Ex-Longhorns coach Herman takes over at FAU

Former Texas coach Tom Herman was named Florida Atlantic’s new head football coach Thursday, the school announced.

Herman replaces Willie Taggart, who was fired last month after going 5-7 this season. Taggart went 15-18 in his three seasons in Boca Raton, reaching the Montgomery Bowl in 2020, his first season, before consecutive 5-7 campaigns.

“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,” Herman said as part of a news release from the school.

Herman gives the Owls a coach with a track record of renowned offensive success. Across six seasons at Houston (2015-16) and Texas (2017-20), he has accumulated a career record of 54-22 and has five bowl victories — four coming at Texas.

His best season in Austin came in 2018 as the Longhorns went 10-4, finished second in the Big 12 and beat Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. Before taking the head-coaching job at Houston before the 2015 season, Herman was Urban Meyer’s offensive coordinator at Ohio State, helping lead the program to the inaugural College Football Playoff national championship in 2014.

The Buckeyes that year were ninth in total offense (511.6 YPG) and averaged 44.8 points in 2014 as Herman won the Broyles Award, which is annually given out to the top assistant coach in the country.

“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,” FAU athletic director Brian White said. “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.”