Cuts » in the midst of a season-long seven-game road trip. They wont ret

AUSTIN, Texas -- Tom Herman smiled, raised his right hand for the Hookem Horns sign and said all the right things Sunday to fire up the fan base as the new Texas coach.All of that was to be expected. Now comes the hard parts: winning, competing for a Big 12 title and navigating the treacherous landscape both on and off the field of Longhorns football.Herman landed on the Texas campus Sunday to turn around a program worn down by three consecutive losing seasons under Charlie Strong. In Herman, Texas President Greg Fenves and athletic director Mike Perrin hired arguably the hottest young coach in college football away from Houston.We will win championships, at Texas, Herman said, sounding the key note his new fans want to hear.Herman lifted Houston with winning and public persona that pledged an H-town takeover. He now inherits a Texas program laboring to return to the national elite. And hell have to sooth some hurt feelings among the talented but young players who had pleaded a week earlier for Strong to stay. Among them was junior running back DOnta Foreman, who rushed for 2,028 yards and is considering turning pro.Some of that started when Herman met with his new players Sunday afternoon. Herman said he knows many of the Texas players are close to Strong, but added the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again.There will be change, Herman said.Herman will enjoy a whirlwind of early support that Strong never really got. Herman was hired so quickly after Strong was fired -- within hours -- that it demonstrated how unified school administrators and influential donors were in a desperate rush to snatch him up before anyone else did.Fenves and Perrin acknowledged they met Herman on Friday night after Texas lost to TCU and had an agreement in place before Strong was told hed been fired. Three years ago, it took Texas about three weeks and flirtations with several other coaches, before Strong was hired.And Strong had barely arrived on campus when billionaire businessman Red McCombs, one of Texas most prominent donors, called hiring Strong a kick in the face, a comment that set the tone for three tumultuous years for a divided fan base.All of that came under different campus leadership than Herman has now. Fenves and Perrin have been in their jobs less than two years.What is important is that in the end, we got our man, Fenves said.Things look and sound good now, but Herman will want to remember that Texas has a board of regents that hasnt been afraid to meddle in athletics. It was impatient board members and influential donors who worked tried to lure Alabamas Nick Saban while Mack Brown was still the Longhorns coach in 2013.Herman will have to put a staff together, and he deflected questions on whether that will include Houston offensive coordinator Major Applewhite. Applewhite is a former Texas quarterback and assistant coach who was immensely popular with Texas fans. But he also was disciplined by the university in 2009 when as an assistant coach school officials learned hed engaged in inappropriate conduct with a student trainer on a bowl trip.Applewhite, and how the school disciplined him, remains a key element in a long-running gender and race discrimination lawsuit against Texas filed by former womens track coach Bev Kearney, who was forced out in 2013 after having a relationship with one of her athletes in 2002. That case is pending before the state Supreme Court.Herman will enjoy hitting the recruiting trail for the states flagship university and the wealth and prestige that comes with it. And the buzz across Texas fertile recruiting grounds will be focused on him, instead of Big 12 and in-state rivals like Baylor, Texas Tech, TCU and Texas A&M, all of whom had disappointing seasons.Texas is known a place where the pressure to win, be a politician and to be the public face of one of the nations most prominent programs can be crushing. Herman says he ready to handle it all.Pressure comes from being unprepared, Herman said. We are prepared for this job. We are prepared to be successful. Cheap Shoes Uk Online . Now, with Game 6 set for Fenway Park and an 8:07 p.m. ET first pitch, the Detroit Tigers face the unenviable task of having to beat the Boston Red Sox twice, on the road, to advance to the World Series. Cheap Shoes Uk Sale .ca! Kerry, Two nights after the Scott-Eriksson incident in Buffalo, the Bruins returned home to play San Jose. In that game, Zdeno Chara put a check on Tommy Wingels that clearly targeted his head. http://www.cheapukshoes.com/ . Any real chance at payback wont come until the playoff. Still, Pittsburgh knows its taut 3-2 win over the Bruins on Wednesday night is a pretty good place to start laying the groundwork. "They are a very good defensive team," Penguins forward Brandon Sutter said. Cheap Shoes Uk . -- Vincent Lecavalier got everything but the desired result in his return to Tampa Bay. Cheap Shoes Uk Wholesale . - Blake Griffin had 30 points and 12 rebounds, J. AUBURN, Ala. -- Mustapha Heron scored 22 points and grabbed six rebounds, LaRon Smith added 15 points and five rebounds, and Auburn powered past South Carolina-Upstate 90-83 on Tuesday night.The Tigers shot 45 percent from the field compared with SC Upstates 42 percent, but Auburn connected on just 22 percent of its 32 shots from beyond the arc. Auburn never trailed, but the Tigers made it interesting before pulling out their fifth win of the year.Were not playing as well as what we should be playing at this point, said Auburn coach Bruce Pearl. ... I just dont think we had the effort and the energy and the tenacity to finish plays. And thats why they came back. I mean we scored 48 points in the second half, against a team we were obviously physically superior to, but we did not play with effort and energy on the defensive end.The Tigers (5-1) led early and weathered a Spartan run before halftime to bounce back following their first loss last Wednesday to No. 17 Purdue.Heron, a freshman, continued his streak of reaching double digits in each game hes played in his college career. He had 12 points at halftime to help Auburn stave off the Spartans, who used a 13-0 run to get within five points before the Tigers pulled away for a 42-32 halftime lead.The Spartans (3-4) trailed by as many as 18, but pulled to within five points a few times down the stretch. They utilized the size of 7-foot center Michael Buchanan to their advantage. Buchanan poured in 20 points against the smaller Auburn front line -- Smith and Horace Spencer, both 6-foot-8, the tallest players Auburns roster.SC Upstate outrebounded the Tigers 52-41, but had just 122 second-chance points compared with Auburns 19.ddddddddddddWe have kids with character that keep fighting, said USC Upstate coach Eddie Payne. We got a few stops. We had a 10-0 run at one point where we really got out in transition and spaced the floor well, and that happened on I think two separate occasions . from our perspective, we have to play like that on a consistent basis.Auburn forced 15 turnovers, which led to 21 points.Mike Cunningham scored 20 for SC Upstate and Ramel Thompkins added 13 points and eight rebounds.BIG PICTURESouth Carolina Upstate: The Spartans fall below .500, but are in the midst of a season-long seven-game road trip. They wont return home until Dec. 10, when they play host to Virginia-Wise.Auburn: The Tigers pick up a win in their only home game in nearly a month, and bounce back following their first loss, a 25-point drubbing in the Cancun Challenge championship.HOT START FOR HERONHeron came into Tuesdays game averaging 14.6 points per game. He easily topped that with his 23 points against the Spartans, and he just missed tying his career high of 24, which came against Eastern Kentucky.HE SAID ITI think that we see the potential. But Ive always heard, `Potential is the kiss of death. So weve just got to do (it). We know our best basketball is ahead of us. -- Auburn guard Mustapha Heron on his teams potential.UP NEXTUSC Upstate: The Spartans visit Campbell University on Dec. 2 in the Holy City Hoops Classic.Auburn: Heads up north to Birmingham on Dec. 3 to take on UAB. ' ' '