Buckeyes aide still waiting to tackle new job

DALLAS — Ohio State co-offensive coordinator Tom Herman won’t have to leave Texas after Monday. He will take over as Houston’s coach the following day.

“Everybody’s been great,” Herman said. “I’ve got great bosses in (coach) Urban Meyer and (athletic director) Gene Smith at Ohio State and (AD) Mack Rhoades at Houston. They have bent over backward to allow me the time to do both jobs as well as what I need to without short-changing either of them.”

His first priority is to help lead the fourth-ranked Buckeyes to the national championship when they play No. 2 Oregon at 5:30 p.m. PST Monday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Herman, 39, certainly made the correct career choice when he found himself at a crossroads after working in various capacities at different Southern California TV and radio stations. He went into coaching in 1999 as a graduate assistant at Texas.

“(The media) didn’t get me close enough to the game to where I thought it would,” Herman said. “I felt like while I’m young, let me go do this. If at 28, at 30, if I’m not where I want to be in the coaching gig, then I can always get out.”

Staying with coaching paid off literally and figuratively. Herman, who won the Frank Broyles Award last month as the nation’s top assistant, reportedly will make $1.35 million annually over a five-year contract.

■ MORE COACH-SPEAK — Oregon had no guarantees it would continue winning big when coach Chip Kelly took his high-tempo offense to the Philadelphia Eagles two years ago.

But the Ducks didn’t take a step back under coach Mark Helfrich. In his two years in charge, they went 11-2 in 2013 and 13-1 this season to make the national championship game.

“What’s amazing with Coach Helfrich is that he leaves his ego at the door,” Oregon center Hroniss Grasu said. “Everybody knows what Chip did to this program when he took over, and Coach Helfrich hasn’t changed that much. The only thing that he has changed is that he brought this team so much closer together. He kind of made it like a high school team. With Coach Kelly, it was more about like business and playing football.

“But with Coach Helfrich, he really cares a lot about us as players, as people, and he truly loves us. I am not saying Coach Kelly didn’t, but Coach Helfrich took it to another level.”

Helfrich said he keeps up with Kelly’s NFL career.

“It’s unbelievable that he can’t get in the playoffs at 10-6, but we root like heck for the Philadelphia Eagles,” Helfrich said. “I’m a lifelong Dallas Cowboys fan, and I flipped.”

■ PATTERSON HONORED — Texas Christian coach Gary Patterson received the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award in a ceremony Saturday organized by the Football Writers Association of America.

He is the eighth coach to win Robinson award at least twice. Patterson also was honored in 2009 when TCU won the Mountain West championship.

This season, the Horned Frogs went 11-1 and shared the Big 12 Conference title with Baylor. TCU, which went 4-8 in 2013, was picked to finish seventh by the media this season.

Contact Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2914. Follow him on Twitter: @markanderson65.