Reports: Tom Herman moves closer to staying at Houston

It’s looking more and more likely that Tom Herman will remain the head coach of the Houston Cougars.

Herman has agreed “in principle” to a new contract at Houston, according to multiple reports.

“We’ve agreed in principle is probably the best way to put it,” Herman said at a news conference Monday. “We’re working out the details of the contract.”

Houston two weeks ago offered to more than double Herman’s salary, sending a message to suitors such as South Carolina, Georgia and Missouri that the Cougars were working hard to keep their coach.

“We’re going to make it really hard for him to choose to go to another institution,” Houston athletics director Hunter Yurachek told the Houston Chronicle after the school’s board of regents met earlier this month. “It was important to send statement that UH doesn’t need to be stepping stone for coaches but rather destination. Coach Herman is one of hottest coaches in country. He is a hot commodity. We want him to be our hot commodity.”

Herman, who is 11-1 and has the Cougars ranked No. 17 in the nation in his first year, makes $1.35 million this year. Houston’s board of regents approved the athletic department’s plan to increase that to at least $3 million, although regents chairman Tillman Fertitta told the Chronicle that number is just a “starting point.”