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Houston Football: Top 5 candidates to replace Major Applewhite

By John Mitchell

LANDOVER, MD - SEPTEMBER 03: Head coach Dana Holgorsen of the West Virginia Mountaineers watches as his team takes the field before the start of their game against the Virginia Tech Hokies at FedExField on September 3, 2017 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
LANDOVER, MD - SEPTEMBER 03: Head coach Dana Holgorsen of the West Virginia Mountaineers watches as his team takes the field before the start of their game against the Virginia Tech Hokies at FedExField on September 3, 2017 in Landover, Maryland. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
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After a lackluster two-plus seasons at the helm, Houston football elected to fire head coach Major Applewhite following a historically inept bowl performance.

In the introductory press conference to announce Major Applewhite’s hiring at the end of 2016, Houston president Renu Khator joked that Houston fires coaches that go 8-4. After going 7-5 in his first season and 8-5 this season, Houston lived up to their word by firing Applewhite after two mediocre seasons at the helm of the Cougars.

After winning seven of their first eight games, Houston stumbled down the stretch of the regular season by losing three of their final four games to ultimately miss out on the opportunity to face UCF in the AAC Championship Game.

An injury to star QB D’Eriq King along with the drama surrounding star defensive tackle Ed Oliver certainly didn’t help, but a season’s worth of defensive ineptitude was the main impetus behind the Cougars’ late season swoon.

That swoon led to some uncertainty around Applewhite’s future at Houston, but all indications pointed toward him being back in 2019.

And then the Armed Forces Bowl happened, with the Cougars tying an FBS record for worst bowl loss in the history of the sport with a 70-14 dragging by Army.

The embarrassment in Forth Worth led the administration to make the quick move to terminate Applewhite after just two seasons as the head coach.

While not a power-five job, Houston figures to generate a ton of interest with its vacated head coaching position thanks to a fertile recruiting base, and its history of elevating successful coaches on to power-five jobs.

Art Briles turned a successful stint with the Cougars into the Baylor job; Kevin Sumlin won 36 games in four years and spring-boarded to Texas A&M; and most recently, Tom Herman landed the Texas gig after winning 22 games in two seasons with the Cougars.

Houston has invested a lot of money in its football program in hopes of eventually landing in a power-five conference, hoping an invite to the Big 12 is on the horizon; a fact that they will no doubt use to potentially lure some big name coaches to Houston.

Where do the Cougars turn next? Let’s examine the top five candidates to take over the vacated post:

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