Herman says all the right things at Introductory Press Conference

"Yet the righteous will hold to his way,
And he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger."
Job 17:9

In a late-breaking development, we attended Tom Herman's introductory press conference yesterday.  Based upon what we heard, we came away reasonably content.  It looks like a good hire on paper...but Charlie Strong also looked like a good hire on paper.

That being said, we do have to comment upon the softball questions from the sycophantic, fan-boy, media.  As you can see below, the assembled press corps was more interested in asking Herman softball questions about following in Mack Brown's footsteps than fleshing out his plan to address the team's obvious deficiencies.  Had we been called upon, we would have asked Coach Herman about his plan to address penalties and turnovers on a team that lost five games this past season by less than a touchdown.

One positive note: During his opening remarks, President Fenves made clear that maintaining the character development standards Charlie Strong implemented was a top priority.  That's key because, while it's a lot of fun to win football games, doing so the wrong way always comes back to bite you in the end.  Just ask Baylor (or, for that matter, USC).

But, yeah, we're reasonably content for the moment:



Highlights:

• Fenves prepared remarks:
• blah, blah, "excellence...."
• Expect character development stuff to continue.
• Decided about Charlie Friday evening.
• Met with Herman Friday night.
• Had been doing due diligence for awhile.

• Herman prepared remarks:
• "We will win championships."
• "We will build men of character."

• Fenves/Perrin Q&A:
• Fenves met Herman on Friday "after a very long day" for both.
• Any contracts will have to be approved by the Board of Regents.
• Perrin declines to go into detail on differences between Herman and Strong.

• Herman Q&A:
• "I surround myself with great people."
• "I've recruited this state for 20 some-odd years.
• Had first meeting with team at 4:15 pm that day.
• Note: The press conference started at (about) 5:15pm.
• Hasn't studied roster yet.
• "Changed the culture" at UH.
• "The most physically and mentally tough team on the field each and every Saturday."
• For players: "This program's going to be really, really, hard."
• "Some things will be similar" to Charlie.
• ie. Character stuff
• "It's not going to be Camp Texas around here."

Bottom Line: It looks like a good hire, but there's no substitute for actually playing the games (especially for this program).

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