This is a fair question. Now am I saying he should be on the hot seat ? It should warm, but under no way am I saying fire etc. I am simply asking a legitimate question. He went 7-6 in year one. That is plenty fair if not good. Things were on the way down, which led to Mack being let go. Charlie was never given a fair chance and never delivered. So for a year one you have to be happy. 10-4 year two. This is more what Texas believes it should be. Like many teams/ schools I believe they can have unrealistic expectations. I just recently watched 2 coaches, that while I believe should have been let go, were let go before season 2 was even up. I personally believe pretty much no matter what if you are going to hire a guy to coach you owe him at min. 3 full seasons. Tom you could make the argument was ahead of schedule with 10 wins last year and the first time since 2009.

Now lets evaluate this season, and why it should be upsetting.
You are 6-4 with a few games left. This is the third season of starters for Tom Herman recruits, those not good enough to letter in season one are still redshirt sophomores. In a nutshell what I am saying is this is his team that is underachieving. you lose to LSU at home. I can give you that, you played admirably , and despite being at home that is a tough game against a great team. This is not overhyped Alabama, this is a legit 2019 team. You then won over Rice and OSU, which you should have. You lose in a rivalry to OU, OU is better. They like LSU at the time were ranked 6. But OU kind of started a downfall for you. You needed a no time remaining fieldgoal to beat KU.. Read that again and think on it, digest it. You then lose to TCU on the road. A frog team that in an era of everyone makes a bowl game, I can honestly say was worried early on if they could even get 6 wins. Then you win by a FG at home to KSU. Now at the time KSU was ranked 16 but you are Texas and you are at home. OU losse, KU barely won, TCU lose, and KState barely won, and KU was also a home one. Then on the road to an underrated ISU, you lose.
Now in a week you have Baylor who at ranked 13 is underrated. yes they lost a game after being up by 25. You know why ? They are Baylor and the system is skewed towards the Blue Bloods not the Baylor’s of the world. Alabama has played 2 ranked teams this season, has the same record and is ranked 5, and by the way one of those teams was ranked 24. In a nutshell I am making the argument that they are the same. You have to throw blue blood out, you have to throw history out, these stupid f’ing rankings should not be based on anything but this season. I for one do not think they should rank anyone until after week 3. It is garbage. Baylor I suspect beats Texas, I suspect Texas beats Tech and gets to a bowl game at 7-5.

So now to the question at hand you go to a bowl game with 7 wins. You either finish your season in January with an 8-5 record or a 7-6 record. Honestly 8 wins sounds and looks a lot better. But the reality is a bowl game win in a lesser bowl like the Texas bowl is somewhat bogus. That year one 7-6 you won to get that 7th win. I am adamant that know one that is 6-6 deserves a bowl game. I think 7-6 going into a bowl game is not deserving. I was always a proponent of 7-4 in the 11 game era. 6-5 was one game away from being 5-6, I am against 6-6 because
if you play in a bowl game and lose you should not finish the season with a losing record.

So anyhow back to the point at hand, It is realistic you are 7-5 going into the bowl game. . Is this the ROI you were looking for ? You got what was supposed to be the best candidate in the land. I happen to agree with that years candidates he was the best. You have paid him handsomely. You have paid his coaching staff handsomely. You have paid the support staff which is probably the biggest in the land handsomely. What are you getting in return. 7-6-10-4 and year three no better than 8, and likely 7-5 regular season. I mean what the hell ? you are not even in the Top 25 now. A win over Baylor is imperative. It gives you motivation to beat TT which likely will happen , a better game and a win streak to hopefully motivate you to a 9th win in the bowl. You finish the season 9-4 then this article is mute. you finish 8-5 or less this article is dead on balls accurate. Which direction are you going Texas ? Now you are not getting rid of Tom Herman, I realize and support that. You would be hard to do better, I agree with that. But what in the hell direction are you going. Are you going in to the annual Top 10’s or better than you think you belong ? What have you seen to think you are in the right direction ? Was it the combined wins of 5 points over both Kansas schools ? I am not saying you are headed down. I am saying are you getting a return on your investment ? Do you see an upside ? I do not see how you can see an upside other than the old faithful comment of we cannot be worse. I dare say you are in a worse place than going down. A term I heard Charles Barkley coin several years ago, that I think applies. You are potentially a tweener. Now this applies more to the Pro’s than colleges because you constantly have new recruits. You are not good enough to be in the Top 10 consistently, you dip your toe in the rankings now and again, more now than not now, but never a serious dip. 15 a few weeks, loss or two later unranked. But you are Texas , is that your goal ? Will it happen ? You sure would like to think you could get at least close to what your, and most alumni of universities think you should be.

Bottom line is this. You have gone backwards, and this seasons bowl game aside you can only hope that this season was fluke and things will head where you thought they were at the time of the hire and at the end of season two beating Georgia.

So I ask you, Texas , Are you getting a return on your investment ?