11 said:

Is it possible the team just sucks this bad and it’s not mostly coaching? Sam cant throw and no vision. Colin can’t block. O lone can’t block.  We just suck as players first and for most. Coaches aren’t helping with play calling and personnel decisions but which one is the biggest problem. Shitty players with only one year of toms players or shitty coaches and decent players?

 

We don't have anything exceptional talent wise but enough is there to beat the likes of Maryland especially considering what they are going through.

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10 minutes ago, Eugene11 said:

Is it possible the team just sucks this bad and it’s not mostly coaching? Sam cant throw and no vision. Colin can’t block. O lone can’t block.  We just suck as players first and for most. Coaches aren’t helping with play calling and personnel decisions but which one is the biggest problem. Shitty players with only one year of toms players or shitty coaches and decent players?

 

God forbid we actually coach some of those players up during the offseason 

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1 minute ago, 6th Street said:

God forbid we actually coach some of those players up during the offseason 

Oh I understand that and trust me I’m not defending Tom in any way. I’m just curious. I’m not sure our talent is good enough to beat the likes of Maryland. I just don’t think there is a much talent here.

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19 minutes ago, Eugene11 said:

Is it possible the team just sucks this bad and it’s not mostly coaching? Sam cant throw and no vision. Colin can’t block. O lone can’t block.  We just suck as players first and for most. Coaches aren’t helping with play calling and personnel decisions but which one is the biggest problem. Shitty players with only one year of toms players or shitty coaches and decent players?

 

He put Porter into the game in the 4th quarter over Ingram. The players aren't great but the coaching is incredibly mediocre. I'll point back to you gain 10 yards with Sam on a QB option and then put him back to throw after that...on a wet field, with a wet ball, when you just gained 10 on the ground. Then he throws the pick. That's not all on Sam. That's also on the asshole who put him in that position which is Beck or Herman depending on who you want to believe is running the offense at that moment. Sam has repeatedly show poor late game decision making so why put him in the position to throw the ball when you just got a fresh set of downs and a big gain? It destroyed any momentum that was built and almost prematurely ended the game. 

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I finally got around to watching the presser and it was as bad as herein described, probably worse. Since he seems to lack any self awareness who sits down with him and begs him to quit being a smug, pseudo intellectual prick, at least publicly?

His schtick has made millions for the household, so I doubt the mrs does it. CDC?

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1 minute ago, Eugene11 said:

Oh I understand that and trust me I’m not defending Tom in any way. I’m just curious. I’m not sure our talent is good enough to beat the likes of Maryland. I just don’t think there is a much talent here.

There's plenty of talent here.   But our coaching in recent years has a unique knack of sucking it all out of the players and finding new ways to reinvent the word "mediocre".

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2 minutes ago, C-Man said:

Were there any critical pieces written by Texas media this week following Mike Finger’s shit across the bow in Sunday’s Express-News? Surely, Bohls wrote something. Yes?

Bohls: Where’s the Longhorns accountability, sense of urgency?

Statesman Take 

Kirk Bohls 

American-Statesman Staff

Column

Posted September 3rd, 2018

Story highlights
  •  Tom Herman said it was "like a funeral home" around the football building, but is there enough accountability? 
  •  Athletic director Chris Del Conte said Herman was talking to his young players but understands the fan base is hurting. 
  •  Where is the sense of urgency after a 7-7 overall record and a bad loss to start Herman's second season. 

Tom Herman insists he’s not mad at his players.

But is that a good thing?

There’s a fine line between coaching ‘em up and demanding accountability. When Herman suggested Monday that the loss to Maryland was a “not very” big setback, was he coddling his team and defusing expectations? If so, could softness and entitlement be far behind?

I’ve never been fond of colleges coaches calling their players kids when they’re old enough to fight in wars, vote in elections and pack their shoulder pads in $9,000 lockers. Quandre Diggs once complained about not having flat-screen televisions in the team’s hotel rooms on a road trip to Oklahoma State, but he’s also one accountable guy who’d rip your throat out and play with passion, no matter what.

He also famously said Texas’ roster didn’t have enough dog in ‘em. It didn’t then and still doesn’t.

