Did Texas high school coaches keep Lane Kiffin from getting the Houston job

Published Dec. 14, 2016 8:35 a.m. ET

Aaron Torres

Of all the wild twists and turns on this year's college football coaching carousel, the most fascinating may have come at Houston within the past couple of days. After Tom Herman left to replace Charlie Strong at Texas, reports surfaced Thursday that Lane Kiffin was set to become the Cougars' next head coach. Only to have Houston elevate its own offensive coordinator Major Applewhite for the gig a day later.

So what happened during that timeframe? And was Kiffin ever really considered? The answer is "sort of," according to Houston board of regents chairman and super-booster Tilman Fertitta.

Fertitta actually heard Houston radio host Marc Ryan discussing the hire Friday night, and decided to call into the show to set the record straight -- all while giving some fascinating details into the entire coaching search. You can here the audio here, but as Fertitta explains it, there was one major difference between the two candidates: Applewhite had the support of the Texas high school football coaches. Kiffin did not.

"I think for numerous reasons [why we went with Applewhite instead of Kiffin]," Fertitta said. "Number 1, the Texas high school football coaches bombarded our athletic director. They said, ‘We want our players to play for Major Applewhite.’ Here’s a guy whose been on the big stage, he played quarterback at the University of Texas. He has a great relationship with the high school football coaches in Texas, Lane does not. That was a major ‘X’ against Lane compared to Major. Continuity in the program. The recruits today playing wanted Major Applewhite. They let it be known. It was just one thing after another that it steamrolled to Major."

Fertitta actually mentioned Applewhite's relationship with the Texas high school football coaches two or three times throughout the interview, adding that at a certain point, "it's all about recruiting." He also mentioned continuity a handful of times as well: Had Houston hired Kiffin, it would have been the third different coaching regime for some of the team's older players, who had already transitioned from Tony Levine to Tom Herman. Instead, Applewhite will basically keep things like they were under Herman.

Still, despite hiring Applewhite, Fertitta also admitted that he wasn't expecting to name either Applewhite or Houston defensive coordinator Todd Orlando as the full-time head coach. He initially actually had his eyes on both Kiffin and Les Miles -- and yes, he interviewed both.

"I’ll be 100 percent honest with you: When this started, I thought we had to go out and get a name-brand coach. Because to me it’s all about brands. Nobody understands that better than me. And I wanted the University of Houston to stay relevant. I think Les Miles, he’ll be a fine coach for somebody. And I think the same for Lane Kiffin. I was very impressed. But when I looked at the whole picture in totality, I truly thought in my heart, and so did everyone else on the committee, that Major Applewhite was the right fit."

And then there was this interesting nugget: Remember the reports where Fertitta demanded Houston's next coach agree to a massive buyout, so they couldn't jump ship like Herman did? Well according to Fertitta, while it turned off some candidates, it didn't bother Kiffin one bit. Kiffin even told Fertitta to set up the contract however he liked.

So add it all up, and it leads to one, final, fascinating question. Was Kiffin ever actually offered the job?

"Never," Fertitta said. "He was no closer than anybody else. Those were all put out by his agent, because that’s how they play the game."

And now we know.