HOUSTON – University of Houston Vice President for Athletics Chris Pezman announced Sunday Houston head coach Major Applewhite has been provided notice of his release today. A national search for Houston's 15th head coach has commenced.

"We'd like to thank Coach Applewhite and his family for their commitment to the success of the Houston Football program over the last four seasons including the last two as our head coach," said Pezman. "After a thorough evaluation of our Football program, it is my assessment our future opportunities for success are better addressed by making this very difficult decision now.

"While the immediate future may be challenging, our future at UH is very bright. We've made many sizable improvements over the past five years, and I look forward to enhancing our future success through the hiring of our next head coach. At this time we have already begun the search process for our next head coach and will not comment further until the search is concluded."

In two seasons as Houston's head coach, Applewhite compiled a 15-11 record including a 10-6 record in American Athletic Conference action.