Tom Herman Explaining how Different the College Football Landscape is | FAU Recruiting TOP Talent

Intro Tom Herman the head coach at Florida Atlantic University what's up Tom how you doing it's going great Andy how are you man you look great what are you weighing these days man well I would not put me in uh to block anyone unless it was at fullback so you guys are gonna have to re re you know bring back the fullback position I'm like 220 right now so we are you look great appreciate it Football in Paradise so you are in Paradise I am also in Paradise right now slightly south of you in Paradise uh but what is what is it like coaching football in bokeh we weal we've talked to Lane about it when he was there and and FAU and and and their ad have really embraced this football in Paradise thing but what what is it like every day when you wake up and you're in bokeh well yeah it's so much so that coach kein called me uh on his spring break earlier uh in the week and let me know he was in town so yeah it's unbelievable I had the before my wife and kids got here you know I'm eating out every night and staying in hotels and whatnot and uh you know I I think I gain 15 pounds you know you every restaurant you go to is on the beach you you you kind of condition yourself you're it feels like you're on vacation and I had to remind myself hey you live here now and get used to it being 75 degrees and sunny uh in January and taking your jet ski out during the Dead period in uh in February you know and those are things I've never been able to do and uh now that my family's here and we're in our house my wife and kids are here and settled it's uh been a really enjoyable offseason thus far for sure so College Football Landscape I I gotta ask you I've talked to to Matt rule about this and you guys kind of matched up TimeWise you finished at Texas after the 2020 season you go work in the NFL you come back last year into college football into a very very different kind of college football what was that adjustment like to a world that you knew before that that you had thrived in and been head coach at a couple different schools and been the OC at Ohio State and then you come back and it is a completely different system yeah I mean you you kind of know what it is getting into it obvious getting back into it it's not like I I you know left any of of my contacts or following anything for two years and and so but man you you really don't know until you're in it and living it and uh you know as much as the word untenable has been thrown out here the last 6 months or so uh that truly what is truly what it is you know and until we figure out a way uh you know you've got the analogy I use is you have 31 billionaires that that own NFL teams with the Packers being publicly owned and if you went to those owners those billionaires and you said hey we we've got a league we want to start a league and everybody is going to have 85 players they're all but they're all going to be on onee contracts oh excuse me no six Monon contracts with player options every six months and there is no salary cap uh they would laugh at you they would laugh at you and say that that model is ridiculous and yet here we are and and that's what uh College foot division one college football has become and we can either complain and do nothing and get left in the dust or we can uh figure out a way to to do business the way the current model is and be successful while still pushing for for some kind of change and regulation so in your case this is you've got it flowing in flowing out now just like coaches at every every other school but like your best receiver from last year he's at Auburn now your offensive line some of those guys got picked off by by power conference schools and then meanwhile uh cam fer goes into the portal at Marshall you wind up getting him and and now you have a multi-year starter at quarterback but his multie were at a different school yeah it is unique you know I I I never thought I'd see the day where schools were paying 75 to $100,000 for for backup players um and and yet here we are and and that's what's what's happening and um you know other than Leon the the guys that that chose to to leave here a lot of them were asked some of them um we probably won't won't feel uh a negative impact but but certainly that one that one hurts with a year of Eligibility left and um you know until we figure out a way because we believe now certainly with the 12 team playoffs and we're in the American Conference the odds will tell you the winner of the American Conference uh is going to be the highest ranked group of five Champion so if you win the American Conference you're going to the playoffs and so we have an opportunity to sell that fact to sell boa Ron to sell Palm Beach County to sell the fact that you can compete to go play for the playoffs every year uh by staying at home in this such fertile recruiting ground but and you you you can get the Ed Olivers of the world who show said he was so smart coming out of high school Ed's a smart smart man and he said coach it doesn't matter where I go to college if I don't get hurt I'm GNA go play in the NFL and he did he was the ninth pick uh after three years and he Saidi want to stay home I want to represent my community I want to play with my brother I I I I want to do all these things for the City of Houston and he did that wouldn't happen today Ed five star Ed Oliver is not going to Houston because Houston or an AAC team because monetarily that makes zero sense for him when our Collective is paying X their Collective is paying y it's it's uh we don't ever have that opportunity anymore to to get that guy uh and so that's okay we still feel like we can get players that that are talented enough to win this conference and and know that like I said if you do you're you're probably going to go to the playoffs so uh we're excited uh