We hesitate to compare anyone to Nick Saban, the consummate bully’s bully, but there’s an appreciation for a head coach who gets on one of his players even in mid-game when Alabama is crushing an inferior opponent. He has a standard. Saban’s teams are never accused of being soft. His strong persona suggests an in-charge, feared, respected coach who insists upon the best and settles for nothing less. Of course, in Tuscaloosa, the players demand accountability of each other as strongly as the coaches do.

Herman said a lot of right things Monday about how losing is unacceptable, how Sunday was “like a funeral home around our building,” how he understands how outraged Longhorn Nation is and how Gary Johnson needs to expand his reading list to John Steinbeck. OK, we’re totally bewildered what that was about.

(Curiously, Herman referenced the “Of Mice and Men” novel, and we’re still scratching our heads as to what a mentally challenged young man squeezing the life out of a rabbit has to do with losing to Maryland. He might have been wiser to have brought up the “Grapes of Wrath” because there’s a lot of wrath going around.)

The players mimicked Herman’s mantra in the aftermath of the Debacle in D.C. They mentioned his critique that the 34-29 loss to the Terrapins was “not very” big as a setback, which was the last thing about 25,000 visiting Longhorns fans at FedEx Field wanted to hear.

Yes, that was one loss in the first game of the season, but the collective fan base is rip-someone’s-head-off mad not just because of a second straight loss to what is perceived as an average Maryland team, but because of the last eight seasons.

Maryland was only the latest manifestation of a broken program that needs fixing.

Herman seemed to get it Monday after almost cavalierly dismissing the defeat two days before. But I found it puzzling because he arrived here from Houston with the manic approach of a man who considered the sky to be falling with each and every defeat. Hence, soggy pancakes and watery eggs for the losers whether it’s a weight-lifting drill or full-out scrimmage.

Where is that sense of urgency?

Herman did point out the positives, and there were some. Brandon Jones looked strong on returns and in goal-line defense, cornerback Kris Boyd had some moments but also a muffed interception attempt and a pass interference call, and nose tackle Chris Nelson acquitted himself well.

Texas looked like it might have something special in Keaontay Ingram but benched the talented freshman back the entire second half because of a “hot hand” in older Tre Watson and Kyle Porter, with Herman weirdly blaming the decision to sit Ingram in part because of a 86-minute rain delay. Huh?

But there’s nothing wrong with verbally poking his team collectively. It’s about setting expectations.

As then-Oklahoma defensive coordinator Brent Venables told me in the middle of a five-game win streak over Texas, “You get what you demand.” Herman may not be demanding enough. Despite the loss, there wasn’t a single change in the depth chart. I assume that means the top 22 had acceptable performances, which doesn’t speak well for the team’s depth.

Athletic director Chris Del Conte said he understood Herman’s kid-gloves approach.

“He was talking to 18-to-22-year olds,” Del Conte told me Monday. “Tom is plenty upset and hurting. That whole coaching staff is. You’ve got to understand kids read the paper. I know you’re looking for fire and brimstone, but we have 11 more games.”

No one’s asking Herman to embarrass his players, but he could do more to engender a toughness and accountability in his players. Is losing really unacceptable here? These top recruits came here for big-time glory, but with that comes glaring scrutiny. Otherwise, Texas State could use some players.

Some are starting to wonder, especially since Herman’s burnt orange résumé shows a 7-7 record and less promise unless some folks start showing more anger and resolve. As Darrell Royal once chastised his team at halftime of an Oklahoma game, “There’s a heckuva fight going on out there. You might want to join it.”

So might these Longhorns.

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2 hours ago, TXs said:

A very large portion knew Charlie wasn't the guy after game 1 of year 2 and wanted him out but it wasn't near this unanimous.

College football message board posters are fickle as fuck.  Beat USC and the heat dies down.  We could get to 4-2 by some miracle and 90% of this board will be convinced we're about to win the Big 12 only to have this thread bumped repeatedly when we lose @ Stillwater or Lubbock.  It's what fans do.  I'm pretty damn pissed about Maryland, particularly considering we blew a lot of $$ attending, but I'll wait and see how things play out this year before forming any firm opinions.   And anyone on this board that states with 100% certainty they know how they will feel about Herman 14 months from now is full of shit.  

