LSU AD denies Tom Herman reports

It’s not Tom Herman.

Herman on Friday shot down the reports before his team played at Memphis, which went on to upset the 18th-ranked Cougars 48-44 when Riley Ferguson threw a game-winning 10-yard touchdown pass with 19 seconds left in a wild fourth quarter.

Herman, who coached Houston to national prominence the last two seasons, was announced as the new Texas coach Saturday, replacing Charlie Strong, who was sacked in the morning after three consecutive losing seasons.

A number of other outlets reported much of the same.

LSU’s inability or unwillingness to land Herman may have turned Houston into a rival for Kiffin’s services. Guilbeau added that LSU’s negotiations with Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher ended Wednesday night with Fisher not accepting an offer that would have paid him around $7 million per year.

Orgeron was non-committal about the prospect of luring Kiffin away from the Crimson Tide, but did say the Tigers would go after the “best offensive coordinator in the nation”, words he used to describe Kiffin with in the lead up to the Alabama loss. He led the Tigers to a convincing 54-39 win over at Texas A&M on Thanksgiving.

In a noon press conference, LSU named Ed Orgeron its head coach after a brief interim period following the firing of previous coach Les Miles. “At the end of the day, we can’t go burn LSU down if that doesn’t happen, but we want Coach O. We were playing tonight for Coach O”.

Ensminger was LSU’s former tight ends coach before being promoted to coordinator when Miles and former offensive coordinator Cam Cameron were fired in late September. “I think he’s definitely gone”, a source close to Herman said.

What is true is that Oregeron seemed to help spark the team to playing with a little more emotion and consistency on offense, and even though it’s not the number one thing the AD is probably looking for, there is something to be said for a coach the players love. “I pray that he’s the head coach for LSU”. “He’s a family guy”. “We’re going to do whatever it takes to keep Tom”. “We understand what you gave to us and the accountability that we have to the people of the state of Louisiana, to LSU, and everybody that played here”.

“We were 6-0 and No. 4 in polls at one point”. We’ll see how he proves himself with him being back in the spotlight, but casting doubt based on a coaching record that is mostly made up from events that transpired a decade ago seems unideal.

“Coach O has my vote all the way”. In three seasons as Nick Saban’s offensive coordinator, Kiffin has assembled record-breaking offenses and has built arguably his most impressive attack yet this year centered around dual-threat freshman quarterback Jalen Hurts. The question is what the school’s adminstration plans to do.

A source told ESPN this week that Texas had decided it would fire Strong after the Longhorns lost to the Kansas Jayhawks last Saturday.