Tom Herman embraces Texas hype
The Texas Longhorns are ranked 23rd in the AP poll. They are 21st in the coaches poll. UT was voted fourth in the Big 12 preseason poll, a spot above Oklahoma State, which has finished behind Texas just once in the eight years of this decade.
Optimism and hype are Longhorn constants. And that’s OK, Texas coach Tom Herman said Monday on the Big 12 teleconference.
“There’s nobody that’s going to put higher expectations on this program than myself, our coaching staff or the players,” said Herman, who first Longhorn team went 7-6 last season. “The expectations outside the program, quite frankly, are irrelevant. It’s just noise. The only people in whose opinions that matter are the people in our locker room and in our building. We’re not out to prove anybody wrong. That would lead credence to the idea that we care what people think.”
Texas opens the season Saturday against Maryland in Baltimore, and this lost Longhorn decade remains difficult to grasp. Texas in the ‘10s is 35-36 in conference play, the seventh-best Big 12 record, and 53-48 overall.
Herman pointed to instability as a cause for the slippage in a proud program. In a four-year stretch, Texas had three head coaches, four athletic directors and two presidents.
“Anytime you have that much instability in such a short amount of time, that’s usually not a recipe for success,” Herman said. “The remedy to that is the inverse, which is stability. What would lend confidence to rectifying some of those issues, the biggest one I would point to is stability and the buy-in of players to our culture.”
Herman fed the hype Monday, saying he’s seen progress on the practice field. “Unbelievable practices,” Herman said. “We’re bigger, faster, stronger. Our guys are playing at a level now we haven’t seen since we’ve been here.”
Of course, Texas was ranked 23rd in the AP preseason poll last season. Then UT lost the season opener to Maryland and never saw the top 25 again.