2016 Houston Cougar Football: Maintaining the Culture
**By: Jimmy Schofield**When Tom Herman was hired on December 16, 2015, his mission was simple; elevate an already winning program to that of elite status in the college football world.
After back to back 8-5 seasons, Herman is well on his way to accomplishing that as he helped to lead the Coogs to a 13-1 season last year, finishing the season ranked eighth in final College Football Playoff poll after winning the inaugural American Athletic Conference championship game over Temple followed by an impressive 38-24 win against Florida State in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl last New Yearâs Eve. How did he transform the team he inherited into the force they would ultimately become?
Buying in
âThey were immediate buy-in guys. They didnât ask questions, they didnât ask why, they could not see the light at the end of the tunnel,â Herman said recently of his 16 seniors. âThey just said weâre going to follow this staff and weâre going to follow this plan and see where it takes us.â Those seniors who received the most playing time included Alex Cooper, Carter Wall, Ryan Jackson, and Kenneth Farrow on offense; William Jackson III, Lee Hightower, Trevon Stewart, Adrian McDonald, Elandon Roberts and Tomme Mark on defense along with Earl Foster, Nolan Frese and Logan Piper contributing heavily on special teams.
Tough love
âI think there was this sense that it was okay to show up thirty seconds late to a team lift, or it was okay to miss a class, or it was okay to set up a tutor appointment and say, oh, shucks, I forgot,â Herman said during a press conference before the Peach Bowl. âWe needed to establish very early that thatâs not okay, and that the little things matter. So when we got off the road that first Monday, we put giant chains on the locker room doors and padlocked them up and said weâll see you at 4:30 in the morning on the turf field. It was nothing but can we do as many up-downs right as we can.â
Those early morning workout sessions also showed the players that they could be mentally tough which was just as important as physical toughness.
âWe also found out who the leaders were and who the tough guys were, who the guys were that were mentally strong and could survive that kind of atmosphere. And then I think probably the biggest thing was then we established very early that weâre going to do things right.â
#1-0
Teaching both that physical and mental toughness continued through the spring.
âGive me maximum effort, and weâll get all that other stuff figured out. But as long as heâs going hard, Iâm ok. It takes zero physical ability to hit the hardest. It takes no talent to be the most physically dominant team in the country. Zero. It takes this,â Herman says pointing to his heart while talking to his team during spring drills last year. âOk? It takes a guy saying that I will not be beaten on this rep. You will not move me. I will move you. I will be 1-0 on this rep, over and over, and over and over and over again.â
Fighting adversity
The Coogs were 3-1 in games decided by three points or less last season, with all the hard work learned over their first off-season paying off in just the second game of the season at Louisville where they overtook the Cardinals 34-31 in a seesaw affair with the lead changing hands seven times (five in the fourth quarter alone).
âWe trained for nine months for this moment. None of us in that locker room are surprised,â Herman said after the game last September 12. âWe expected to come in here and use our training to the best of our abilities and we figured if we did that, weâd have a chance to win in the end, and we did. Thatâs just the culture of our program, is to battle adversity, respond when adversity hits very mindfully and on purpose, with really good thoughts and actions, and not to panic and not to try to do anything outside of ourselves. We talk all the time about going back to our fundamentals when things get tough. Effort and fundamentals are the easiest way to battle adversity. Itâs not freaking out. Itâs not trying to make the superhuman play. Itâs going back to your fundamentals and giving a superior level of effort. And so, Iâm not trying to make it sound easy. It certainly was not easy. It was in fact extremely, extremely hard. But, thatâs why we train so hard and thatâs why we push our guys so hard, is for moments like this.â
#HTownTakeover
A huge role in last yearâs success was also the coaching staff. Offensive coordinator Major Applewhite, defensive coordinator Todd Orlando, running backs coach Kenith Pope, wide receivers coach Drew Mehringer, tight ends/fullbacks coach Corby Meekins, offensive line coach Derek Warehime, defensive line coach Oscar Giles, safeties coach Craig Naivar, Cornerbacks coach/special teams coordinator Jason Washington had 146 years of recruiting experience in the state of Texas. Mehringer is the only coach to leave over this past off-season, taking the OC role at Rutgers. With Darrell Wyatt replacing him that figure goes up to 155 years this season. With that experience, Herman and staff were able to secure the 35th best ranked class in the entire nation per the 247sports recruiting composite, and best of the non-Power 5 conference teams, including one Ed Oliver, a five star signee and the third best defensive tackle in the entire country.
âOn our jersey it doesnât say the University of Houston. It just says Houston, and thatâs not by accident. We want to represent this university, but we also have the fourth biggest city in the country to represent,â Herman said about his program.
Coaching them up
On the field, the coaching staff did a better job than anybody could have anticipated (except of course the staff members themselves). Herman let Applewhite tailor his offense around the talents of the team, calling it âthe University of Houston offense.â Quarterback Greg Ward Jr. was only the second signal caller in the nation to pass for over 2,000 yards while rushing for 1,000 more (the other, Heisman Trophy runner-up Deshaun Watson of Clemson). Complimenting Ward was the duo of Farrow and Jackson, as they rushed for over 1,300 yards behind a makeshift offensive line that had TEN different starting lineups, in 14 games.
Defensively, Herman hit a homerun in hiring Orlando as it was a perfect marriage of Hermanâs hard hitting, in your face personality combined with Orlandoâs aggressive attacking scheme that allowed his defense to hold opponents to 109 rushing yards-per-game allowed, their least allowed since 1999. Conversely, the offenseâs 236 rushing yards per game was the most for any Coogs team since 1983, per Phil Steele.
An encore
As for the 2016 campaign and beyond? Herman spoke about the biggest fear to their success as being complacency. Coming off such of a successful season, will the players work as hard and put in the work needed to have an equally as successful season as they did last year? Director of Football Sports Performance, Yancy McKnight, on the dreaded âCâ word when I spoke to him earlier this off-season, âIt is the enemy. We (Coach Herman and I) talked about it. This is not a lie, we talked about our program in 2016 on January First, the next day after the Peach Bowlâ he says laughing. âAnd we came up with âcomplacency will be the enemy that weâll fight every day.â I sent that to Greg Ward because he sent me a text a few days after the game talking about how excited and how pumped he was to start the new year. And he agreed completely. Right now we donât allow any Peach Bowl gear from our staff or our players in our building. We donât wear it. Itâs a new year, new team. The E-Robâs of the world. The T-Stewâs, The A-Macâs, the Alex Cooperâs. Those team captains; Kenneth Farrow. All those guys are gone.â
âThatâs why we put the question marks on the backs of their shirts,â McKnight said in reference to the players having to earn their names back onto them. âWeâre earning that stuff right now. Weâre trying to figure out who we are and what weâre about. Weâre trying to get bigger, stronger, more mobile, learning to be a good teammate and trying to get back that bond that we had last year and not let complacency creep in. Those are the things we work on every single day.â
âThat goes back to our culture. It never stops. Itâs like weeds. The second you donât pick them, there are 20 more of them. Weâve got a target on our back now. Weâre the hunted. Thatâs a different deal for us; trying to sustain and be better than what we did last year so we have to work harder at it.â
McKnight summarizing the culture that Herman and his coaching staff have established, âID-ing these cultural issues isnât just one guy. It goes for everybody from the head coach to the assistants to the players to the trainers to the equipment guys to academic personnel. Every person that touches our football program and players has potential to do good and harm so they all have to be held to the same standard. Coach Herman makes sure everyone understands that.â