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Reports: Former Houston coach Major Applewhite returning to Alabama as analyst

Houston head coach Major Applewhite watches as his team warms up before playing Army in the of Armed Forces Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 22, 2018, in Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/Jim Cowsert)
Houston head coach Major Applewhite watches as his team warms up before playing Army in the of Armed Forces Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 22, 2018, in Fort Worth, Texas. (AP Photo/Jim Cowsert)

Major Applewhite is the latest former college football head coach to join Alabama’s staff as an analyst.

According to reports from Al.com and ESPN, the former Houston coach is rejoining Alabama for the 2019 season. Applewhite was fired at the end of the 2018 season from his post at Houston after the Cougars were stomped by Army in the Armed Forces Bowl.

Applewhite served as the offensive coordinator under Alabama coach Nick Saban in 2007. That was Saban’s first season at the school and the team finished 7-6. The Tide beat Colorado in the Independence Bowl.

The former Texas quarterback will notice that things are a lot different at Alabama since then. Saban’s teams have lost 15 games over the last 11 seasons.

Applewhite was Houston’s coach for two seasons. He took over as the Cougars’ coach after Tom Herman left for Texas and compiled a 15-11 record that included a loss in the 2016 Las Vegas Bowl.

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His firing at Houston was a bizarre one. The Cougars finished the season at 8-5 without the services of QB D’Eriq King and star defensive lineman Ed Oliver at the end of the year. King suffered a knee injury in November. But Houston had its sights set on a high-profile coach and ended up replacing Applewhite with West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen.

Applewhite will join former Tennessee coach Butch Jones among the group of analysts at Alabama. Jones was an analyst for the team in 2018 and was seen as a possible assistant coach for the Tide in 2019. But Jones was not promoted to an on-field role and will remain as an analyst. That means Tennessee is still on the hook for a significant portion of Jones’ buyout in 2019.

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Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports.

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