Applewhite is eager to rebound in Year 2
Coach plans to apply lessons learned from turbulent first season
During a Rockets game in early April, Major Applewhite sat courtside next to celebrities Justin Verlander and supermodel wife Kate Upton, and rapper Travis Scott.
“Just a typical week in the Applewhite family,” he joked.
A few weeks later, Applewhite gave a brief update on the state of the University of Houston football program to a roomful of supporters at the annual Touchdown Club of Houston luncheon.
After a whirlwind 16 months since being promoted — a stretch that includes rebuilding a roster, evacuating a hurricane, the highs of a few big wins (Arizona and South Florida) and agony of close losses (four by a touchdown or less) in a 7-5 season, and the controversial hires of two exBaylor assistants to his coaching staff — Applewhite, 39, admitted to finally settling into his first head-coaching job.
“It’s been a hell of a year,” Applewhite told the TD Club crowd. “It’s been a great year, a learning year. A lot of lessons on and off the field.”
After the Cougars had wrapped up a spring practice in mid-March, Applewhite was talking with a mentor.
“How do you feel?” the mentor asked.
“I feel great. It’s awesome,” Applewhite responded. “Everything is going great.”
What the mentor next told Applewhite still rings true today.
“He told me it’s going to take about 12 to 18 months before it feels like it’s your program,” Applewhite said. “Really, it’s true. You have to go through a full calendar year.”
His own toughest critic
In that year, Applewhite has gone through a self-evaluation with every move he’s made. When is the right time to change quarterbacks? Is this the right call on third down? How much public backlash will there be from adding offensive coordinator Kendal Briles and offensive line coach Randy Clements?
“Look at yourself first as a coach,” Applewhite said. “What could I have done as a coach to change the outcome? There are a lot of things. You have to look in the mirror.”
Added Applewhite: “You’ll find out this about me: I’m pretty much the hardest critic.”
Joking or not, UH president Renu Khator set the bar for high for a program that is annually seeking to contend for a conference title and the Group of Five’s coveted spot in a New Year’s Six bowl.
“The winning is defined at University of Houston as 10 and 2,” Khator told guests at a holiday party just weeks after Applewhite was hired in December 2016. “We’ll fire coaches at 8 and 4.”
By no means, with four years left on his contract, is Applewhite on the hot seat after producing seven wins in his first season. What his first season proved, though, is unlike his years as offensive coordinator, there are CEO-type moves and decisions to make on daily basis while maintaining a “player’s program.”
His first test came last Aug. 25 when UH relocated its football operations to Austin in advance of Hurricane Harvey. At the team hotel, Applewhite took a step back from practices, mindful of players worried about family back home in flood-ravaged Houston and the surrounding suburbs. When it came time to return to campus a week later, the Cougars organized a caravan of trucks to bring supplies and helped distribute to a shelter in northeast Houston.
“You learn in your first year that everything in your football program has to be about your players,” Applewhite said. “Everything in your administration has to be about your players. You learn that, especially when you spend a week in a hotel with 120 players.”
On the field, Applewhite had to face “all the unknowns” with 256 games of experience that was lost to graduation and the NFL draft, among them quarterback Greg Ward Jr. and defensive end Tyus Bowser. The Cougars picked up big road wins against Arizona and South Florida but suffered close losses to Texas Tech, Memphis, Tulane and Fresno State.
“There were so many lessons in that first year,” Applewhite said. “A lot of great successes but also some disappointments. I feel like there were a lot of things we could have done better, and there were some great moments.”
Among some of Applewhite’s biggest decisions to date came in the offseason when he devoted two coaching spots to shore up a struggling secondary with the hiring of cornerbacks coach Paul Williams and safeties coach LaMar Morgan.
Improving offense a priority
And with the Cougars coming off their lowest point production per game (28.2) in 15 years, Applewhite added Briles and Clements, who were part of some of the nation’s top offenses at Baylor.
“One thing Houston has always been able to do is recruit good skilled players and good backs and wide receivers and score points,” Applewhite said. “I wanted to find someone in that mold that creates an explosive offense. Not that 12- and 14-play drives are bad.
“Based on what we can recruit here, I wanted somebody with that type of mentality, who’s aggressive in the throw game. But I also understand you have to be able to run the ball, so I didn’t want to go completely Air Raid and throw it all over the place. I still want to have the ability to run the ball and win games (that way).”
During a spring break trip with family, Applewhite said he began to think about graduating senior Steven Dunbar, who had four position coaches in four years.
In a meeting just before the end of spring practice, Applewhite made sure to let his players know that fact is not lost on him or his staff.
“There’s been a lot of turnover here in the last three to four years,” Applewhite said. “We have to understand that we play for ourselves, we play for our team, we play for our program.”
Applewhite said he’s ready to apply all the lessons learned to Year 2.
“Very optimistic where we are headed,” he said.