The University of Houston football team is heading to the UT campus as the city of Houston braces for the impact of Hurricane Harvey.
According to the Houston Chronicle, the Cougars are heading to Austin and will practice at UT’s practice facility, Frank Denius Fields. UT President Greg Fenves also announced on Twitter that the Longhorns will be hosting the Cougars. Houston athletic director Hunter Yurachek said the Cougars will use Denius Fields “at least through the weekend and possibly into early next week,” according to the Houston Chronicle.
"(On Thursday) as it became apparent that Harvey was going to have a significant impact throughout the weekend and early into next week, we reached out to schools within the state of Texas that we have great relationships with and inquired about the opportunity for our football program to practice and use their facilities as we are relocating outside of Houston," Yurachek said, according to the Houston Chronicle. "I called (UT athletics director) Mike Perrin, and without hesitation Mike said, ‘Absolutely. We’d be glad to help. Let me run it up the chain of command here at Texas. I don’t foresee that being a problem.’ And within 10 minutes he called and said, ‘We’ll make it happen.'"
As a result, Texas head coach Tom Herman will be reunited temporarily with Houston head coach Major Applewhite, who played quarterback at Texas from 1998–2001 and was an offensive coach for the Longhorns from 2008–2013. Applewhite served as offensive coordinator while Herman was the head coach at Houston. After Herman left for Texas at the end of last season, Applewhite was promoted to head coach in December.
Both Houston and Texas are preparing for their season openers next Saturday, Sept. 2. Houston plays at UTSA while Texas hosts Maryland.