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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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(Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images) /

5. Seth Littrell (HC/North Texas)

Littrell has been one of the hottest young names on the market during this coaching carousel after resurrecting a dormant program in Denton. North Texas has historically been one of the most downtrodden programs in college football, with Littrell leading them to back-to-back nine win seasons for the first time since the legendary Hayden Fry was roaming the sidelines in the 1970s.

Littrell led North Texas to the C-USA Championship game in 2017, and while he wasn’t able to repeat that feat in 2018, the Mean Green’s profile has been upped exponentially since he took over the job.

Littrell was nearly named the Kansas State head coach, with the Wildcats’ reluctance to allow him to bring in his own staff holding up his hire in Manhattan. Kansas State ultimately hired North Dakota State’s Chris Klieman, leaving Littrell to return to North Texas for at least one more season.

That could be in jeopardy now with the unexpected opening of the Houston job. It isn’t a power-five job like Littrell covets, but it’s much closer, with the AAC being a much stronger conference overall than the C-USA.

Littrell has deep ties to Texas, spending now three seasons as the head coach in Denton, while also spending several previous seasons as an assistant coach under Mike Leach at Texas Tech.

Littrell would also bring offensive coordinator Graham Harrell with him to Houston, and the former Texas Tech quarterback has emerged as one of the most well respected coordinators in college football, and would add to the intrigue of hiring Littrell.

Littrell might not be one of Houston’s top choices, but he would represent a nice consolation prize for the Cougars.

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