ANNAPOLIS, MD - OCTOBER 08: Head coach Tom Herman of the Houston Cougars looks on during a football game against the Navy Midshipmen at Navy-Marines Memorial Stadium on October 8, 2016 in Annapolis, Maryland. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)

Houston (CBS HOUSTON) – The University of Houston is having to deflect all sorts of rumors and speculation about their head football coach this season. Tom Herman is one of, if not the top name on future coaches for some big name programs in college football. It is no longer just the NCAA programs interested in the first time head coach after what he’s done with the UH program, but the NFL is interested as well.

Albert Breer, of Monday Morning Quarterback, told Mike Meltser and Seth Payne on Mad Radio on SportsRadio 610 on Tuesday that Herman had garnered interest last offseason from multiple NFL teams as a potential candidate for openings at the head coaching position.

“The NFL is intrigued by him,” Breer told Mike & Seth. “Because of his acumen as a program builder, because of his intelligence, because of his mind for offense. He was on the preliminary list of two NFL teams last year.”

The teams that were looking for a new head coach after the 2015 season were the Tennessee Titans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, New York Giants, Cleveland Browns, and Miami Dolphins. Breer said one of the two teams in the coaching search almost picked up the phone to call the UH Coach.

“One (team) wanted to bring him in for an interview,” Breer continued. “And if they hadn’t struck on another coach quickly, might have moved him.”

Looking at all the jobs that were filled in the NFL in the offseason, Meltser and Payne deduced that the two teams that were most likely interested in Herman were the Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns, based on both their current positions and who they landed and when. The Browns hired Hue Jackson on January 13th and the Dolphins tapped Adam Gase to take over on January 9th.

Herman’s name has just seen more and more action in the college ranks as the season progressed with LSU firing Les Miles and Charlie Strong on the hot seat in Austin at Texas and Clay Helton possibly getting the boot after just one season at USC near where Herman grew up and went to school. The Cougars losing on Saturday to Navy in Annapolis didn’t quiet the talk from pundits and fans around the country on Herman possibly leaving UH.

Breer believes that Herman will stay in the Lone Star State.

“I think he’ll be the coach at Texas in November. That’s just my opinion, not based on anything anyone has told me,” Breer said.

That assumption is based on Charlie Strong being fired before the end of the season after losing the Red River Rivalry Saturday against Oklahoma 45-40 the Longhorns are 2-3 with three straight losses on the year. Strong is 13-17 at Texas since becoming the head coach in 2014.