Who will be the next head coach for the UCLA Bruins football team? That will be a popular question over the next few days after Chip Kelly left for the Ohio State OC position.
A flurry of names has surfaced, including Minnesota HC P.J. Fleck. However, one under-the-radar name is Florida Atlantic coach Tom Herman, per Tracy Pierson of 247Sports (subscription required).
Herman spent time in Texas and has a lot of experience, so it’s certainly an interesting idea. There are good and bad things about Herman, but here’s what Pierson said about the pros:
PROS: Herman became a big name in coaching when he was the offensive coordinator at Ohio State in 2012-2014, and then did extraordinarily well in his first head coaching gig at Houston for two years. He was a big thing in 2017 when he was hired at Texas. He’s known as a great offensive mind and a very good recruiter. The feeling is that he’d be very good with donors and NIL. He’s from SoCal, going to Simi Valley High and then playing at Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks, so he has deep California ties.
Some of the cons include Herman starting off at Florida Atlantic with a 4-8 record. It remains to be seen which direction UCLA will go with: A veteran coach or a young, up-and-coming coach.
Nonetheless, Tom Herman could get a phone call from UCLA.