As the calendar flipped from 2018 to 2019, the coaching carousel continued to spin with the expectation of a highly unusual move.
Even before Major Applewhite‘s dismissal at Houston was made official, reports surfaced that UH would make a run at West Virginia’s Dana Holgorsen. While there’s nothing official at this point, multiple media outlets have reported that UH and Holgorsen are finalizing a deal to make him the Cougars’ next head football coach.
The reported contract, a five-year, $20 million deal, would make Holgorsen, who spent two seasons (2008-09) as the offensive coordinator at UH, the highest-paid head coach of a Group of Five program.
BREAKING: #WVU’s Dana Holgorsen is expected to become the next head coach at #Houston, per sources. UH offered Holgorsen the kind of deal that WVU brass wouldn’t at $20 million over five years. The deal is expected to be wrapped up in the next 36 hours. SB Nation was first on it.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) January 1, 2019
Just completing his eighth season in Morgantown, Holgorsen’s contract had called for a buyout of $2.5 million, although that number dipped to $1 million today. Last month, Holgorsen’s name was prominently connected to the job at Texas Tech that ultimately went to Matt Wells.
Per ESPN.com, the man Wells replaced at Tech, new USC offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury, was considered for the Houston job, as was Cal defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter.
Holgorsen has won either seven or eight games in five of his eight seasons with the Mountaineers, the lone exceptions being 10 wins in 2011 and 2016 as well as a four-win season in 2013. WVU finished off an eight-win 2018 season with a loss to Syracuse in the Camping World Bowl last month.
As for potential replacements in Morgantown, a trio of current FBS head coaches, North Texas’ Seth Littrell, Troy’s Neal Brown and Cincinnati’s Luke Fickell, are already among the rumored replacements for the job.