Ed Oliver's bond with Houston is stronger than ever
— -- HOUSTON -- Hurricane Harvey sent the University of Houston's football team rushing off to Austin for sanctuary under the same roof as the coach who left the program just 10 months earlier.
It could have been -- and maybe even should have been -- an uncomfortable reunion with Tom Herman, the ex who spurned the Cougars for the state's flagship program after two seasons, 22 wins and many promises he wouldn't leave. That potential for discomfort wasn't lost on those who coordinated their plans to seek shelter from the storm, choosing the University of Texas from among at least four other in-state options.
"That was a little bit in the back of my mind," Houston athletic director Hunter Yurachek said. "There were some hurt feelings when Tom left. But I think everyone handled it very well."
At least in their public comments, players and representatives of Houston have attempted to avoid lamenting the loss of Herman since his departure. But one of the few who went off-script was? Ed Oliver, the homegrown star defensive tackle, who tweeted -- and then immediately deleted -- "Why you lie to us, coach?" shortly after word emerged that Herman had accepted the Longhorns job in December. He followed up with a less-than-subliminal shot in March, telling the Houston Chronicle that practices now had "a lot less yelling, and a lot more coaching."
If Oliver took Herman's absence more personally than most, it's because he'll be among those held most responsible for keeping Houston's fans on the bandwagon. Only a 19-year-old sophomore, Oliver is already the anchor of a rebuilding program in a rebuilding city.
His family counts itself among the fortunate ones in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey: Its only real challenge, his mother said, was when the power went out for a couple days, leaving her and their stepfather alone in the house with their 4-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter.
"But they kept checking on me," Dana Baker said of her older sons, Ed and 21-year-old Marcus. "They were never too far from home."
Only minutes away, dozens of residents had their homes and lives ruined by floodwater and wind damage, like tens of thousands of others across the Houston area. The difference between a blessing and bad luck was often only a few blocks.
"It was tough to see my city like that," Oliver told reporters while unloading trucks as part of a collection drive in Houston a couple of weeks ago.
"But we respond. ... I do it for Houston, and I've always done it for Houston."
Houston was gradually springing to life again when Major Applewhite took his seat at a makeshift radio booth at the far end of the Ragin' Cajun, one of the city's most popular and enduring restaurants.
The murky floodwaters that turned the city into a fetid lake were all but gone, dump trucks were clearing away thousands of tons of debris per day and many businesses started welcoming back weary customers who needed everything from bread to beer to retail therapy. Like many businesses, the Ragin' Cajun sought to broadcast its hope -- and reopening -- to the public: "#HoustonStrong" read its billboard for passing motorists.
The "Major Applewhite Radio Show" made its debut at 1 p.m. last Wednesday before about 30 fans. Behind Applewhite and his broadcasting partner was a large screen draped in a red cover bearing the words "H-Town Takeover," the moniker Herman gave for his dramatic makeover of a program that trails far behind the monstrous fan bases of Texas and Texas A&M in its own city.
Drumming up interest in Houston football will be among Applewhite's chief challenges in this, his first head-coaching job. That was something that came easily to Herman, who is as gifted at salesmanship as he is at playcalling. Applewhite will almost certainly never be the coach to don a diamond-studded grille gifted to him by local rappers, as Herman did.
Applewhite's first question from the audience came from longtime superfan and UH alum John Lofaro, known locally as "Johnny Cougar."
"I am here to assure you that, in the very few times, the rare occasions that we might lose a game," he said, "I can assure you that we will not throw debris at you" -- a reference to the reception Texas fans gave Herman following a season-opening loss to Maryland days earlier.
"Appreciate it," Applewhite said, smothering the attempt at a joke.
Lofaro pressed on, following up with a question. "Can Ed Oliver get any better?"
"He can," Applewhite said. "And he better."
In the Cougars' season-opening win at Arizona on Saturday, Oliver responded to Applewhite's challenge with a performance -- 11 tackles, a forced fumble and a blocked field goal -- that left little room for criticism. Oliver's improvement was evident, another confirmation of the hype that has long preceded him.
"That's exactly what I envisioned," Applewhite said of Oliver. "He doesn't need to do anything different."
At Houston, the 6-foot-3 (his listed height, which is probably an inch or two generous), 290-pound Oliver has been everything that he was projected to be -- and then some -- as a five-star recruit at local powerhouse Westfield High School. The only surprise to many is that Oliver is doing it in his hometown at all, given that he could've signed with virtually any major program in the nation. Put another way: Oliver's improbable choice of Houston made him the first recruit of his caliber in the ESPN 300 era to sign with a school outside of a Power 5 conference.
It all makes more sense when you meet his family.
His mother, Dana, raised Ed and his older brother, Marcus, in an idyllic north Houston neighborhood, only blocks away from her mother, sister and aunt -- "we like each other a little bit," she cracked -- and just a few minutes from her alma mater, Westfield High. In their neighborhood of two-story brick homes and soaring pine trees, little Ed was always hot on the heels of his older brother.
"Ed followed Marcus around like a little puppy," Baker said.
"Basically I would feel everything out before he did it," Marcus added
So when Marcus joined the local little league football team at the age of 7, Ed followed along and played on the sidelines and adjacent fields during his brother's practices.
This happened almost every day until Ed was old enough to join the team two years later. And when Marcus aged out of the league, Ed gave up little league football two years early to spend more time with his brother and ride horses on the weekend with his father, Ed Oliver Sr.
"Horses were my first love," Ed said. "I played football because Marcus played football. But as I kept playing, I found love for it."
Once they were at Westfield, Marcus became one of the Houston area's top offensive linemen and Ed's rapid growth turned him into a burgeoning force. In fact, in the spring semester of his ninth-grade year, Westfield's coaches came up with the Ed Oliver rule: Whatever drill they were doing, Ed could play at full speed for the first half and then the offense could run through its playbook with no resistance for the second half.
"I've never coached anyone that was as disruptive as him at that age," said Corby Meekins, then Westfield's head coach and now one of Herman's assistants at Texas. "He was pretty much unblockable."
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