Sam Khan, Jr. of the Houston Chronicle is reporting that Houston's Assistant Head Coach, Sam Levine, has been named Interim Head Coach for the Cougars. ESPN's Joe Schad notes that Houston will conduct a "national search" for a replacement for Kevin Sumlin. For now, it appears that Levine will lead UH in the Ticket City Bowl scheduled for January 2, 2012, against the Penn St. Nittany Lions.
Do C-USA fans have any guesses as to potential replacements? Sumlin made about $1 million a year at UH. They have money to get a decent candidate. Kliff Kingsbury, Houston's OC, might get a mention but he only has a few short years under his coaching belt. He would however guarantee that Houston's aerial attack would stay untouched. I can't see a situation where Houston moves away from the Mike Leach/Art Briles/Dana Holgorsen mold on offense.
If I'm Houston, I do everything in my power to go get Gus Malzahn, the OC at Auburn. Would Malzahn, who was passed over by Kansas, take the job so he can finally prove he can be a successful head coach? A salary around $1 million a year isn't SEC money, or even assistant money at some schools, it should be enough to get a guy like Malzahn, who has a proven track record of winning and offensive innovation as a coordinator, but can't seem to get the keys to his own program.
For more on potential candidates, check out this blog post from Sam Khan, Jr.