Just one year into its Big 12 Conference tenure, Houston has a new football coach and is in the market for a new athletic director.
Houston announced it was parting ways with athletic director Chris Pezman on Thursday following seven years with the school and just months after the Cougars fired head coach Dana Holgorsen.
While Pezman oversaw the hire of new head coach Willie Fritz, he won’t be around to see how Fritz does and Houston senior vice president for administration and finance Raymond Bartlett will serve as interim athletic director until a permanent replacement is found.
"Chris Pezman has ushered our athletics program through a period of incredible transformation, and we are grateful for his leadership over the past six years,” Houston president Renu Khator said in a press release. “He has been a pivotal part of our entry into the Big 12 Conference and championed the success of student athletes on the field and in the classroom. This was a difficult but necessary decision as we navigate a paradigm shift in collegiate athletics. I want to thank Chris for his dedication to UH and to our student athletes. On behalf of the University, I wish Chris and his family the very best."
Pezman played football at Houston from 1990 to 1992 and oversaw Houston’s move from the American Athletic Conference to the Big 12, but the Cougars fell flat with a 4-8 record (2-7 in Big 12 play) in their first season in 2023.
