With UCF bringing in Gus Malzahn as head coach, that makes three coaches in the American Athletic Conference who have taken the step down from the ranks of the Power 5 to the AAC. Sonny Dykes of SMU, like Malzahn, was fired down. Houston, meanwhile, was actually able to steal Dana Holgorsen from West Virginia, in a move that was seen as a coup at the time by the Cougars.
The Houston boosters made Dana Holgorsen a rich man, or at least richer than he was before. They set him up with a five year deal, worth $20 million total, up from the $3.