UH football parting ways with head coach Major Applewhite
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The University of Houston announced Sunday that Houston Cougars head coach Major Applewhite will be parting ways with the university.
"We'd like to thank Coach Applewhite and his family for their commitment to the success of the Houston Football program over the last four seasons including the last two as our head coach," said University of Houston Vice President for Athletics Chris Pezman. "After a thorough evaluation of our Football program, it is my assessment our future opportunities for success are better addressed by making this very difficult decision now."
The Coogs finished 8-5 this season after getting embarrassed 70-14 by the Army Black Knights in the Armed Forces Bowl.
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The Cougars lost four out of their last five games and now Applewhite appears to be on the way out.
"While the immediate future may be challenging, our future at UH is very bright. We've made many sizable improvements over the past five years, and I look forward to enhancing our future success through the hiring of our next head coach. At this time we have already begun the search process for our next head coach and will not comment further until the search is concluded."
The results haven't been there under Applewhite. In two seasons, he's just 15-11 as head coach, including 0-3 in bowl games.
RELATED: UH's Ed Oliver and Applewhite 'moving forward' after argument
West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Dana Holgorsen has been mentioned as a candidate if Applewhite is fired, and was also mentioned as a candidate after Tom Herman left Houston for the Texas Longhorns.
But anyone like Holgorsen, who was previously an offensive coordinator at Houston back in 2008, will mean a major upgrade in head coaching salary.
Holgorsen makes $3.7 million per year at West Virginia, while Applewhite makes just $1.5 million per season.
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