Tom Herman was fired Monday as Florida Atlantic’s head coach after what proved to be a dreadful stretch where FAU went 6-16 in the coach’s less than two-season stint. The Owls, 2-8 this year, are 0-6 in the AAC and on a five-game losing streak. Their last two defeats, a 49-14 blowout against East Carolina (6-4) and an 18-15 loss to Temple (3-7) both came against teams that had either fired their coach previously (as the Pirates did with Mike Houston) or canned their coach right after (as Temple did with Stan Drayton). Things looked so bad that FAU is going to pay $4 million-plus to get rid of Herman, which means AD Brian White knows he has to get this next hire right.
As much as FAU struggled under Herman, this will still be a fairly attractive Group of 5 job thanks to its desirable location and fertile recruiting base. Just six years ago, Lane Kiffin won 11 games with the Owls. The downside is the staff salary budget is underwhelming even by G5 standards at a little over $1.5 million for on-field coaches.
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FAU fires coach Tom Herman after 5th straight loss
There are some intriguing options with candidates that have much stronger local ties than Herman did. The sense here is this job search will feature a bunch of assistant coaches looking for their first chance to run the show.
Ole Miss offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. is a name to watch. The 31-year-old son of former Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis, who lives a half-hour from Boca Raton, is the play caller at a hot Rebels program and runs the nation’s No. 2 offense, putting up 7.58 yards per play. Weis, Kiffin’s old offensive coordinator at FAU, knows this program well. Whether this job makes sense for Weis financially is another matter. He already makes quite a bit more than Herman did with a salary of $1.65 million.
Miami offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson is another hot coordinator who we doubt FAU would make sense for given the Owls’ financial resources. Dawson, a top candidate for the Broyles Award which honors the nation’s top assistant coach, leads the nation’s No. 1 offense.
Shannon Dawson’s OC experience includes stops at West Virginia, Kentucky, Southern Miss, Houston and Miami. (Sam Navarro / Imagn Images)
Georgia Tech offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner might make more sense for the Owls. The 43-year-old helped turn Tech from the ACC’s No. 11 offense to No. 3 last year. In 2022, the year before he was hired in Atlanta, Georgia Tech ranked last in the ACC in red zone offense. His offense is No. 2 in the ACC in red zone TD percentage.
Penn State assistant head coach/co-OC Ja’Juan Seider is a well-regarded coach with deep local ties and we expect him to get some consideration. The 45-year-old Belle Glade, Fla., product was a star quarterback at Florida A&M and is well-connected around South Florida. Players really respond to him. He has also been a key assistant in Happy Valley, at Marshall and at West Virginia.
UCF offensive coordinator Tim Harris Jr. has spent his whole coaching career in the state of Florida. He was a four-time NCAA All-American in track at Miami and then spent five years as a successful high school coach in South Florida at Miami’s Booker T. Washington High before spending seven seasons at FIU. Since then, he’s coached at Miami and UCF, where he has produced the Big 12’s most prolific offense at 6.76 yards per play.
UNLV offensive coordinator Brennan Marion, a former Miami Dolphins wideout who lived in Boynton Beach, not far from the Owls campus, might be an intriguing option. He has proven to be a terrific offensive coordinator in two stops at the FCS level before an excellent two-season run of transforming the Rebels into a winning program. Last year he led the Rebels to No. 6 in the country in third down offense and No. 8 in red zone offense despite his starting QB going down early and having to turn to an unproven freshman in Jayden Maiava, who went on to win Mountain West Freshman of the Year honors. This year, the Rebels, with Maiava having left for USC, are No. 6 in the nation in scoring at 39.9 points per game.
FSU defensive backs coach Pat Surtain could be in play at his alma mater Southern Miss, but he also has strong ties here. He played a decade in the NFL before becoming a top high school coach in South Florida. The 48-year-old spent one season with the Miami Dolphins as an NFL assistant before joining FSU’s staff in 2023.
Georgia assistant head coach Todd Hartley, 39, spent three years coaching in South Florida on the Canes’ staff. He is someone Kirby Smart has leaned on in elevating the program since Hartley’s return to Athens in 2019. We hear Southern Miss also has a lot of interest in Hartley for its head coaching vacancy.
Duke defensive coordinator Jonathan Patke, a Manny Diaz protege who was on the staff at Miami, is a rising star at defensive coordinator. He’s had a strong debut season in Durham and also could be in play here.
One wildcard option is Miami defensive ends coach Jason Taylor. The Pro Football Hall of Famer, who had been a high school assistant for five seasons at powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas, is a legendary figure around South Florida. In 2007, Taylor won the NFL’s prestigious Walter Payton Man of the Year honors and he has been an excellent addition to the Canes staff the past two seasons.
(Top photo of Charlie Weis Jr.: Petre Thomas / Imagn Images)
