It appears that Lane Kiffin's potential to use the Houston job to bounce to another school became a major factor for the Cougars and their coaching search.
On Friday, Houston announced that they had promoted offensive coordinator Major Applewhite to be their new head coach. It will be Applewhite's first head coaching job of his career.
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
#htowntakeover #MajorKeyAlert pic.twitter.com/RA7FxYcUi3
— Hunter Yurachek (@HunterYurachek) December 9, 2016
Applewhite is certainly qualified, as he has been an offensive coordinator for Rice, Alabama, and Texas during his coaching career. Applewhite joined former head coach Tom Herman as Houston's offensive coordinator last year, and it now appears that Houston is hoping that Applewhite will keep the program on the same trajectory that Herman had it.
It is a surprise that Kiffin was spurned by Houston, as he had been the frontrunner for the job for weeks. However, it now looks like he will be the top guy for the LSU offensive coordinator job, where he would reunite with his friend Ed Orgeron.
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