Applewhite Not Kiffin in at UH, Likely Means Nothing for UC

Although it was reported that Lane Kiffin was set to take over as the next head coach of the Houston Cougars yesterday, those rumors were unfounded as Houston officially announced that offensive coordinator Major Applewhite will be promoted to head coach to succeed Tom Herman.

Herman, of course, jetted off to take the job at Texas after Charlie Strong was let go, leaving a spot open to coach a team on the rise in the American Athletic Conference. Applewhite gives the program some continuity as he has worked on the staff the past two seasons as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Interestingly enough, Applewhite joined the Houston staff a year after stepping down as offensive coordinator at Texas following the hiring of Strong.

What this means for Cincinnati remains about the same as when it looked like Kiffin was going to be hired: very little. It does close the book on a big job opening, meaning UC becomes that much more appealing to any other candidates out there but with Strong apparently visiting USF and a report surfacing that UC is in negotiations with Ohio State’s co-defensive coordinator Luke Fickell, it may not matter after all.