about it uh we feel like we we used all of the new uh ways of doing business we used it to our advantage this season and so uh or this offseason I should say we we were one and five in one- score games last year that is very unlike uh other teams I'd been around but it it does give you hope and and that hope should be that we had Talent requisite enough to to be in those one- score games in the fourth quarter uh with an Illinois in the Big 10 you know and and some really good football teams uh but not the talent to to to get us over the top to to overcome some other deficiencies and we had the culture to be in those games but quite enough to carry us and so we feel like we've upgraded the talent we've upgraded the culture and uh it really does feel like year two at at Texas you know we took over for a uh three straight losing Seasons uh when we took over at Texas and we scraped by with six wins in uh year one but we really got the thing going the way we wanted it uh in year two and and that's when we won 10 games and beat Oklahoma beat Georgia uh in the Sugar Bowl and so this wasn't going to be like Houston that was eight win team the year prior Tony and his staff did a really good job and they weren't far away uh and so this feels a lot like when we took over at Texas where three straight losing Seasons coming into this and and we feel like now after 14 months we've really kind of started to mold things the way we we really wanted well FAUs Depth and I I talked to G Malon about this a few weeks ago because they were experiencing a conference switch last year and he said they ran into to the situation where they could feel that their depth wasn't quite where it needed to be for the new conference you were in the first year in a new conference last year now you obviously weren't there the year before but I imagine you know all of those years recruiting at one level and now you're thrown into a different conference where teams are a little bit deeper that probably does make a difference in those one- score games well and I I called a bunch of Conference USA games the the year prior too uh and Mountain West Mountain West games as well and so I got a feel for what the the the competition looks like and it is different um I'm I'm not going to lie you know I mean uh two lane had some really good players and and I think you're right I think the depth uh and the lines really show up you know uh you know we have a lante Wester we're going to have good players here and there uh that can match up and and play with anybody but uh it's really like you said developing the depth and recruiting that depth and continuing to recruit that dep so they stick around um you know and and don't leave at the the first sight of oh I'm on the second row of the depth show and I'm I'm out speaking of depth let's FAU Coaching Staff talk about your coaching staff because you've got several former head coaches on this staff you got Chad Lunsford was was Georgia Southern's head coach David Batty was was obviously Kansas's head coach and then you got some South Florida Legends they Chris Perkins they are Brandon Harris the son of of a legendary County High School coach Brandon played at the U played in the NFL uh that brings me to uh what I said earlier about how you are beloved by rappers so it was it was Paul Wall when you're in Houston but I know you're you're my age Tom so I imagine when you saw this I'm assuming you saw this that this really hit hard Uncle Luke Tom Herman has more D County coaches on his staff than any college staff in the State of Florida thank you coach for all you do that is the legendary Luther Campbell now he's coach Luke now he's a high school coach so he knows the world world better than just about anybody but as as someone who grew up listening to this stuff when Uncle Luke shouts you out what's that feel like that hey from a guy that uh sneaked around to get a two Live Crew cassette and and you know it was like trying to buy Contraband uh you know when when you remind in the USA Baby yeah absolutely explicit lyrics remember when that that tag first had to be put on on everything so uh yeah I I this is what I grew up and think of it uh what you will it doesn't really bother me I know what I like in music and I I know that today's version of of hipop is a little bit different than than what I grew up on I I feel like it you know the stuff I grew up on was was poetry set to a beat and and now it feels like if you have autotune and and a good hook you can you can get yourself a hit but uh uh anytime you know we we go to an area you know Kodak Black is uh Broward County Legend and obviously being down here with Uncle Luke and Trick Daddy and I mean the list goes on and on of the the the great Miami uh hip-hop guys Mr worldwide from I mean flowr don't get me started so uh well that's to ask is is there a like you're in Palm Beach County I I was trying to think if there was a big Palm Beach County rapper but like you you mentioned Kodak Black from Broward Ace Hoods from Broward Road in pompo I mean I can get to his minutes you know close enough yeah yeah but Palm Beach county is a little I don't think they're they're growing rappers in Mara Lago or you know up in Jupiter you know what I mean yeah well and they're too busy Recruiting in South Florida playing good football in the muck so that's that that's the other problem but yeah that that part but it's interesting because I don't think people understand the dynamic with with Uncle Luke in South Florida football like he's my guy that I call about a player if I hear about a a high school player he'll tell me the truth because he's seen all these guys and I did a story on him years ago he was trying to to coach for the first time and and some guy was trying to keep him from coaching because of his lyrics and I I I remember calling the guy and interview him like okay what what's your