Houston Promotes Major Applewhite To Head Coach

The Houston Cougars have promoted offensive coordinator Major Applewhite to head coach, replacing the departed Tom Herman, reports Joseph Duarte of the Houston Chronicle:

BREAKING: University of Houston has hired offensive coordinator Major Applewhite as its next head football coach pic.twitter.com/KQjeClz2Jw

— Joseph Duarte (@Joseph_Duarte) December 9, 2016

Applewhite has been the offensive coordinator at Houston for the last two years, and gets the head job over Alabama offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin and former LSU head coach Les Miles.

Kiffin was rumored to be the favorite for the job, and it was even reported on Thursday that the Cougars had hired him. However, Houston ultimately decided to stay in-house with Applewhite.

Applewhite has helped guide the Cougars to national prominence over the last two seasons, as Houston ranked in the top 20 nationally in offense each year. He will coach Houston at the Las Vegas Bowl against San Diego State on Dec. 17.

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