Clemson's Mike Houston closes in on Furman job

The Paladins needed a replacement for Clay Hendrix, and it looks like they found him about 30 miles down the road in Dabo Swinney's building.

Jackson Castellano

@jaxacastellano

Furman closing in on hiring a Clemson volunteer staffer to be its next head coach, @FootballScoop reports:

FootballScoop

@FootballScoop

Former JMU & ECU head coach Mike Houston has been working with Dabo's staff at Clemson the past two seasons. t.co/VaDu5tqF23

FootballScoop's sources say Houston has become the frontrunner, and the talks have gone far enough that he's considered Furman's top target. He's 54 and currently has no title on the Clemson staff beyond volunteer defensive assistant, working off the books in the Tigers' building. For a guy with his résumé that was always going to be a holding pattern, not a retirement.

Within minutes the report was being passed around as a done deal, with the hire framed as Houston WILL be the next head coach in Greenville.

Nick Coppola

@Nick_Coppola__

Football Scoop reporting that Clemson volunteer defensive assistant Mike Houston will become the next head coach at Furman.

FootballScoop

@FootballScoop

Former JMU & ECU head coach Mike Houston has been working with Dabo's staff at Clemson the past two seasons. t.co/VaDu5tqF23

The fit is obvious once you look at the career. Houston coached 2 seasons at The Citadel in 2014-15 and won a Southern Conference title in year 2. He moved on to James Madison, went 37-6 in 3 seasons and won the 2016 FCS national championship. Then came more than 5 seasons at East Carolina, which ended when ECU let him go in October 2024. He knows the SoCon, he knows FCS football at the very top, and he's a North Carolina native with ties all over the Carolinas.

Furman is in the market because Hendrix announced in late October that 2026 would be his last season. He's in his 10th season in charge, sitting at 62-49 overall and 46-28 in the SoCon, with 4 FCS playoff trips, a 2023 quarterfinal run and SoCon titles in 2018 and 2023. Hendrix has been at Furman for 29 years as a player, assistant and head coach. This year has been rough, though: the Paladins were 2-6 and 1-3 in league play with 4 games left when he made the call, on a 5-game losing streak.

There's also a fun bit of symmetry here. If the hire goes through, Houston will have been head coach at 2 schools in 2 different towns called Greenville. ECU is in Greenville, North Carolina, and Furman is in Greenville, South Carolina.

Don't expect an announcement tomorrow. Furman still plays Chattanooga this Saturday and finishes at VMI the week after, and Hendrix deserves his send-off before anyone holds up a new hat. After that, it would be pretty surprising if the coach who won a national title in this division isn't the one running the Paladins in 2027.