After a 4-8 mark as one of the Big 12's new additions, Houston has decided to part ways with Dana Holgorsen, according to Joseph Duarte of the Houston Chronicle.
The move comes after the Cougars dropped their final three games and five of their last six.
Holgorsen signed a six-year, $26.7 million extension following their 12-2 season in 2021 in a deal that was expected to provide some security as they prepared to leave the AAC for the confines of the Big 12.
He has five years left on that deal.
Back in March Holgo shared an interesting comment with The Athletic where he called his buyout impossible, and that heading into their inaugural season in the Big 12 there's no hot seat in his mind (using far more colorful language.
“We won 20 games in two years,” Holgorsen said. “We won bowl games in back-to-back years. I have five years on my contract with a f—ing impossible buyout. … So there ain’t no f—ing hot seat in my mind. There just ain’t.”
Holgorsen also warned in February that Houston was not equipped to win immediately in the Big 12, even compared to its fellow newcomers. "What we're dealing with now on a day-to-day basis is going to be dead last in the Big 12. That's just facts," he said. "We've got to progress when it comes to that. It takes time, and it also takes money. We're not quite there yet."
As part of his buyout, Holgo will be owed just over $14.8 million paid out over the remainder of the terms of his contract.
According to GoCoogs, that would work out to an average payment of about $303,000 per month - which is a wild figure, but impossible for a place with donors and boosters like Houston seems like a stretch.
But fighting for bowl eligibility in year five of the Holgorsen era isn't what Houston had in mind when they hired him away from West Virginia prior to the 2019 season.
This is the same place that, just hours after hiring Major Applewhite to lead the program in 2016, had board chairman and superdonor Tillman Fertita share that, while they want someone who will stick around, they expect to win 9, 10, or 11 games a year.
"We did get rid of a coach that won eight games three years ago," Fertitta shared at the time. "Don't ever forget that. We expect to win at the University of Houston."
Located in one of the best recruiting areas in college football, and a proud tradition with high expectations now in the Big 12, this job will be attractive to a lot of guys.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.