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There are a number of big-time college football teams in the great state of Texas. However, when push comes to shove, the majority of fans in the Lone Star State have a love/hate relationship when it comes to two particular football teams.
From 1915 through 2011, the University of Texas and Texas A&M University used to do battle annually on Thanksgiving Day. After nearly a century of playing against each other in the same conference, Texas A&M left for greener pastures in the fall of 2012. The Aggies joined the Southeastern Conference and left their longtime rival Texas Longhorns and the Big 12 Conference behind.
The depth of this rivalry is so intense that even the fight songs for each of these two Texas schools still takes a shot at each other – even though the two universities haven’t played football against each other in nearly a decade!
The “Texas Fight” includes the phrase “It’s goodbye to A&M”. Meanwhile, the Aggies’ mutual dislike for the Longhorns is a part of the “Aggie War Hymn”. The song features a direct shot at their rival’s school name (calling them “Texas University”) as the stadium sways with rows of fans leaning side to side suggesting that it’s time to “saw Varsity’s horns off”, too. Ouch! Sorry about that, Bevo!
You get the picture. These two Texas rivals just don’t like each other.
Texas and Texas A&M are two are the largest public universities in America with well over 50,000 students each.
Their athletics programs are quite well funded, too. One source ranked Texas #1 and Texas A&M #2 in the country with annual sports revenues totaling over $210 million per year apiece.
In 2020, the Texas A&M football team is currently 6-1 and ranked #5 in the country while the University of Texas just lost a tough home game last weekend to Iowa State to drop to 5-3 for the season. Legions of Aggies fans love this year’s success and the Longhorns’ misery. It isn’t sitting well in Austin, Texas, either.
A couple of years ago, the Aggies plunked down a phenomenal $75 million (all guaranteed) to sign former Florida State head football coach Jimbo Fisher to a seven year deal. Fisher’s $7.5 million per year eclipsed even Nick Saban at Alabama at the time. This year, Texas A&M’s lone loss has been to Alabama (of course), but the fifth-rated Aggies remain in the national title discussion with only a few weeks to go in the season.
Though the University of Texas football program hasn’t been a slouch in recent years (going 8-5 last year and 10-4 in 2018), the Longhorns have not been competing for championships in football recently, either. The last time the Horns lost just one game in a season was in 2009 when Coach Mack Brown’s team won the BCS Championship game.
After 16 years (with only one losing season) at the helm in Austin, Mack Brown was fired after posting an 8-5 record in 2013. Charlie Strong fared even worse as Texas lost seven games in each of his three seasons at UT.
Tom Herman became the most recent head football coach at the University of Texas in 2017. His first Longhorns squad posted a 7-6 record in 2017. Since then, his team went 10-4 in 2018, 8-5 in 2019, and is currently 5-3 at this point in 2020.
A former wide receiver himself, Tom Herman entered college coaching and quickly rose through the ranks of college assistants. He ultimately became the offensive coordinator for three seasons under Ohio State Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer. Herman’s prolific offensive schemes helped the Buckeyes outscore the Oregon Ducks in capturing the 2014 national championship.
Herman left to become head football coach at the University of Houston in 2015 and posted records of 13-1 and 9-3 in 2015 and 2016. The Texas Longhorns entered the picture and offered Tom Herman $5 million per season to become the Longhorns head coach beginning in 2017.
Just like during his time at Ohio State, Tom Herman football teams continue to outscore most opponents. Unfortunately, his teams at both Houston and Texas have lagged behind on defensive stats.
Meanwhile, Herman’s former head coach at Ohio State, Urban Meyer, retired from his job with the Buckeyes after the 2018 football season. Though he was only 54 years of age, Meyer cited health concerns as his reason for leaving college football coaching. His seven year record at Ohio State was a gaudy 83-9 with one BCS National Championship under his guidance.
Today, Urban Meyer is still loosely tied to Ohio State (Assistant Athletics Director – Athletics Initiatives and Relations) while moonlighting on Saturday mornings on Fox Sports “Big Noon Kickoff” pre-game college football show. Considering all of the money he made as a head coach, his new “early retirement” gig pays fairly well, too.
Down in Texas, though, Longhorn Nation sees an opportunity. As covered earlier, money is no object if Texas Orange Bank wants to write the biggest check to a college football coach in history to encourage Urban Meyer to end his retirement and move to Austin.
Meyer’s work history is replete with periods of intense job focus and subsequent burnout. It happened at Florida between 2005-2010 (the Tim Tebow years). After he abruptly resigned, he took two years off before resurfacing at Ohio State in 2012.
It’s been two years since Urban Meyer has coached college football. Does his personal fire burn brightly yet again?
How much would it cost to get rid of Tom Herman, though? According to reports, Herman would be owed about $15 million on his contract if he was fired. However, the University of Texas athletics budget is big enough that the school could hire Urban Meyer as its new head football coach and still afford to keep Tom Herman on staff as the nation’s highest paid offensive coordinator.
Don’t laugh!
The wealthy UT bluebloods’ intensity to get the Longhorns football program back into the national championship discussion again is that strong in the Lone Star state. Having to listen to those giddy maroon-clad Texas A&M fans “whooping” it up is just about more than most Longhorn fans can stand.
Is an “Urban” Cowboy coming to Texas soon? If so, he’ll need something bigger than a 10-gallon hat to stash all of the money which could be coming his way!