Applewhite: ‘Our program is our city’
Major Applewhite and Tom Herman are still close.
They catch up via text messages and joke about the issues both face as young coaches in new environments.
“I know he’s really busy. He knows I’m really busy,” said Applewhite, who took over at the University of Houston after Herman went to Texas.
“If we were working in the same building we would probably send more text messages or funny stories. But there’s things that he’s come across in Austin that he’ll hit me up with, which makes me laugh. And there’s things that I’m experiencing that I know make him laugh.”
Herman was much more of a public salesman than Applewhite, though. And even though the 2017 Cougars are still three weeks away from their season-opener, it’s clear that UH’s new leader is a different man than the old coach who reached 13-1 in 2015 and lifted the Coogs up to No. 6 in the nation a season later. “The old staff was big on social media and big on stuff that would hit headlines,” junior offensive lineman Will Noble said this week. “It goes with coach Applewhite’s personality — it’s just kind of being quiet and putting your face down and going to work. That’s kind of what our program is now.” For all of his selfpromotion, Herman ultimately tied his rise to the Cougars’. When it comes to promoting UH and the players in uniform, Applewhite is more than willing to do the same. “Our program is our city,” he said. Behind a podium, Applewhite goes a little aw-shucks and can’t compete with Herman for daily shock value. Winning will define the Coogs’ new man, though, and he won’t hesitate to sell the same grand vision that Herman helped create. “I will use a microphone from that standpoint,” Applewhite said. “And sell what we have and what we can offer and how we can serve student-athletes in this city.”