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Texas announced on Saturday that it had parted ways with football coach Tom Herman after four seasons, sources telling ESPN’s Chris Low the Longhorns have focused on Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian. , as his replacement and hope to finalize a deal with him soon.
Texas said in a statement that athletic director Chris Del Conte evaluated the program and recommended changing college president Jay Hartzell. Herman went 32-18 in Texas and 7-3 last season, which culminated in a win over Colorado at the Valero Alamo Bowl on Tuesday.
“Decisions like this are very, very difficult and certainly not something I take lightly,” Del Conte said in a statement. “As I said before, my philosophy is to wait until the end of the season to look at all the factors in evaluating one of our programs.
“After much deliberation and much thought, as we rethought our entire football program and discussed its future, it became apparent that it was in the best interest of the University of Texas to move to another direction.”
Hartzell and Kevin Eltife, chairman of UT’s board of directors, agreed with Del Conte’s recommendation and approved the change, according to a university statement.
Sarkisian, the former coach of USC and Washington, won the 2020 Broyles Award as the country’s best assistant. Alabama will face Ohio State in the College Football Playoff National Championship game on Jan.11.
Sarkisian, who earns $ 2.5million a season on Nick Saban’s staff with the Crimson Tide, turned down Auburn’s openings in his search for a head coach last month and turned down the coaching job- head of Colorado last year.
He would be the first assistant coach hired by Texas to lead their program since 1951, when the Longhorns promoted Ed Price to the job.
Herman, 45, led Texas to the Big 12 Championship Game, a Sugar Bowl Championship and 10 wins in 2018, but the schedule hasn’t been able to return to that level in the past two seasons. He reshuffled his coaching staff after 2019, replacing both coordinators and several other assistants, but Texas started off slow and finished behind Oklahoma and Iowa State in the Big 12 race.
Herman went 4-0 in Texas bowling games, but never won the Big 12 and went 1-4 against rival Oklahoma.
“I am grateful for everything Coach Herman has done and for the hard work and dedication he and his staff have put on behalf of our program and the student-athletes,” Del Conte said in the statement. “I think so for all his efforts and for his service to our institution, and I wish him the best for the future.”
Herman had been under contract during the 2024 season.
Texas will owe Herman around $ 15 million to buy out the last three years of his contract. The Longhorns will still need another $ 10 million to buy back the remaining contracts for his assistants, which are guaranteed multi-year contracts. In May 2019, the university’s regents approved a two-year extension for Herman that will run through the 2023 season. The final two years of the deal would have paid Herman $ 6.5 million in 2022. and $ 6.75 million in 2023.
ESPN’s Mark Schlabach contributed to this report.
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