HOUSTON, Texas — Dana Holgorsen is expected to come back to the state of Texas.
The West Virginia coach is reportedly leaving the Mountaineers and taking the head coaching job at Houston. The Cougars job became available when Major Applewhite was fired after losing its bowl game 70-14 to Army.
Holgorsen spent two years as offensive coordinator at Houston in 2008 and 2009, on the staff of head coach Kevin Sumlin. Holgorsen has also been an assistant coach at Texas Tech under Mike Leach and at Oklahoma State under Mike Gundy. He got his first head coaching job at West Virginia in 2011 and has a 61-41 record. That includes a win over Texas in 2018, thanks to a two-point conversion at the end of the game to win by one point.
ESPN reports Holgorsen gets a five-year, $20 million contract with Houston. The timing of the hiring is also important, as Holgorsen's buyout to leave West Virginia dropped from $2.5 million to $1 million on Jan. 1, 2019.
Houston has been a stepping stone for coaches to head to bigger jobs in the Big 12 and SEC in recent years, with Art Briles leaving to go to Baylor, Kevin Sumlin leaving for A&M and Tom Herman leaving for Texas. This time, Houston takes a coach from a Power Five conference.