Florida State is getting an undeniable bargain with Tom Herman’s contract details released

This summer, former Texas and Houston head coach Tom Herman joined Florida State’s coaching staff as an assistant to Mike Norvell. It’s a return to college football for Herman after he was fired midway through the 2024 season following a 2-8 start in his second year as the head coach at FAU.

For the Seminoles, Herman is also coming as an undeniable bargain. 

Kolby Crawford of Noles247 released the publicly available records of Herman’s contract with Florida State. The former head coach once signed a five-year $25 million deal to leave Houston and become the head coach of the Longhorns and, a few years later, was paid a $15.5 million buyout after he was fired.

Today he's working for $25 an hour. 

Whatever you think the value Herman will provide to Norvell is, that’s a low-risk investment for the Seminoles that is almost all upside. Even as an hourly worker, he’s still the best candidate to become the program’s interim head coach if Norvell is fired before the end of the season. 

Tom Herman's hourly rate isn't the insult you may think

Herman’s contract has made the rounds on social media and produced quite the range of reactions. Some have piled on Florida State for being cheap; others have joked about Herman’s remarkable downfall. 

Ultimately, for a coach like Herman who has made 10s of millions of dollars throughout his coaching career, he’s certainly not taking this job for the money. I have no interest in speculating about his financial situation, but you’d have to assume he’s alright. He’s likely interested in getting his foot back in the door as an assistant coach at just 51 years old and extending his career. 

Taking a step back to an analyst role like this is probably his only route, and it’s a low-pressure one for him. He’s not calling plays or shouldering the blame for key decisions. He’s there to help out Norvell, and maybe, if things take a turn for the worse, he’ll get a shot as the interim head coach, which is all upside. 

From Florida State’s perspective, it’s not like the negligible savings of paying Herman a modest hourly wage are going to be poured back into the program elsewhere. Power 4 college football programs have enormous operating costs, so almost no matter what, Herman’s contract wasn’t going to factor into the budget meaningfully. 

There’s a good chance that $25 an hour is a standard deal for an assistant in his type of role on the staff. It’s just rare that a former head coach would fill it. Herman can because he’s made his money as a head coach, and now he can apply those experiences to his role and produce outsized value relative to the inexperienced up-and-comers who typically fill out the coaching staff. 

Herman had to find a way back into coaching. FSU already had a full staff. It’s hard to imagine money was ever even discussed between Norvell and Herman because that’s obviously not what this is about. That makes this deal a bargain, almost no matter what Herman does, even if its turned him and the program into a bit of a social media punching bag.

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