From the Sidelines to Life’s Playbook: Get to know FAU Football Coach Tom Herman

As Tom Herman prepares to bring his winning strategies and passion to the field for Florida Atlantic University, BOCA magazine contributor Paige Kornblue huddleS up with him for an exclusive interview and conversation about his outlook on the season ahead and Herman’s thoughts on leadership, football, fatherhood, fitness and his career thus far

You don’t have to follow football to be inspired by Tom Herman. 

The newly appointed FAU Hagerty Family Head Football Coach is all in and ready for Florida Atlantic University’s new season, new conference and new era. 

“I have fallen in love with this team. They love football. They are my kind of guys,” said Herman.

Courtesy FAU Athletics

Herman is the eighth head coach in the FAU football program’s history. This is his first season at the helm for the Owls but he led the Longhorns at the University of Texas for four seasons and was also head coach at the University of Houston for two seasons. He has also held coaching positions at Ohio State, Iowa State, Rice, Texas State, Sam Houston State and Texas Lutheran. 

“My very first job at Texas Lutheran was for $5,000 a year. I got two meal swipes a day at the cafeteria so I took my two undergraduate degrees and packed up my Honda Civic in Los Angeles and hopped on I-10 and told my mom, ‘I'm gonna go take a Division III job for $5,000 a year,’ and she looked at me like I had horns coming out of my forehead, you know?” Herman explained. 

Following his much more profitable football positions at colleges across the country from 2001 to 2020, Herman served as an offensive analyst for the Chicago Bears in 2021 and a television analyst for CBS Sports in 2022. 

“I missed the players badly. Last August was the first time I had not been a part of a training camp in close to 40 years. Knowing the impact that coaches had on my life growing up… I made it my mission to do the same. Pressing pause for a little bit for those couple of years for the Bears and then on television, I said ‘Okay is this really, really what you want to do for the rest of your life? And obviously the answer is yes. Yes, very much so,” said Herman. 

Courtesy FAU Athletics

The opportunity to coach at FAU was an exciting one for Herman. He says he loved an institution so ready to win championships in a community that would be a perfect fit for his family. Over the past seven months, Herman acquired new coaches, some strong transfers and reset an entire team for American Athletic Conference play. 

The FAU Owls host their season opener Saturday, September 2 versus Monmouth. Herman has two messages for the South Florida community. 

“One is we need you. Everybody wants to win. They have the will to win. It's about the will to do the things necessary to win. How does that apply to the community? We are better when we're supported by our community, when the stands are packed and loud and it’s an intimidating environment for our opponent. I think you get the best version of our players when they know that they're being supported by the community and it's not just family and friends and students in the stands,” said Herman. 

“The second thing is we really believe in the pride of the Tri-County area, that being Dade, Broward and Palm Beach County. We want not just the Boca community here but our surrounding areas too - all of South Florida. We're gonna prove to you that we're a worthy rallying cry to be behind,” added Herman.