problem with him coaching and all that and then I asked the guy one point I was like how many kids have you tried to get scholarships for and the guy had no answer for that and but it it it's very interesting because you've got you know this community where it it is very important and I'm curious you know you being in this area because I know you've recruited the area before but they Broward Palm Beach County you guys talk about the tri Tri County takeover what is it like recruiting in the most Talent Rich environment in the country it's really cool uh you know to to I think the the statistic is something like any given here something like of the division FBS signes uh out of the state of Florida it's like 85% come from these Three Counties and uh we're proud to represent uh I'm not sure where you're at right now Andy but we're we're proud to to be the public school that uh represents the Tri County Area uh in division one football and we take a lot of pride in that and uh it's something that uh you know we signed the second most High School signes uh of of any team in our conference this year and we know we're going to have to pay him on the front end or the back end and uh right now you know instead of going and paying overpaying uh for a bunch of transfers we feel like we're gonna we're going to sign some really really good high school football players we're going to develop them we're going to build relationships with them and hopefully when we develop them into the nation's leading receiver if you will then there there's motivation for them to to stick around when when greener pastures come calling Developing players well and that's that's the interesting thing because it sounds like you are willing to accept if you develop them and and they wind up becoming great players and they leave that that that might happen but I imagine if you had them for two three years then then you got a chance yeah maybe they maybe there's an ed Oliver in the group and and we did and I don't want to make it bigger than it is Andy you know of everybody that left that one guy we we feel the effect of and and so um you know now would we love to have that guy certainly I think any team in the country uh would be silly not to so I don't know if okay is the right word I think you have to have plans for it and and you have to not be surprised by it uh I I still think I can still be not okay with it in in terms of the the six-month contract thing and gu is basically looking over their shoulder every six months for for something better that doesn't sit well with me and I'm not going to lie about that but um you know if at that point you know if if a guy started for us for three years and we've developed him into a really good football player if our relationship can't offset uh the difference in money and hopefully by that point we'll be at the point where we can at least be competitive our Collective can be competitive if that model still exists in three years um and and you know hopefully that Delta between the the two salaries will be matched with relationship and and opportunity so you talked about what the opportunity is in the American if you win you're probably in that 12 team playoff you think back to when you were at Houston and you won the American and you went you played Florida State in a Peach Bowl I'm trying to think like that that team that Greg Ward at quarterback I mean that would have been a fun team to watch in the playoff that team could have made some noise uh yeah I I it's a shame and you know coach fickle and and his crew did what you had to do they went undefeated two I think two years in a row right Andy unfortunately you know we we lost our one game that year at the at the wrong time you know we we Greg got hurt in that great comeback against Memphis and we didn't have a whole lot of lot left in the tank going up to Yukon so we lost and uh when you lose late in the season you're the way the model existed then you you had no shot uh you know with a one loss of going to the playoffs as a group of five team but now as long as you're that highest ranked team which we would have been anyways that year you know we finished in the top 10 I believe top five something like that you know we would have been in the playoffs regardless of that that hiccup uh in stores Connecticut so where you are now that's Lamar Odom Lamar Jackson country are they still mad at you guys for that Thursday night game during Lamar's Heisman season where you almost took it took him out of the Heisman race that was phen what was it 38 to 10 I think it was 353 it was unbelievable sacked him like times they were number three in the country and it wasn't close and that was that Oliver if he hadn't you know if if chasing chasing Baker Mayfield around in in game one that year wasn't his coming out party that Thursday night certainly was we we had great players uh Andy Greg played in the NFL tus Bowser was a second rounder uh Willow William Jackson was a first round ER at corner uh obviously Ed was a first rounder I mean those two years two first rounders were on that team at Landon Roberts started at Mike linebacker for the Super Bowl champion in New England Patriots as a rookie so I mean the list goes on and on and so um you got to have good players and right now that's our our biggest biggest challenge is if we can recruit at the level that the two lanes in the UTSA can recruit and we all know what we're talking about we can afford if our Collective can afford the same kind of recruits that are that what we're expected to be every Saturday uh this is going to be a fun fun ride here in in boa Ron and uh we're working tirelessly to make sure that that we can and and stay competitive at least in our conference and um it's going to be a hell of a ride so having been at Houston Houston because I think Houston's probably the best analog for this because Houston is one