Tom Herman had it easy

On the flip side, we don’t know if Gibbs would have stuck around and what hire Levine would have made. I agree with Randy that going back to Bush was the mistake that ended it. You knew what he was and already screwed up a couple hires previously.

I was in the boat of keeping Levine if we did not have a clear cut great hire. When Herman was the name, I was on board with moving on. Would not give up 2015 because those seasons don’t come very often. Herman was a necessary evil for those two years. Make a better hire than Applewhite and we wouldn’t be talking about it.

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I never understood this. He was not good enough the first time to make him the full-time OC on your staff but a season later he was. It’s a shame because I wanted Tony to succeed. Gibbs was “good enough” with the defense – just needed to figure out the offense. Wait, that sounds familiar…

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Tx St was a mega disaster. TDECU sealed his fate. I was screaming for his scalp way many are for CDH now. Shame as he’s great gent but who hires someone that’s never been at least an OC/DC for the first HC gig…at a FCS/FBS D1 level at that ? Mack blew that one…poor man didn’t have much of a shot

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Still had a better record than Holgerson.

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That night was so hyped. Walking into the stadium felt like I was going into a concert.

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I was at the TDECU grand opening. One of the most embarrassing nights of UH football that I can recall.

Team looked completely unprepared and that ruined what should have been a great day.

I watched the Tx State debacle on TV.

That was the problem with Levine. He was a GREAT person (he welcomed me when I was on leave from Afghanistan to UH spring training in 2012, as I recall, and gave me a free UH cap and t-shirt).

But between the two games mentioned above, and the Tulane homecoming fiasco his last year, there were simply too many “incomprehensible” defeats to weak opponents during his tenure.

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It can work (see Dabo) but you better be right with those kind of “I’m smarter than you” hires.

Mack had his share of them in his few years here (Levine and Dickey are obvious but there were a couple in women’s sports too) and whiffed on all of them.

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All things considered, I was happy with the change at the time. I was also happy with the hire of LTH, but that turned sour. I really don’t know how CMA would have done had he more time; but, I thought he had lost the locker room and the revolt was led by Oliver’s antics. You can’t have blatant disrespect of the HC and let it go unchecked.

The end result is I am happy with Holgorsen and, given time, I think he will get us on the right track for sustained success.

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Gang,

As I recall, the Tulane homecoming defeat was the “incomprehensible” defeat that was the last straw with Levine. That was one too many.

Query: had we won that game, might Levine have stuck around longer? Levine apparently knew that his goose was cooked after that game; I remember hearing reports that he seemed like a “broken” man after that loss.

Three “incomprehensible” defeats during that short of a tenure is hard to stomach.

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Holgs finished year 1 and 1/2. COVID season really doesn’t count.

As I said, Tony’s a good man. Just can’t coach. Nothing, and no opinion is going to change that.

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Holgs wasn’t the only one dealing with Covid. But yes Levine was average as HC.

Given what a train wreck Arkansas football has been in the past few years Pittman had a fairly solid first year to build off of as well.

I was there and made the mistake of entering at the student’s entrance and in the mayhem snagged a “I was there” (or something like that) commemorative t-shirt. Unfortunately, I can never wear it…guess that is karma.

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That stadium opening was a dumpster fire, in retrospect we should’ve scheduled Lamar, Levine was a great recruiter and good guy. He’s raking it in selling chicken and I’m happy for him.

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People have selective memory about Levine’s tenure that 2014 team had the same talent as the 2015 AAC/Peach Bowl champs and underachieved big time. That is all on Levine and his short comings as a head coach.

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We went 6-2 in games Ward started. If Tony had gotten rid of Bush and tried his luck again with a new OC and Ward as the starter in 2015 it’s not a stretch to think that we could have won 9-10 games that year.

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https://twitter.com/CoachTonyLevine/status/1345158505997725703?s=19

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I miss the aggressive David Gibbs defense. It was a turnover machine. I remember most fans wanted Herman to keep Gibbs.

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BINGO!

I’m pretty sure it counts… for everyone. They’re handing out money, trophies, and bonuses, so it counts.

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