The funny thing is that everyone thinks the Army game was the "deciding factor". I'm sorry, but I really don't give a crap what happens in any of these exhibition games. They're money grabs and excuses for teams to go bowling together in some two-horse town and get a swag bag. I'd rather UH never play in another non-NY6 bowl game ever again.
I looked at it as more of a final nail in the coffin than a "deciding factor", they were looking to fire him before the bowl game but it's possible that a big win in that bowl game would have made that decision to move on much more difficult to make. Fortunately, the team no showed and sealed Applewhite's fate.
Regardless of his intent, I imagine if he goes 12-0 and is left out of a playoff, it's going to be frustrating and lead him towards leaving eventually. It's not fair, but unless the playoffs expand, it's hard to see anyone successful staying long term.
I get that these guys are competitive by nature. You don't get to the height of your profession without being that way. If you're getting paid, enjoying success, and like where you live/work, how much does an extra post-season game really end up mattering? If you're regularly winning 11-12 games a year and finishing in the top 10, do you really feel like you don't have enough respect at that point? By sheer coincidence UH should eventually land on a coach to whom the answer to that is "no".
It's my belief that they had their doubts about Applewhite long before the bowl game as well. However, I think what really sealed his fate is the coincidence that was WVU and Holgerson's falling out. Had the timing on that happened differently, I don't think even think Major's firing becomes a rumor this year. My theory is that Major's bowl disaster simply lubricated the wheels on the Holgerson train which was already rolling. I think Tilman knew this opportunity was a limited time offer and he had to seize the moment. Of course the stories about UH admin interviewing Kingsbury/Lane Kiffin (again? lol)/ and the Cal DC kind of call that theory into question... but I think our admin isn't dumb enough to put all of their eggs in one basket. If we had fired Major (especially after a bowl W) *AND* whiffed on Holgo we would be the laughing stock of the entire NCAA.
What was with that report Kingsbury had turned down "a lucrative offer"? There's zero chance they offered the job to him. This has been Holgorsen for a week. Even that anonymous b****h from UT/Big 12 ranting through Thamel knew it was Holgorsen. This:
First time UH has hired a coach who had college level head coaching experience in a long time; Applewhite, Hermann, Levine, Sumlin and Briles. I'm thrilled with Gibbs too. This is an upgrade.
Applewhite was supposed to provide good connections with Texas HS coaches and the mythical "continuity." Whatever connections he's got didn't translate on game day, and continuity was probably something he was never going to be able to provide without Herman and Orlando. I think he was a placeholder until someone would shake loose that Tilman and Renu wanted enough to pay big. Army game provided perfect cover. Now, here we are. Liked Dana's offense a lot when he was at UH. I think it was only a season? He was a great fit for Case and clearly a rising star at that time. Hope Dana and D'Eriq can have a taste of that same success. I look forward to seeing what kind of staff he can put together. He's been around enough to know some guys. Gibbs is better than anyone Applewhite could have realistically hired, in any case. Holgorsen's an ambitious guy and I'm not going to place any faith in him sticking around for 10 years. We've done this too many times. But I do think he'll return Houston to a team that's taken seriously while he's here.
They can assign each team a locked in cross division rival. I think the Big 10 did this several years ago when they did the leaders and legends division setup. So you could put OU and OSU for example in a north division and still have Red River shootout each year. I made it work in my NCAA dynasty.
Like I posted at the time. The University of Houston never offered KK the head coaching job to KK. Holgorsen was their #1 target and they got him.
So let's say you have Cinci and Houston join. Permanent crossover games like so? South / North Texas - Kansas? Oklahoma - Oklahoma State TCU - WVU? Baylor - Iowa State? Texas Tech - Kansas State? Houston - Cincinnati The problem with this setup is that Texas and OU will be in the same division and will likely get tired of knocking each other out of the conference title race. Also, the North would basically be dogcrap in football. You could put OU/OSU in a division together, but that would bump one of the great plains schools to the South and would likely piss them off a lot by ruining their regional schedule. Spoiler South / North Texas - Oklahoma Texas Tech - Oklahoma State TCU - WVU? Baylor - Iowa State? Kansas - Kansas State Houston - Cincinnati Like I said, I'm kind of over this drama. I'm quite happy competing for AAC titles and dunking on whatever P5 programs are brave/stupid/unfortunate enough to play us.
I have a hard time understanding why McMurphy would lie about this. But then again, I also have a hard time understanding why UH would offer KK (before Holgo, at least).
McMurphy didn't lie. UH spoke to KK but never offered him a job. Those on the board at UH believe that KK falsely leaked to McMurphy that he was offered the UH job.
Bring back the Southwest Conference. Loved the way UH used to kick UT ass during the days of the SWC.
Yep, which is why i think you put OU and OSU in a north division. You get the possibility of a UT OU title game.