of the most talented areas in the country maybe the most concentrated area of talent in the country does it did that help you kind of hone your evaluation skills because I mean guys get missed in Houston guys get missed in South Florida but also they're guys who come back to Houston they're guys who will come back to South Florida yeah and you for for a guy that that knows so much holistically of the sport Andy you do a great job of staying um up to date in recruiting as well and um yeah you're you're you're right it it is um uh you know a boon for us to to be in this area like I said you know uh if we can be competitive uh in the collective Market we feel like when we took this job when we decided as a family to get back into college football we knew it was going to be different we didn't know it was going to be to this level but we did make a promise to each other me and my wife that it would be at a place that our family is Happy living uh and it would be at a place where we could win championships and those two boxes are are very difficult to check in college football and and this is a place that we felt like um you know had the the infrastructure if you will the necessary pieces uh look at those palm trees in the background I mean that's every day here man and it doesn't get better than that and we're thrilled to death and and we're excited to to develop these guys into what we feel like is a championship roster so uh you you mentioned briefly Toms broadcasting career that that you were calling games before you wound up taking the job last year I know it was a uh it was a dream of yours back in the day to become a a a DJ or a host of some kind uh did did that wet your appetite or you got back into coaching pretty quick was it like ah I found my calling I think both I didn't certainly didn't find my calling um it was a fun challenge you being a color guy if if you ever done it I I think the play byplay guys has got the easy part right Smith takes the snap he hands off to Jones Jones up the middle for four uh tackled by Johnson right and then you've got to know that well Mike Johnson's you know coming off two straight years of ACL reconstruction he comes from a family of 10 and you're drawing circles around I mean you've got to get to know three sides of the ball of two different teams in less than a week and so that's hard and it was a fun challenge I just I miss the players the day-to-day interaction that have any impact on guys the way what we did with Cardell Jones and the list goes on and and I I wasn't I wasn't ready I I still had enough in me to be around and those guys and and affect those change as as it become more difficult it has um and did I um take to I think I got better at broadcasting I think it's something I could maybe do to kill time when I do hang up the whistle but um one thing that stood out I think your your listeners and viewers should know like the one thing that stood out to me as a coach we my very first game we we were in the the pre-production meeting in the truck and it's this is SMU versus North Texas right and but there's still this big truck and it amazed me that even a game like that would would warrant this cost right of all these people and these trucks and Equipment uh and then so we had the pre-production meeting with the the producer and to break us down you know whatever hey all right everybody let's go to our spots let's get ready he says have a great show I was like that's what this is this is a reality television show and um you know for millions and millions of people and that's what our lives are and that not to get too hokey or kind of Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy here but you know it uh it it sunk in like when he said have a good show I was like no these guys are going out there bleeding eating sweating crying uh putting their bodies on the line and we're making a show you know and and it was it was interesting to hear or see that side of it for sure well and and that's it's exactly what it is and I think that's probably the disconnect you you see sometimes between us out here and you guys who are in there because you you know these players you when when somebody comes off or or somebody goes down on the field like you know his mom you know his sister you know exactly how everybody's feeling and meanwhile the show is cutting to commercial so yeah it's it's crazy how how it works but you're exactly right and you know I I just speaking of you mentioned Cardell Jones so before I let you go I do want to ask you this cardells worked with the collect one of the collectives at Ohio State did you call him getting nil advice when you got back in the game believe it or not the answer to that question is yes yeah we we Cardell has actually flown to bokeh has um consulted if you will with our Collective and uh we we we talk regularly and and bounce ideas off of each other so it's he's got a lot of irons in the fire Michelle and I are invested in some of those still in in Columbus and uh shout out to on uh plus two training out there in Columbus Ohio but uh no Cardell is doing great up there in Columbus and is really uh thinking outside the box too when it comes to collectives as well well and that's it you got to have all those good ideas around you because you're you're in a new conference you're you're trying to to get that edge and then this is this is maybe a way to help find it and uh the the palm trees are a nice Edge too though yeah no doubt no doubt yeah if you're gonna do it this is a pretty good place to do it Tom Herman thank you so much and and good luck with the rest of spring practice thanks Andy appreciate you having me go outs thank you so much for watching just a reminder subscribe to this channel right here so you never miss an episode of Andy Staples on three and oh by the way watch all the other great videos on the Onre Sports YouTube channel