Kirk Herbstreit on social media, CFB playoff and new head coaches
New Year, New Coaches
New Allstate promotions aren’t the only thing happening in college football this year. There are also 22 new head coaches at the FBS level, and Herbstreit offered a few thoughts on some of the more prominent names and programs, beginning with Major Applewhite and the Houston Cougars.
“First of all, all of our thoughts and prayers go out to what [Houston] is dealing with right now,” Herbstreit said. “First and foremost our thoughts are with them.
“As far as football is concerned, they lost a great head coach that did a great job of changing the perception and the culture of the Houston Cougars program. They won a lot of games in just a couple of years. The one thing good is that Major Applewhite was right there alongside [Tom Herman].”
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But can a first-year head coach take a Group of Five programs like Houston and keep them relevant?
“He’s got a chance. He does have to find a new quarterback,” Herbstreit said. “Interestingly enough, Kyle Allen – who was at Texas A&M and got into a quarterback controversy and decided to leave – has some experience but he’s very different than what they had in Greg Ward.
“A guy that’s very, very young, never been a head coach, and now he gets his opportunity. It’s virtually impossible to know how Major Applewhite will do until we see him go out and start playing games.”
Applewhite’s predecessor at Houston – Tom Herman – has moved across the state to take over as the Texas Longhorns head coach. He’ll be facing yet another new coach in the annual Red River Showdown with Oklahoma, Lincoln Riley.
Herbstreit thinks that while Herman has a lot of work to do in Texas, bringing the Longhorns back to being able to compete for a Big 12 title and possible playoff berths, he believes Lincoln Riley has everything he needs to keep Oklahoma right in the national mix.
“I think Lincoln Riley is going to hit the ground running. I really think that Bob Stoops intentionally waited to step down until he felt comfortable with handing the reins to somebody he felt like he could trust.” Herbstreit said.
ALSO READ: Why the SEC Will Miss Bob Stoops
And it does seem that Riley has been handed a the keys to a program which is loaded up and ready to make another national title run, with everyone on the coaching staff returning and a Heisman favorite in quarterback Baker Mayfield leading the team on the field.
When asked about the new head coach at another big program – Oregon – Herbstreit said Willie Taggart will have to recruit and recruit well to bring the Ducks back to a place of competitiveness in the Pac-12. Finding defensive players with the athletic ability to play against some of the powerful offenses in the country will have to be one of his first priorities.
“If [Taggart] continues to recruit well, is only a matter of time before Oregon is back competing with Stanford and Washington to try and get to the Pac-12 championship.”