My outside impression:
1. Fertitta didn’t like the hire in the first place and wanted a bigger name.
2. The bowl debacle showed a severe lack of coaching.
3. They already had a handshake agreement with Holgorsen.
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In terms of #1, Tillman is the one who basically hired Applewhite. 2 is correct. Who knows on #3, but I hope you are right.
It was clear Major was in over his head. 0-3 in bowl games, and outscored 137-51. Here is a breakdown on Major's 2 seasons.
https://gocoogs.com/major-applewhites-dismissal/This year he started 7-1 and ended up losing 5 of 6 to end the year, ending with being humiliated, again, in a bowl game. I thought he was 100% coming back until the Army game, even then I still figured he'd be back because of the buyout. Losing Briles hurt too. Major has to be the worst coach ever in hiring assistant coaches. If he was back, he'd be on his 3rd OC and 3rd DC in 3 years. All but Briles getting fired for being absolutely terrible at their job.
Aside from his abysmal record in hiring coaches, he was a zero when it came to energizing the fan base and promoting the program. An absolute vanilla wafer. The antithesis of the previous coach.