Tom Herman Could Build An Unstoppable Dynasty At LSU

By now, you have undoubtedly heard the news out of Baton Rouge. Les Miles is gone. Cam Cameron is gone. The LSU Tiger football program is looking towards the future and beginning a new era.

The rest of the 2016 season will be led by interim coach Ed Orgeron, but the search for a new head man is already on at LSU. We have seen reports that the team has already contacted two potential candidates in Tom Herman of Houston and former Baylor coach Art Briles, and plenty of other names have been thrown out as well.

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The one I want to focus on right now is Tom Herman. As the offensive coordinator at Ohio State, Herman had remarkable success and was recognized as the nation’s top assistant by receiving the Broyles Award in 2014. He then left the Buckeyes and headed south to be the head coach of the Houston Cougars.

In his first season with the team, Herman led Houston to a 12-1 record and a conference championship. His Cougars were invited to play in the Peach Bowl against Florida State; absolutely dismantling the Seminoles by a final of 38-24. The team finished the year ranked eighth in the nation.

Through four weeks of the 2016 regular season, Herman has Houston sitting at 4-0 and ranked number six in all of college football.

In just two years, Tom Herman has taken Houston from 7-5 and largely irrelevant to a top-10 team in the nation. He really hasn’t even had the opportunity to get his recruits developed and ready to go, so he’s doing all of this largely with guys he didn’t even bring into the program.

On top of that, he’s off to great success on the recruiting front, landing several big prospects already. Herman is having to battle Texas, Texas A&M, TCU, Baylor, and other high-level schools in just his state alone, and he is still finding a way to be in the mix for many of the highly-touted high school players.

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Keeping all of that in mind, picture what he could do as the head coach of the LSU Tigers.

Coming into the job day one he would already have one of the most talented rosters in the country. With great players and depth at seemingly every position, Herman would have more than he could ever dream of at Houston. He has already proven that he can come in and immediately win with a roster constructed by another coach, and this one would certainly be more talented than the Cougar team he currently has.

Now look at it from a recruiting perspective. Tom Herman has had success beyond what anyone expected at Houston, and that’s while competing against all of the monster programs I mentioned earlier. At LSU, he could walk into the living room of almost any kid in Louisiana knowing they have likely dreamed of playing there for much of their lives. He would have no big schools to recruit against in-state, and the ability to go toe-to-toe with any other school for a player in the southeast.

Herman is one of the elite offensive coaches in football, which fits the biggest need LSU is looking for in its candidates. One of the main reasons Les Miles is gone is the inability to improve offensively and develop players at the quarterback position. Tom Herman is a guy who has won a prestigious award for his coaching on that side of the ball, and could certainly maximize the talent on the Tiger roster.

If Tom Herman were to leave the Houston Cougars and come to LSU, there is no doubt in my mind that he could build a dynasty in Baton Rouge. Herman has shown the ability to get the most out of his players and win with whatever he’s got, and he’d have the best talent around at LSU from day one. He has also proven himself to be a very good recruiter, and his resources, brand, and prospect base would improve significantly with the move.

Herman and the LSU Tigers are a perfect match. As a leader, offensive mind, and recruiter, Tom Herman is everything this team needs. If they could pry him away from Houston, the results could be historic.

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