Tom Herman hired at Florida Atlantic

Tom Herman is back in college football. The former Houston and Texas coach was announced on Thursday as the new head coach of the Florida Atlantic Owls.

“We are incredibly excited to welcome Tom Herman to Paradise,” AD Brian White said in a statement. “Throughout the process and the more we talked with Coach Herman, the more it became apparent to me that he was the right person to lead our football program. Beyond his knowledge of the game, which is obvious by his success over the years, he also truly cares about the young people in his program. He has coached winning programs everywhere he has been and we believe he can be tremendously successful at FAU as well.”

Herman went 22-4 in two seasons at Houston before getting the Texas job in 2017. He went to (and won) a bowl game in each of his four seasons, even winning 10 games in year two, but was fired in January 2021 with a 32-18 overall record with the Longhorns. He spent the 2021 season as an offensive analyst with the Chicago Bears and was out of coaching last year.

“It is an honor to have the opportunity to lead the Florida Atlantic football program,” Herman said. “I’m incredibly grateful to Brian White, President Kelly, Mary Giardina and everyone else who was involved in the search process. All the pieces are in place at FAU for us to be successful. There are already great young men on this team, great facilities, a great location, a great recruiting base and great leadership, all of which are important to building a successful program.”

Florida Atlantic parted ways with previous coach Willie Taggart last week after three seasons. He had been hired in 2020 after Lane Kiffin, who took the Owls to two bowls in three years and went 26-13 overall, left for Ole Miss.

FAU’s athletic programs are moving to the American Athletic Conference (AAC) next summer after ten years in Conference USA.

credit to Florida Atlantic Athletics for the image