Dec 30, 2018 3 min read

Houston fired coach Major Applewhite on Sunday after two seasons.

The school announced the move a little more than a week after the Cougars were trounced in a 70-14 loss to Army in the Armed Forces Bowl .

Houston (8-5) lost four of its last five games after starting 7-1 and earning a ranking in the AP Top 25 for one week in late October. On Dec. 22, the injury-plagued Cougars suffered their most-lopsided loss in their 27 bowl games, and their biggest loss overall since a 66-10 loss at UCLA during the 1997 regular season.

“After a thorough evaluation of our football program, it is my assessment our future opportunities for success are better addressed by making this very difficult decision now,” Houston athletic director Chris Pezman said in a statement.

Applewhite had been at Houston since January 2015 when he was hired as offensive coordinator under head coach Tom Herman. After Herman left to coach Texas in November 2016, Herman was promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach, where he served for two years.

In Applewhite’s first season, Houston went 7-5, capped by a 33-27 loss to Fresno State in the Hawaii Bowl.

Possible replacements could include West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen, who served as Houston’s offensive coordinator in 2008 and 2009.

“While the immediate future may be challenging, our future at UH is very bright,” Pezman’s statement said. “We’ve made many sizable improvements over the past five years, and I look forward to enhancing our future success through the hiring of our next head coach. At this time, we have already begun the search process for our next head coach and will not comment further until the search is concluded.”

Miami’s Richt retires: Mark Richt stepped down as Miami coach on Sunday, an announcement that caught the school off-guard and comes just days after the end of an underachieving season.

Richt, 58, said he was not forced out, and that the decision to retire was his.

“My love for The U is simply great,” Richt said in a statement. “My true desire is for our football program to return to greatness, and while terribly difficult, I feel that stepping down is in the best interests of the program.”

Richt said he informed Miami athletic director Blake James of his decision a few hours before the school sent out a statement shortly before 1 p.m. announcing the move. The Hurricanes scheduled a news conference for later Sunday to discuss the situation and where the program will go from here.

James told the Associated Press that he was stunned when he got the news Sunday morning.

“I wanted Mark to be our coach,” James said. “Last night, I thought he was our coach.”

Miami struggled to a 7-6 record this season, falling to Wisconsin in the Pinstripe Bowl on Thursday night. The Hurricanes have lost nine of their last 16 games going back to a 10-0 start last season, were horrendous on offense at times in 2018 – totaling just 100 passing yards in their last two games – and saw several recruits who were committed decide to either sign elsewhere or re-open their college decisions.

Richt was 26-13 at Miami, and 171-64 in 18 seasons between Georgia and the Hurricanes.