You woke up to a lot of speculation that Derek Warehime will accompany Tom Herman to Texas. This follows what I've been hearing and writing. Warehime's an OL coach who came up the hard way - like Herman himself - and who has shown the ability to cobble a run-game out of limited parts, at least until too many injuries happened this year. This would be a guy you'd have been more excited about last season, but he's still the same coach and between front-line talent and depth, he'll have much more to work with at UT than he's ever had anywhere else. I've heard nothing but good things about him since he arrived at Houston and caught my eye. It'll be a better hire than it's given credit for, imo.
The big domino to potentially shape the Texas staff will be the UofH head coaching search but I believe the impact will be negligible because the Houston higher ups don't want to thud back to Earth after losing Herman. There's talent in place to keep that place humming along and big-name coaches know it.
Houston has had a regent pushing for Art Briles. They've even met (where have I heard this before) with him already. I simply can't see them hiring him. On top of the mess Briles left behind at Baylor, he has some skeletons from his Houston days. He's politically toxic and I can't see his hiring being politically acceptable, especially at a public school in Texas.
Dana Holgorsen is another name Justin's been hearing for quite some time. On its face it sounds absurd but we know it's accurate. The reason being is WVU has been playing around with his contract. Holgo has a house in Houston and a rich group of like-minded partiers. It's not impossible the party comes to Houston. Holgo would be wise to string his options out and see if Oregon or something bigger comes open, but he'd be fine with Houston.
We have heard that Houston DC Todd Orlando will interview for the HC job and with him being the current interim coach he's already on an interview. He's in a bit of a pinch because he'll want to follow Herman to Texas but he can't really turn down the request to be interim. People connected to the team I've talked to want it to be Orlando for continuity purposes but like I said Houston wants someone a bit more splashy.
Right now I have Orlando as the heavy favorite to be Texas DC. The most important hire a HC will make is the coordinator on the opposites side of his specialty. With Orlando, Herman has familiarity and a guy he's won some big games with. As I've written, Orlando is basically on the Aranda path, he's just much cheaper. Had Orlando and Aranda reversed their sequencing at Utah State, it's very likely Orlando is the stud we're discussing at LSU. Orlando would also be linebackers coach.
Aranda is going to get in the neighborhood of $2 million and he's already on track to get a HC gig in the next year or two (or sooner). LSU can afford this expensive coordinator salary because its paying Orgeron in hand crafted alligator boots. This also affects the OC hire, but only slightly.
LSU wants a big name OC and the name circulating is Lane Kiffin. Lane and Orgeron are boys and the thinking is Kiffin is burned out on working for Saban. The offense he's run at Bama fits the profile of what he could do at LSU so it would be a great hire. If they miss out here I've heard Applewhite's name mentioned, though I'm still betting heavily he ends up in Austin. I've had many fans tell me he wouldn't be allowed back because of the Kearney situation but I don't believe that's accurate.
So, I'm still predicting Warehime, Orlando, and Applewhite. Needs more splash!!! Meh, these are good coaches. Long ago I lamented Herman's original staff at Houston was orders of magnitude better than Strong's at Texas, relative to school.
Influential boosters at Houston also believe Oscar Giles will return to Texas. When people state this is the return of the Mack, this is sort of what they meant with the return of some native sons. Giles got amazing production out of his defensive ends while at Texas, but that was often attributed to talented players he wasn't even the lead recruiter on. Another question I have is how good is he coaching defensive tackles. When he was at Texas he was d-ends coach solely. I wouldn't be down on the hire by any means, just offering some thoughts.
Justin's been hearing Tim Brewster will likely join the new staff. [Whistles Return of the Mack]. Brewster is one of the best recruiters in the nation and thinks he can land any player no matter the circumstance. Every staff needs a guy like him. His impact would be felt on the recruiting trail immediately with guys like Okudah, Browning, Wilson, and Little (Texas isn't in as good of shape with Wilson as I thought -- more on that tomorrow).
Brewster would fit in nicely at TE's coach, but that spells doom for Jeff Traylor unless he's moved to running backs or receivers and I don't think that's happening. So, sadly, it looks like UT's ace recruiter is going to be moving on. This removes a plus recruiter from the staff and likely puts him at a school where he can hurt Texas. If he's not retained we'll need to watch where he ends up closely, then we'll have to watch Damion Miller and Montrell Estell. It sucks, but it's part and parcel with head coaching changes. There's still a slight chance Traylor will be retained.
While one Texas HS coach may be on his way out, one may be on his way in. Cedar Hill's Joey McGuire has a great relationship with the former UofH staff and it's not hard to see him finding a place somewhere in Austin. McGuire would help with guys like Okudah, Browning, and Hines, and with all three being early enrollees Texas needs to pull out all the stops quickly.
HC: Tom Herman
Predictions:
OC/QB: Major Applewhite
OL: Derek Warehime
TE: Tim Brewster
DC/LB: Todd Orlando
DL: Oscar Giles
What I'm less sure of is WR (Maybe Darrell Wyatt returns?), RB, and DB.
Running back needs to be an ace recruiter (Joey McGuire?). DB coach would ideally be reputable as a coach and recruiter and I'm not sure who Herman/Orlando would target at this point.
Another name to watch for would be Corby Meekins, the former Westfield HC. I've heard his name I'm just not sure where he'd end up. He's likely a back-up plan in case Brewster doesn't work out.
I'm sure we'll start hearing more names in the coming hours and days and hopefully we can update this in the Scoop.
EDIT (12:18pm):
A source close to the new staff tells me that former Texas DE and coach, Oscar Giles will be joining the staff at Texas. Nothing confirmed, but I trust this guy so I'm sharing the news.
Giles = good recruiter, great coach on technique, and maximizes talent well.
As we get more, you'll get more.
Also, we'll have a Mods-Only thread for the press conference today at 5pm. Joe, Will, and Bill will be on the scene for coverage. Just hang tight, it'll be another busy day in Austin and at Inside Texas.
Let's get crazy.
