Texas hired two new coordinators in Mike Yurcich and Chris Ash, plus new position coaches at linebacker (Coleman Hutzler), cornerback (Jay Valai), defensive tackle (Mark Hagen), tight end/special teams (Jay Boulware), and wide receiver (Andre Coleman).

But to hear the man that triggered all those changes tell it, Texas unofficially added another coach to the staff: Tom Herman, full-time head coach.

Herman took the Texas job in 2017 and became the offensive play-caller not long after (most observers list the 2017 Texas Bowl as the day he took the play sheet from Tim Beck, but good luck getting a hard answer).

And in that time, Herman wasn’t the head coach he should have been because he was consumed with his offensive coordinator duties, and he wasn’t the offensive coordinator he should have been because he was consumed with his head coach duties.

“I wasn’t being the best head coach that I could be. I had not done a great job overseeing the defense, and then at the same time, because there are some things that are non-negotiable that I have to do, I wasn’t being the best offensive coordinator that I could be,” Herman said Thursday in a Facebook chat with Orangebloods. “For that side of the ball, that was the really, really easy move. I did better when I had Major (Applewhite) at Houston, that was such a great relationship. It definitely feels like Mike and I are cut from the same cloth and believe in the same things.

“On defense, the buck stops here. 7-5 in the regular season is not good enough at Texas. I felt like we didn’t do a great job playing to our strengths and developing some of the really young talent that we had.”

After ranking second in the Big 12 in yards per play allowed and third in scoring in the staff’s 2017 debut, Texas slipped to seventh in both categories in 2019. The Longhorns also fell from second to sixth in sacks. Expect to see Joseph Ossai — the team leader with five sacks — dropping back in coverage far less in 2020 than he did in ’19.

“Ultimately it was kind of a trickle down effect. I needed to be a better head coach, which necessitated a play-caller on offense,” Herman said. “And then as a better head coach it will allow me to make sure that some of the mistakes we made defensively won’t happen.

“As the leader of the organization, it’s my job to assess every aspect, from the janitorial staff to the offensive and defensive coordiantor. When I feel like we’re not up to the standard that Texas has, then it’s either my job to educate the current people that are there and give them the tools necessary to do a better job or to make a change. We felt like this was in the best interest of Texas and have never looked back.”

As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.