HOUSTON — James Dickey has been hired as Houston's basketball coach, putting him in charge of a program for the first time since he was fired from Texas Tech in 2001.

Dickey replaces Tom Penders, who resigned less than two weeks ago after leading the Cougars to their first NCAA tournament berth since 1992.

Dickey led the Red Raiders to unprecedented success in his tenure there, the height of which came in 1996 when they went 30-2 and reached the NCAA round of 16. But an NCAA investigation soon followed and the team struggled in the wake of scholarship losses.

He was fired after four straight losing seasons and was soon replaced by Bob Knight.

Dickey was as an assistant at Oklahoma State and has been out of coaching the last two seasons.