BEVO BEAT Football Chris Simms: Major Applewhite ‘treated me like crap’ at Texas Posted December 15th, 2016


Houston coach Major Applewhite shouldn’t expect any congratulatory notes from his old Texas teammate Chris Simms.

In a pointed interview on CBS Sports radio, Simms said Applewhite “treated me like crap” during their first few years with the Longhorns. The two were part of a heated quarterback controversy during the Mack Brown era that divided the fan base in 2001.

RELATED COVERAGE: To hear Chris Simms’ full interview with CBS Sports radio, click here.


“He tried to kind of make up at the end, but I couldn’t get (past) the first year and a half or two where he kind of treated me like crap,” Simms said on Thursday. “Of course, everybody on the team was telling me things he was saying behind my back.

“But what made it worse is that Mack Brown made us room together on road games. Yeah, he was trying to prove to the media that we were still friends,” Simms continued.

“From that standpoint, that’s where my experience at Texas was miserable. Everything else was awesome. I mean, c’mon, it’s Texas. The playing atmosphere, the college itself, the city of Austin were truly amazing. But yeah, that was definitely one of the things I had to go through.”

Applewhite played at Texas from 1998-2001, and Simms was one year behind him, finishing his career in 2002.

Simms does believe that Applewhite will do well with the Cougars. Simms noted that Applewhite has been on Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama and served under Tom Herman at Houston.

“Tom Herman is a true, hard-nosed Xs-and-Os football coach,” Simms said. “You don’t get on Urban Meyer’s coaching staff unless you’re that type of guy. So I think Major’s a pretty smart football mind. He knows how college football works and all the intricacies of it, and I do think he’ll be successful there at Houston.”

Contact Brian Davis at 512-445-3957. Email bdavis@statesman.com.

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