Houston extends coach Tom Herman's contract
Tom Herman will stay at Houston and will be rewarded with a raise and contract extension.
The school's governing board voted two weeks ago to negotiate an amendment to Herman's original five-year contract that would raise his annual pay to $3 million. As part of the new arrangement, the compensation pool for Houston’s assistant coaches will be increased by $200,000, Houston athletics spokesman David Bassity told Paste BN Sports.
The Cougars are 11-1 under first-year coach Herman, a former offensive coordinator under Urban Meyer at Ohio State, and will face Temple on Saturday for the American Athletic Conference title.
“My family and I are excited to renew our commitment to the University of Houston Football program," Herman, the AAC coach of the year, said in a statement. "We live in one of the greatest cities, and combined with a Tier One University and with the commitments to our program, it provides a great atmosphere for a championship culture,” said Herman. “We are thrilled, and we are completely focused on tomorrow’s American Championship and representing the City of Houston on the national stage once again.”
Herman's name had come up in connection with a number of open head coaching jobs, including Power Five teams.
The school will honor two provisions from Herman’s original contract that will increase his new annual compensation by $200,000 — making it $3 million per year — if the Cougars defeat Temple in Saturday’s American Athletic Conference championship game, Bassity said.
Herman gets a $100,000 increase if the team wins a conference championship and a $100,000 increase if the team participates in any of the College Football Playoff's "New Year's Six" games.
The AAC, Conference USA, Mountain West, Mid-American or Sun Belt champion that is highest in the final CFP rankings each season automatically gets a spot in either the Cotton, Fiesta, Orange, Peach, Rose or Sugar bowls.
Houston (11-1) and its opponent Saturday, Temple (10-2), are currently the CFP selection committee's two highest-ranked teams from one of the so-called Group of Five conferences. The Cougars are No. 19, the Owls No. 22.
As a result, the winner is nearly certain to be placed in one of the New Year's Six games
“As we’ve said in the past, we want Tom Herman to be the head football coach at the University of Houston well into the future. The Head Football Coach at the University of Houston is a destination position and not a stepping stone, and a successful coach like Coach Herman’s can build and maintain a nationally relevant, championship program in the city of Houston,” said Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Hunter Yurachek. “I personally want to thank President Renu Khator, our Chairman of the Board of Regents Tilman Fertitta and our Board of Regents for their counsel and support throughout this process.”