Report: FAU expected to fire Tom Herman

FAU will reportedly make a head coaching change during the season.

According to On3’s Pete Nakos, Florida Atlantic will fire Tom Herman. With that, Chad Lunsford, their associate head coach, special teams coordinator and tight ends coach, will take over as interim for the Owls.

“FAU is close to firing head coach Tom Herman, source tells @On3sports,” Nakos tweeted earlier this morning. “Chad Lunsford will be interim head coach for the final two games. @mzenitz first.”

FAU would pay a $4.1 million buyout to acquire Herman.

This comes after Herman recently looked for an offensive coordinator job somewhere in the Power Four per Nakos.

During two seasons in Boca Raton, Herman posted a 6-16 record with a 3-11 mark in the AAC. That includes a current mark of 2-8 this season while going winless through six games, leaving him in last place in conference play in the American.

Herman previously served as head coach for two seasons Houston and four by Texas during the last half decade of the 2020s. He went 54-22 in those other two stints and posted an overall record of 60-38 (.612) in leading those three programs. All of his teams in the Cougars and Longhorns were in the AP Poll at some point and each of them went to a bowl game where they had a postseason record of 5-1. However, that didn’t happen at Florida Atlantic, where they managed just six wins in less than two full years.

Herman also previously served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach State of Ohio, The state of Iowa, RiceAnd The state of Texas from 2005 through 2014. He also spent a season in 2021 as an offensive analyst with the Chicago Bears in the NFL.

With this decision, Herman would now be available to take on another job elsewhere, especially an apparent one as a coordinator. FAU will now also apparently be looking for a new head coach after reports of this layoff set to begin this week.