Just one year after joining the Big 12 Conference, Houston has a new football coach and is looking for a new athletic director.
Houston announced Thursday the parting of the ways with athletic director Chris Pezman, who had worked for the school for seven years and just months after the Cougars fired head coach Dana Holgorsen.
Although Pezman oversaw the hiring of new head coach Willie Fritz, he will no longer be around to see Fritz perform. And Houston’s senior vice president of administration and finance, Raymond Bartlett, will serve as interim athletic director until a permanent replacement is found.
“Chris Pezman has led our athletic program through a period of incredible change and we are grateful for his leadership over the past six years,” Houston President Renu Khator said in a press release. “He was a critical part of our joining the Big 12 Conference and has championed student-athlete success on the field and in the classroom. This was a difficult but necessary decision as we go through a paradigm shift in college sports. I want to thank Chris for his commitment to UH and our student-athletes. On behalf of the university, I wish Chris and his family the best.”
Pezman played football at Houston from 1990-92 and oversaw Houston’s move from the American Athletic Conference to the Big 12, but the Cougars fell by the wayside with a record of 4-8 (2-7 in Big 12 play) in their first season in 2023.
