Tulsa Football: Will Golden Hurricane return to bowl for first time since 2016?

Tulsa football is looking to get back to its winning ways and return to a bowl game for the first time since the 2016 season.

Most coaches are fired after having three straight losing seasons, but Tulsa football saw enough hope, despite the 4-8 record last season, to bring back head coach Phillip Montgomery.

Tulsa is used to having a high-scoring and explosive offense, with Montgomery coming from the Art Briles coaching tree and spending time with him at both Houston and Baylor and they have a lot of experience coming back on that side of the ball.

The Golden Hurricane have not had the same kind of success that they enjoyed in Conference USA since moving to the AAC. Seven of the last nine seasons in C-USA, the Golden Hurricane made a bowl game and enjoyed four double-digit win seasons in the process. Most of that success came under former head coach Todd Graham, who is now at Hawaii and Tulsa has been unable to capture that success again.

There is reason for optimism for the Golden Hurricane in 2020 and that is because they were not quite as bad as their 4-8 record suggests. Tulsa beat UCF, who has dominated the conference in recent years, and had every opportunity to come out on top against SMU and Memphis if not for some kicking mishaps.

Bringing back a 3,000-yard passer, 1,000-yard rusher and 1,000-yard receiver on offense and some very talented defenders should help matters.

All of the pieces are in place for the Golden Hurricane to return to the post season, and if they don’t, it may cost Montgomery his job.