Many people don't know much about Houston coach Tony Levine, but at the very least they know he has a sense of humor.
Sunday, Levine issued a press release announcing that starting running back Charles Sims, one of the Cougars most dangerous offensive weapons, was switching to cornerback. To fully grasp the ridiculousness of this move, it's important to note that Sims is a first team All-Conference USA player whose 7.5 yards per carry ranked third nationally. That's not the type of player you spontaneously move to defense.
"I don't want to say it was a surprise to us, because Charles has that mentality to do whatever he can to help our team," Levine said in the release. "People talk a lot about our move to the 4-3 defense, but having an athlete like Charles in our defensive backfield will allow us to get creative, including running a new 3-1-7 scheme that Coach (Jamie) Bryant has been working on."
Of course, this was an April Fools' prank. Levine even did a fake interview to make sure he sold the escapade.
Unsuspecting Houston fans were up in arms not only because of the announcement of moving Sims to defense, but also the crazy idea of a 3-1-7 scheme - three defensive linemen, one linebacker and seven defensive backs. Did Rocky Long design that defense? So Cougars' fans questioned the hiring of Levine, who replaced Kevin Sumlin, and demanded he be immediately fired.
By the end of the night, however, Levine decided to end the charade and tweet what was really going on: "I hope everyone enjoyed the joke earlier today! Charles Sims is not moving to defense…he's moving to Kicker. Have a great April Fools Day!"
Gotta love a coach with a sense of humor.
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H/T to Lost Lettermen
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