The Texas Longhorns lost two-straight games heading into the bye. They lost by a combined 10 points but losses nonetheless. The unfortunate part is not having another game to prepare for this past week. Much the reason why the focus this week for good reason has been the job status of Tom Herman. Horns247 even discussed a potential replacement for Herman, no one other than his former boss. The question on their minds is can Urban Meyer win at Texas?
During his time as the athletic director at Texas, Chris Del Conte has made two major hires for the athletics department. CDC hired Mike White to take over the softball program. Connie Clark was the only coach in the history of the Longhorns softball program. Clark won 873 games dating back to 1997. Del Conte hired Mike White away from Oregon, in his first season, he led them to 41 wins and a NCAA Super Regional appearance.
White led the Ducks to back to back Women’s College World Series appearances. While he didn’t win the championship in either year, he was a proven coach. In 2020, the softball team was 24-3 and defeated the top two teams in the country before the season was cancelled due to COVID-19. White has them going in the right direction.
In another personnel move, Del Conte decided to move on from women’s basketball coach Karen Aston. Instead he brought in Vic Schaefer from Mississippi State. Schaefer led his team to back-to-back NCAA runner-up finishes and an Elite Eight run. Another coach who has shown proven success, but has yet to reach the pinnacle.
It seems relatively clear that Chris Del Conte wants to create a winning culture at Texas and he is doing it with bringing in coaches who have won. Both hires have shown they know how to get to championship games. So now all eyes turn to the football team. If Herman is indeed gone at season’s end, does CDC turn to Meyer?
Does Urban Meyer meet the immediate criteria? Absolutely. He led the Utah Utes to an unbeaten season with Alex Smith at quarterback. Meyer was 22-2 at Utah with that unbeaten season in 2004 that ended with a Fiesta Bowl victory. He left for Florida and won two National Championships. He was 65-16 in six seasons at Florida. Seven years in his last stop at Ohio State. Again he won a National Championship. His final record was 83-9 record before stepping away in 2018.
Overall Meyer has won everywhere he has been with a final record of 187-32. For reference, since Mack Brown the Longhorns have lost 38 games dating back to 2014. Meyer has led his team to 10 conference championships since 2005, while Texas has won just two in that same timeframe. None of which for Texas has come since 2009.
Outside of winning football games, recruiting is another major avenue to consider. Until the 2020 class, Tom Herman has had a top 10 class. Looking at the last five years, the Longhorns average class has been 10.4 in that span. Prior to Herman, the Longhorns two classes finished as the No. 11 (2015) and No. 26 (2016) classes. The Buckeyes finished 5.4 according to a five-year study using recruiting rankings.
While recruiting hasn’t been an issue under Herman, there has been no development. Something that Meyer has harped on when doing the Big Noon Kickoff show on Fox Sports. The Longhorns have yet to have a first round pick since 2015 when Malcom Brown was selected No. 32 overall. That is one of the metrics that Meyer used when talking about a lack of development. The other schools in the top of the recruiting rankings produce plenty of NFL talent and have success on the field.
It is hard to fathom that having Meyer as the head coach wouldn’t swing recruiting into the Longhorns favor. Not in regards to just rankings, but also in the state of Texas. Winning recruiting in the state would help the school immensely. Texas has seen their talent in-state leave for Oklahoma, Ohio State, Alabama, etc. It would be a way to win in-state. During his time at Utah, Meyer was able to win without top tier talent as his recruiting classes were never higher than 60th.
According to a Rival’s article on Urban Meyer, he averaged a recruiting ranking of 3.66. Which means that he signs an average class of fourth or better each year. Meyer also singed a top three class nine times and 35 five-star prospects. Put him in Texas which is a major pipeline for talent and that likely continues.
The big question surrounding Urban has everything to do with off the field issues. He stepped away for health concerns more than once. While that needs to be taken into consideration, as a coach he gets results on the field. When it comes to top coaches available at this point, Meyer is the big fish. He was linked to the Dallas Cowboys job before they hired Mike McCarthy.
That gives the inclination that he in fact does want to come back to coaching. With Chris Ash already on the staff, he would likely remain as Meyer has spoke glowingly about him at every opportunity. Whether or not Meyer gets an opportunity to interview for the job, he seems to fit what Del Conte wants at head coach.
There is still time for Tom Herman to quiet these rumors but he needs to make a run at the Big 12 Championship. That likely means winning six-straight games and that starts with Baylor on Oct. 24 hopefully.