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Sports

UH announces non-C-USA schedule, new coach

UH to play Oregon, Sam Houston, Mississippi State; coach Art Briles adds secondary coach

Cougar Sports Services

The second week of classes this spring semester has seen two announcements from the Athletic Department regarding next year's football program: it's non-conference schedule and one addition to the coaching staff.

Three non-conference games were announced Monday by Athletics Director Dave Maggard including Oregon, Sam Houston State and Mississippi State. The new addition to Cougar head coach Art Briles' program is Clay Jennings, who comes from Louisiana-Lafayette. Briles also announced in early January that Erik Slaughter, last season's head strength and conditioning coach, will be moved to coach the Cougar linebackers.

"Oregon has had an outstanding football program for a number of years," Maggard said to UHCougars.com. "They will be a very good opponent and a very strong opponent for us to open with in 2005. We look forward to this home-and-home series with the Ducks. We think it adds to our schedule and national appeal."

The first game of the 2005 season against the Ducks is scheduled for Sept. 1 at 8 p.m. in Reliant Stadium and will be televised on ESPN. To complete the home-and-home series, the Cougars will travel to UO in 2007.

The last time the Cougars faced the Ducks was in 1983 where Houston fell to a score of 14-15 in Eugene in front of 26,105. Before the 2004 season, Oregon has had seven consecutive appearances in the postseason; however, their 5-6 record under head coach Mike Bellotti wasn't enough for a bowl berth. UO has also been the winningest team in the Pac-10 prior to 2004.

Following Oregon, the Cougars return to Robertson Stadium to face Sam Houston State University on Sept. 10. The Bearkats will be under new leadership in head coach Todd Whitten, a former Tarleton State University coach. Houston leads the series 3-2 with its last contest against Sam Houston in 1996 where the Cougars defeated the Bearkats 43-25 at Robertson in front of 14,110.

UH leads the series with MSU 7-6 with the Cougars taking the Bulldog field for the first time since 1972 where Houston fell 27-13. However, the Cougars last faced Bulldogs in 2003 at Robertson winning 42-35.

Jennings will be coaching the secondary after a slight shuffle in coaching assignments with defensive coordinator Ron Harris moving to coach the defensive line after Oscar Giles left UH to return to Texas, his alma matter. 

"Clay is a Texas guy who played football (at North Texas) in this state," Briles told UHCougars.com. "He is a passionate person who gets the most out of his student-athletes. I am proud to welcome him into the Cougar family."

While at North Texas, Jennings played defensive line and special teams from 1992-95. He was on the Mean Green's first Division I-A squad in 1995 and a member of the Southland Conference championship squad in 1994. Prior to Louisiana-Lafayette, he coached at Sam Houston, Southern Arkansas, Morningside College and Morehouse College.

"Erik (Slaughter) has done a great job overseeing our strength and conditioning program the last two years," Briles said to UHCougars.com. "He has a lot of coaching experience, and he has been the head coach of three different high schools in the state of Texas."

Indeed, UH is not the only place Briles and the linebackers coach have coached together. Sluaghter began his coaching career under Briles at Stephenville in 1990. 

Prior to his job at UH, Slaughter was the athletics director and head coach at Springtown High School in Texas where his squad took the Class AAAA playoffs in 2002.
 

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