On a late-night food stop in Austin earlier this summer, Tom Herman and Corby Meekins were walking back to their table. As they passed the server's stand, one of the restaurant's workers yelled: "Major (expletive) Applewhite is at my table!"

"Did we just hear that?" Herman told Meekins. "We're just a couple of chumps in this town with that guy."

Applewhite can laugh at the good-natured ribbing. After a one-year sabbatical, he's back in college football, having resurfaced as the offensive coordinator on Herman's staff at the University of Houston.

Applewhite has gone from the freckled-face, record-setting quarterback for the Longhorns to the youngest offensive coordinator in the nation to one of the fastest-rising assistants in the business and back to the Longhorns, where he admits "it felt like home" after 12 years as a player and coach.

That long tie, however, was cut when he was not asked to be a part of new Texas coach Charlie Strong's staff after the 2013 season.

"In the coaching profession, it's hard to stay at one place very long," Applewhite, 37, said during a recent interview. "When you have a long run somewhere, it's great for your family. It's great for stability, but the reality of our profession is that's very rare."

While he missed coaching, Applewhite said he did not miss the stress or having every detail of each day mapped out.

"It wasn't depressing to where you are sobbing," Applewhite said of his year out of football. "I just felt like I should be somewhere. Aren't you supposed to be somewhere? I should be up at 5:30 a.m."

Applewhite did not completely remove himself from the game. He spent time visiting spring practices at Alabama, Clemson, Georgia and Texas State in 2014.

In July, Applewhite was on a family trip to Florida. Football season was around the corner, and he began to get restless.

"I was just bored," he said. "I didn't know how I was going to get all the way to September."

Hello, Columbus

So he picked up the phone and called Herman, who was just beginning his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Texas in 1999 when Applewhite was in the midst of a storied career as Longhorns quarterback. Applewhite asked Herman, the offensive coordinator at Ohio State, if head coach Urban Meyer would mind if he came to watch a handful of preseason practices in Columbus. That same day, Herman called to say it was OK and invited Applewhite to stay at his house with his family.

"It was a good time for me to get away and immerse myself in football," Applewhite said.

Applewhite then returned to Austin and for the next few months spent time with his wife Julie and 6-year-old daughter Lila.

"That year away from football gave me a chance to devote all of my time to my wife and daughter and really do what a lot of football coaches wish they could do," Applewhite said.

He drove his daughter to school each day. He read to her kindergarten class. He went on a field trip to a farm in Manor. He watched her at dance and gymnastics classes and saw her play soccer. The family took a trip to Disney World.

Sitting on the sideline at a soccer game, Applewhite looked around at the other dads.

"I realized, A) you haven't been there, but B) you're getting ready to not be there again in the next year," he said. "You have to take every bit of it you can."

For the next five months, Applewhite kept up with college football, even attending a few Texas games. When Herman was hiredat Houston in mid-December, Applewhite began to wonder what it would be like to work with his old friend.

"When this job opened up and coach Herman's name was a part of it, I said, 'I'm all in,' " Applewhite said. "Whatever Tom wants me to do, I'll do it. I'm all in. This is his shot. It's extra incentive to do a good job for somebody you know."

The move to Houston means Applewhite's coaching career has come full circle. After one season at Syracuse, Applewhite got his big break in 2006 when, at age 28, he joined Todd Graham's staff at Rice and became the youngest offensive coordinator in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

Along his coaching journey, Applewhite has seen just about everything.

Stark contrasts

At Rice, he learned to make do with the resources available. Applewhite said that before the season, the team would knock on doors around campus trying to sell season tickets. That year, the Owls set a school record for points and played in a bowl for the first time in 45 years.

"From Todd, I learned that an abundance of resilience and determination can overcome a lack of resources and talent," he said. "Every time you turn around, the word no is said. You turn around and didn't say anything, and somebody told you no."

A few months later, Applewhite was at Alabama with Nick Saban, coaching at a spring game with "93,000 fans in attendance and another 20,000 trying to get in."

"I've been places where you're trying to raise money almost like a bake sale to buy new lockers and paint the walls, and then some places where they are breaking ground on $200 million athletic complexes."

Applewhite said the move to Alabama was "an eye-opening experience."

"As a young guy, you got called up to work with the big boys," he said.

After one season, Applewhite went back to Texas to join Mack Brown's staff. He spent six seasons at UT, the last three as co-offensive coordinator.

Herman said he considered several candidates for the offensive coordinator job at UH. He picked Applewhite because their "ideas and beliefs run parallel." Applewhite signed a two-year deal that pays $301,000 annually, about half of what he made in his final season at Texas.

A difference, Applewhite said, will be serving as an offensive coordinator for a head coach with a recent offensive background. His former bosses, Saban and Syracuse's Greg Robinson, were mostly "hands off" when it came to the offense, Applewhite said.

Will call plays

During the interview process, Herman told Applewhite he wanted an offensive coordinator to call plays, allowing him the room to settle in as a first-time head coach.

"I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel. I'm not interested in putting my signature on (the offense)," Applewhite said. "If you called this play apple for the last six years, I'm not going to try to come in and call it banana just because I want to call it banana."

Applewhite inherits an offense that was inconsistent throughout last season - the Cougars were 64th nationally in passing and 55th in total offense - but is not without talent after going 8-5 under former coach Tony Levine. The Cougars' backfield features 1,000-yard rusher Kenneth Farrow. Greg Ward Jr., a dangerous running threat, returns after taking over the starting quarterback job at midseason. UH must sort through the offensive line and find production from an inexperienced wide receiver corps.

"I've always known this place is a gold mine," Applewhite said.

Farrow said Applewhite can bring some fresh ideas to help ignite the UH offense.

"He has the credentials. He has a proven track record," said Farrow, who was recruited by Applewhite and Texas out of high school. "He brings the things on offense that we've been needing - the mindset, attention to detail, the little things."

Applewhite said the opportunity to get back into college football has given him a "refreshed, new lease on life."

Looking back at his career, whether as a player or coach, Applewhite said he has kept the same approach the whole time.

"A lot of people saw a guy who wasn't as talented as the other guy squeeze the rag and get every drop out of it and compete his ass off and keep his mouth shut," he said. "In the end, it paid off. A lot of times in life, that doesn't work out."

And for those times when somebody might recognize him, Applewhite said he can always count on his family to keep him grounded.

"My wife and daughter do a hell of a job humbling me," he said. "I was fourth place at home, and then our dog died. So now I'm third."