Florida State adds former Texas HC Tom Herman to staff

Tom Herman. USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

Florida State adds former Texas HC Tom Herman to staff

By Andrew Kulha | Last updated Jul 13, 2026 5:57 PM ET

Mike Norvell is heading into a "do or die" season with the Florida State Seminoles.

As such, he can use all the help he can get on the coaching front, so he's gone out and added an assistant to his staff with elite experience.

That would be Tom Herman, who will be joining Norvell and the Seminoles.

Herman, 51, is the former head coach of the Houston Cougars, Texas Longhorns and Florida Atlantic Owls.

FAU fired him during his second season with the Owls after starting 0-6 in AAC play and 2-8 overall. In his brief stint with FAU, Herman went 6-16 as the head coach, which included an abysmal 3-13 AAC record.

Nonetheless, he's now back in Florida, but this time, it's in a support role for Norvell and the Seminoles.

NEW: Former Texas, Houston and FAU head coach Tom Herman is set to join Florida State's coaching staff, @PeteNakos and @LaserreMatt report. https://t.co/eAJSep22Dz pic.twitter.com/UPRlkS97cJ
— On3 (@On3) July 13, 2026

Herman, from Cincinnati, Ohio, was seen as one of the up-and-coming coaching prospects from 2012 to 2014 when he was the offensive coordinator and quarterback coach for Urban Meyer with the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Herman called the offense that won the national championship in 2014 while playing two backup quarterbacks (J.T. Barrett and Cardale Jones). He was the Broyles Award winner that season, which is the award given annually to the nation's top assistant coach.

Tom Herman is no longer a rising star in college football coaching

Herman parlayed his stint at Ohio State into the head-coaching job at Houston, which was then in the AAC. In his first season with the Cougars, he went 11-1 and won the American Athletic Conference championship.

After going 22-4 in two seasons at Houston, Herman was selected to replace Charlie Strong at Texas.

Unfortunately for Herman, the success he found at OSU and Houston was hard to find once he took the gig in Austin. He did go 32-18 overall and 4-0 in bowl games, but apart from making the Big 12 championship game in 2018 and winning the Sugar Bowl, big wins evaded him.

He was fired when the Longhorns decided to hire then-Alabama offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian.

Andrew Kulha

Andrew Kulha is probably the only sports writer you know who also doubles as a mortician. Spooky! @KulhaSports

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