Houston Football: Tom Herman signs 5-year deal with interesting buyout

Tom Herman signed his five-year contract extension to remain the head coach of the Houston Cougars.

Tom Herman is officially off the market.

Days after it was reported Herman and Houston had agreed in principle to a new deal to keep him in Houston, the first-year head coach signed a five-year deal that will pay him $2.8 million a year and includes another $200,000 for his staff, according to Thayer Evans of Sports Illustrated.

The most important detail of Herman’s new deal is the buyout and how it’s attached upgrading facilities for the program.

Evans shares details of the buyout and how it can be reduced depending on the progress of a new indoor facility.

“Herman’s original buyout of $2.25 million gets extended a year to Feb. 28, 2019. The buyout is $2.5 million prior to Feb. 28, 2017. However, the $2.5 million buyout gets reduced by 25% if a planned $20 million indoor facility project is not approved by Houston’s board of regents by Sept. 1, 2016. The $2.25 million buyout gets reduced by 50% if construction of the indoor practice facility isn’t at or near completion by Dec. 1, 2017, and reduced by 75% if the facility isn’t at or near completion by Dec. 1, 2018.”

If Houston can’t upgrade their facilities, which in turn attracts recruits, Herman will have wiggle room to leave for a job who is serious about their football program and can invest the resources necessary to compete with the nation’s best programs.

Herman went 11-1 in his first year since leaving the Ohio State Buckeyes and will lead his team into the AAC Championship Game on Saturday against the Temple Owls with a New Year’s Six bowl berth hanging in the balance.

Herman was named the co-coach of the year in the ACC and has the best recruiting class among the Group of Five schools. If Herman stays through the life of this new deal, Houston should have a few ACC championships and major bowl appearances under his watch, but I don’t think he’ll stay five more years at Houston.

He didn’t pursue major jobs at Georgia, South Carolina, Miami or Missouri when he could have been an ideal candidate, but I think Herman has his eyes on the Texas Longhorns job and will be closely monitoring what happens with Charlie Strong in Austin the next couple of seasons.