Tom Herman ready to get going at University of Houston

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Tom Herman may be a new coach, but he is a coach who comes with quite the resume -- a recent national championship, several bowl victories and a winning culture. That culture starts with his players, and he knows, they are now in his backyard.

"If I could, I'd sign them all from the greater Houston area to be honest with you," said Herman. "I think we signed a bunch from our class this year. I told our guys I want to sign double that next year. To me, this is the greatest high school football city in America."

Herman is establishing his style early. Last week, we learned that he chained the locker room doors, so the players could not get in due to minor infractions. He wanted to set a tone.

"It is a privilege to play for the University of Houston, and that they needed to earn that privilege back. They did a great job and responded," said Herman "They understand. I told our football operations director, don't throw those chains away."

Herman is known as a wizard with quarterbacks. Last year, he went through three different quarterbacks on his way to the national championship. Again, that goes back to culture, praising what Ohio State Urban Meyer established.

One of the hardest things for a new regime to do is to hold on to the committed recruits. Herman was able to do much of that because of his reputation, and his resume. He was able to lean on the national championship as well.

"Recruiting is about relationships, so that was really hard to establish relationships in a short amount of time. Most programs especially new regimes. It's all theory," said Herman. "We say we are going to do this we say we are going to do that, but they haven't done it yet. I think it is neat that we can say, our theory is testimony. I've been to the mountain top."