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17 minutes ago, C-Man said:

Were there any critical pieces written by Texas media this week following Mike Finger’s shit across the bow in Sunday’s Express-News? Surely, Bohls wrote something. Yes?

Mac Engel is not a fan:

https://www.star-telegram.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/mac-engel/article217760255.html

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56 minutes ago, Eugene11 said:

Is it possible the team just sucks this bad and it’s not mostly coaching? Sam cant throw and no vision. Colin can’t block. O lone can’t block.  We just suck as players first and for most. Coaches aren’t helping with play calling and personnel decisions but which one is the biggest problem. Shitty players with only one year of toms players or shitty coaches and decent players?

 

The players weren’t perfect, but that was a coaching loss. Personnel and playcalling. 

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2 hours ago, Bevo VIII said:

Probably because one comes off as a pompous arrogant know it all asshole that easy to not like.

That certainly has something to do with it. Take at look at Harbaugh - they are eating their own in Michigan right now. His arrogant style has almost everything to do with the reaction up there right now. 

Everyone wanted Strong to do well because he is genuinely a good person trying to win with core values. Herman is just a guy we paid 5M to win. If he doesn't, there is no one in his corner. Besides the guy who does his hair plugs. 

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1 hour ago, Eugene11 said:

Is it possible the team just sucks this bad and it’s not mostly coaching? Sam cant throw and no vision. Colin can’t block. O lone can’t block.  We just suck as players first and for most. Coaches aren’t helping with play calling and personnel decisions but which one is the biggest problem. Shitty players with only one year of toms players or shitty coaches and decent players?

 

I don't give a shit if its the chicken or the egg.  From what I saw on Saturday you could get food poisoning from either one.  I want a new menu.

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Just now, ClubWhatever said:

It was a poorly written article with too much butt hurt and financial envy to convince me of anything. Really a terrible job of journalism. There are far more convincing posts on this thread than that article. 

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I just can't get past him saying he wanted players with the most experience in the game late when it was close. I want him putting the best players out there whenever possible, not the most experienced.  Experience helps one get better.  But it is clear Ingram + 1/2 a game is better than Porter +  25 1/2 games.

Some players start at a much higher floor.

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2 minutes ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

I just can't get past him saying he wanted players with the most experience in the game late when it was close. I want him putting the best players out there whenever possible, not the most experienced.  Experience helps one get better.  But it is clear Ingram + 1/2 a game is better than Porter +  25 1/2 games.

Some players start at a much higher floor.

here's the kicker...there is clear proof his decision to roll out experience over talent did not work (the watson fumble and porter drop). despite that, if he's put in the same position he's going to make the same decision again because he's smarter than everybody else.

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2 minutes ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

I just can't get past him saying he wanted players with the most experience in the game late when it was close. I want him putting the best players out there whenever possible, not the most experienced.  Experience helps one get better.  But it is clear Ingram + 1/2 a game is better than Porter +  25 1/2 games.

Some players start at a much higher floor.

You just get back to, anyone can fumble. Anyone can drop a ball. You might as well have the upside. Look no further than the national championship game to call BS on needing to have a veteran on the field when it counts. 

At this point I wonder if his own arrogance is not allowing him to sit Porter. It would be admitting he was wrong. 

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3 minutes ago, Zavala said:

So if you want this guy fired, and you think he is a dickhead ect...

Are you rooting for Texas over USC or is it like hedging your bets where if Texas loses you will be happy because it's another reason to fire Herman immediately?

confused-monkey-robot-blink-not-sure.gif(completely stolen)

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4 minutes ago, mdmost said:

confused-monkey-robot-blink-not-sure.gif(completely stolen)

lmao

Also, for the people who have "given up" on Texas football and refuse to watch or follow the team, are you going to start watching when they start winning? 

Won't the winning be THAT MUCH BETTER after actually suffering with the rest of the true fans through the shit?

Just sayin, about 15% of this board seems like they have gone insane or they are just not very smart. 

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  • immamac changed the title to Tom Herman, Still The Head Coach at Texas
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