The Tom Herman Sweepstakes of 2016 are now underway — both officially and unofficially — but the purpose of this point isn’t to focus on Herman himself. Dating back to the 2014 season when he left his post as Ohio State’s offensive coordinator to become Houston’s head coach, Herman is now in his third consecutive season of coaching while his name ping-pongs around the country as a candidate for this job or that job.

Which means we can hold Herman’s attitude toward job rumors as an example so that other coaches might do the same.

“I think he’s very up front with it,” Houston co-defensive coordinator/safeties coach Craig Naivar told ESPN.com. “In other places maybe it’s been quiet or nothing’s ever said about it. If it’s out there in the open and it’s affecting the team, he’s going to address it. Some coaches hope it just goes away. Or maybe the kids won’t see it or maybe they won’t say anything. ……These kids get a hold of everything, social media, so there’s no hiding from it. The good thing about it is, whatever it is, he attacks it head on.”

Herman recognizes that pretending rumors of his future employment aren’t going away if he ignores them, so he acknowledges the rumor, addresses it, and moves on.

Said tight end Tyler McCloskey: “He sat us down and told us he’s not going anywhere, he’s staying here. He loves it here, he loves us. To hear that from the head coach and to hear all the rumors going around, to have him squash that and allowed us to refocus on the task at hand and just play football and not worry about anything outside of our building.”

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