Houston names Major Applewhite its new head coach

Houston has promoted from within to fill its head-coaching vacancy.

The school announced Friday morning it has promoted offensive coordinator Major Applewhite to head coach. The school had reportedly narrowed its choices down to Applewhite, defensive coordinator Todd Orlando and Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin before announcing the move.

Orlando had been UH’s interim head coach since Tom Herman left the Cougars to take the Texas job. Now, the school said in a release, Applewhite’s promotion is effective immediately and he will serve as head coach when the Cougars take on San Diego State in the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 17. Orlando will continue as the team’s defensive coordinator.

“When we set out on our search for the new leader of our football program, we wanted a coach with great integrity who believed in our mission and truly believed in our student-athlete experience,” said UH athletic director Hunter Yurachek. “We had our sights set on a focused competitor who has demonstrated success and possesses a deep connection to college and high school football in the great state of Texas. As this process was completed, it was clearly evident the only individual to offer our position to was Major Applewhite and he was indeed the right man to lead our program.”

Applewhite, a former Texas quarterback, was UH’s offensive coordinator the past two seasons. Before that, he served as an assistant at Texas, Alabama, Rice and Syracuse. He was on Mack Brown’s staff at his alma mater from 2008-2013.

“My family and I are excited and honored to have the opportunity to lead such a tradition rich program and continue our lives in one of the greatest cities is the nation, a city we love,” said Applewhite. “The student-athletes truly are the backbone of every great program and as they’ve demonstrated over the past few years, we have an exceptional group of young men in our program, and we’ll continue to add men with great character and a competitive drive in our recruiting. Living in the best state for high school football is a true blessing and advantage for our program and I cannot be more thankful for the support of our outstanding high school coaches from throughout the state.”

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With Applewhite as Herman’s offensive coordinator, UH has won 22 games over the past two seasons. The Cougars’ offense has put up at least 500 yards in 11 games and 600-plus yards in four games over the past two seasons. Applewhite played at Texas from 1998-2001 and was an All-Big-12 selection in 1999.

Houston choosing Applewhite creates a bit of a ripple effect around college football. In addition to Houston, Kiffin has been connected to openings at South Florida (head coach) and LSU (offensive coordinator). All the while, Kiffin is preparing with Alabama for its College Football Playoff matchup with Washington.

In addition to Kiffin, ex-Texas head coach Charlie Strong is another reported candidate for the USF job. Strong has also reportedly been offered the defensive coordinator spot at Oregon under Willie Taggart, who just left USF for Eugene.

On top of all that, UH choosing Applewhite could pave the way for Orlando to join Herman’s staff at Texas.

For more Houston news, visit CougarsDen.com.

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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!

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