Report: Florida Atlantic hires former Texas coach Tom Herman as new head football coach

Former Houston and Texas head coach Tom Herman has been hired as the new coach of Florida Atlantic, per Brett McMurphy of The Action Network.

On Thursday afternoon, the Owls decided to make the splash hire, and McMurphy took to Twitter to reveal that Herman would be the replacement for the fired Willie Taggart.

“Former Texas & Houston coach Tom Herman has been hired as FAU’s new coach, sources told @ActionNetworkHQ,” tweeted McMurphy. “Herman was 54-22 in 6 seasons – 32-18 at Texas & 22-4 at UH. Herman’s teams were perfect 5-0 in bowl games, including 2 New Year’s 6 bowls.”

Moreover, the aforementioned Taggart was out following a 32-31 overtime loss to Western Kentucky last Saturday that kept the Owls from becoming bowl eligible for the second straight season under Taggart’s watch.

Willie Taggart finishes his FAU stint with a 15-18 record, including an 11-12 mark in Conference USA play. Of course, Herman will try to have his stint look more like Lane Kiffin’s than Taggart’s time.

During his time as a head coach, Tom Herman has amassed a record of 54-22 (22-4 at Houston, 32-18 at Texas) and has four bowl victories to his name, including a Sugar Bowl win with the Longhorns.

Florida Atlantic is the perfect place for his coaching career to begin again, and it’ll be fascinating to see where the journey takes him.

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Moreover, Willie Taggart took over at Florida Atlantic following Lane Kiffin‘s highly successful stint in Boca Raton, Fla., when Kiffin left for Ole Miss following the 2019 season. Kiffin won two CUSA titles while at FAU, with his squads twice reaching the 11-win mark (2017 and 2019).

Taggart had previously been fired by the Seminoles after a tumultuous two-year stint from 2017-18. He went 9-12 with the Seminoles, while compiling a 6-9 record in ACC play.

“I couldn’t be more excited to have Coach Taggart on board to lead our football program,” White said in a press release at the time of Taggart’s hiring.

“Coach Taggart is a proven program builder who will develop strong relationships with our student-athletes and develop them as future leaders. His deep relationships around the state of Florida and the nation will be vital in recruiting as well. The traits he brings to the table will allow us to continue building upon our recent success.”

Willie Taggart didn’t get the job done at Florida Atlantic, but Tom Herman will be tasked with doing so, and time will tell if he’s able to.