Houston Football: Top 5 candidates to replace Major Applewhite

1. Dana Holgorsen (HC/West Virginia)

It would be a curious move for Dana Holgorsen to leave a power-five job in the Big 12 at West Virginia to make the move to the group-of-five at Houston, but if he has legitimate interest in the job, he should be at the top of Houston’s list.

Holgorsen has had an ongoing contract dispute with the Mountaineers, and his buyout decreases from $2.5 million down to $1 million at the beginning of January, making his price tag more than reasonable for the Cougars.

Holgorsen spent the majority of his coaching career in the state of Texas before getting the the West Virginia gig, spending two seasons as the offensive coordinator at Houston from 2008-09.

In eight years as West Virginia’s head coach, Holgorsen has gone 61-41, overseeing the transition from the Big East to the Big 12 for the Mountaineers. It’s fair to question whether Holgorsen has reached his ceiling in Morgantown, unable to lead the team to a Big 12 title, and managing just a 15-10 mark over the last two seasons with talented QB Will Grier leading the way.

With Grier and a host of other contributors gone, West Virginia faces a likely rebuilding year in 2019, a task that Holgorsen may not be up to. He has been rumored to be in contention for several other jobs this carousel, with Texas Tech gaining the most traction for his services.

There’s a lot of smoke around the Holgorsen to Houston rumors, all of which could be a clever ploy by his agent to command a hefty raise from West Virginia.

If not, and Houston is able to lure him away from Morgantown, he would be a homerun hire for the Cougars.