Tom Herman will hire Houston coaches to Longhorns staff

Sports Illustrated has learned that Tom Herman will bring many of his assistant coaches from the University of Houston with him to Austin.

Tom Herman’s coaching staff at the University of Texas is taking shape. According to sources, Herman is bringing Houston assistant coaches Oscar Giles (defensive line), Craig Naivar (co-defensive coordinator/safeties), Jason Washington (corners/special teams), Corby Meekins (tight ends/fullbacks) and Derek Warehime (offensive line) with him to Austin. 

The coordinator positions aren’t set yet and won't be expected to for a while. Sources said Herman is waiting on Houston to hire a head coach before engaging with interim Houston coach Todd Orlando (defensive coordinator) and Cougar offensive coordinator Major Applewhite. Both are considered prime candidates for the Houston head coaching job. 

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Sources also said that Herman’s support staff is taking shape. The two linchpins of Herman’s off-field staff Houston – strength coach Yancy McKnight and director of football operations Fernando Lovo – will be joining him there. Both were among his original staff hires at Houston. Director of Player Personnel Derek Chang, who worked for a year at Houston, will also make the move to Austin. 

The rest of Herman’s staff will fill out over the upcoming days and weeks. Houston receivers coach Darrell Wyatt, running backs coach Kenith Pope and other support staff remain a possibility but couldn’t be confirmed.  

While at Houston, Herman built the program as a scaled down version of Ohio State. The model is expected to be re-created on a larger scale at Texas. A key tenant of Herman’s Houston staff was experience recruiting the state of Texas. The five coaches Sports Illustrated has confirmed are going with him all have extensive experience in the state.