Another head coaching job may be open thanks to a terrible bowl game loss
By Andrew Olson
Published:
College football’s coaching carousel has mostly stopped spinning aside from teams making assistant hires. That could be changing.
Houston lost to Army 70-14 Saturday in the Armed Forces Bowl. Houston Chronicle writer Joseph Duarte inquired about the state of the Cougars program after the loss. The statement from university president Renu Khator in response to the inquiry implies Applewhite’s job may not be secure.
“We have had a tough season, for sure, with a lot of injuries. We understand. We will review and evaluate.”
Applewhite, a former offensive coordinator at Alabama under Nick Saban (2007), succeeded Tom Herman after he left Houston to take the Texas job. Herman is not the only coach to use the Houston job as a stepping stone. Kevin Sumlin coached at Houston (2008-11) before landing at Texas A&M.
Applewhite is 15-10 as Houston’s head coach. He led the Cougars to a 7-5 last season and an 8-5 mark in the 2018 campaign. Houston offensive coordinator Kendal Briles resigned after the game and has been named Florida State’s new offensive coordinator.
University of Houston president Renu Khator to the Houston Chronicle on the state of the football program under coach Major Applewhite: “We have had a tough season, for sure, with a lot of injuries. We understand. We will review and evaluate.”
— Joseph Duarte (@Joseph_Duarte) December 23, 2018
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
