UH "In Time" Motto now boiling into "It's About Time"
Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle covered the nutshell about as well as I’ve heard it said in his column of this morning, Tuesday, June 15th. – The Big 12 will try to stick together on the heels of Nebraska and Colorado departing for the Big 10 and Pac 10 respectively. UT doesn’t want to spend the rest of their days playing with no sleep on the west coast. A&M doesn’t want to spend the next twenty years looking up at the business side of an Alabama or LSU heel in the SEC. It would be better to silly-putty the hole in the Big 12 and make two new members trade the hog’s portion of TV and bowl game revenue-sharing for status and greater social acceptance as new “partners” in the all central time middle-of-America major collegiate league.
Justice says it’s time for UH and TCU to get these chances – and for UH to step up and show by their actions that they are game-worthy of the opportunity. UH must commit to building those upgrades to the football and basketball facilities that are now on the drawing board and back the effort with some big time cash sale of season tickets in support of each major sport. Coaches Kevin Sumlin and James Dickey will take care of the recruiting and winning side of football and basketball, but UH alumni must step forward right now and put their money and hearts behind ticket sales, donor contributions, and political pressuring on that group in Austin we call the Texas legislature.
Justice also identifies President/Chancellor Renu Khator and her goal of moving UH to first tier status as a national research and educational university, and her awareness of how a first-rate athletic program draws positive attention and other forms of financial support to the attainment of these goals, as one of UH’s major assets in this fight. It also helps to have a young, smart, on-the-make athletic director like Mark Rhoades leading the parade on facilities and business planning.
UH also needs to mend fences politically with UT and restore what used to be good relations with A&M, Texas Tech, and Baylor. The Cougars need the support of their Texas brethren to get the nod over other schools competing for these open slots – and this work, hopefully, is already underway.
For now, this week, today, if possible – UH alums need to be writing and e-mailing legislators to show support for idea of UH moving to the Big 12. A full explanation of the UH pitch and a list of legislator mailing and email addresses s available at ecommunications@uh.edu for your serious use.
I’d like to add one thing as a UH alumnus that Mr. Justice left out as a more disinterested writer on this subject. I’d like to see the City of Houston get behind the UH bid for Big 12 membership. I’d like to see Mayor Annise Parker and the entire membership of City Council draft a plan on how the City will support the UH Big 12 bid with the backing of city funds and vigorous political action.
The same message goes out to Harris County Judge Ed Emmett and the members of Harris County Commissioners Court. The University of Houston is the third largest public university system in the State of Texas. It bears the name of Sam Houston, the greatest hero in our state’s history, and it more than shares the “Houston” identity with thousands of us lifelong Houstonians who got our start in life because it was here for us when we needed it to be.
Our “Houston” deserves the full-bore of our city’s and county’s support on the Big 12 bid. If those same two groups could find the time, money, and energy to build a stadium for TSU and a group of professional soccer promoters, it’s the least the City and County can do for its banner-bearing, major public university.
Even the UT, A&M, and other university Texas population groups of Houstonians will be aided by a stronger UH presence. It’s about time the whole community got behind this movement.
“Houstonians for Houston in the Big 12” sounds pretty good to me.
The Pecan Park Eagle 
June 15, 2010 at 3:05 pm |
The secret is FANNIES in the SEATS. Season Tickets, Boosters, Alumni and Houstonians alike. Now is a good time for The U of H to grab the BRASS RING. As an LSU Alum, I can attest to big crowds, National Championships, and a strong all-around sports conference. As Bill said, this is a win win situation for The U of H and the city of Houston. To steal a phrase, GET ‘ER DONE.
June 15, 2010 at 4:57 pm |
Sadly, I don’t expect TCU or UH to be invited and the ultimate reason is similar. The whole point of conference expansion today is tv markets and tv ratings. In Texas, that means Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. Between Texas and A&M, those markets are covered. Perhaps if this “super-conference” thing becomes imperative and the league needs to get to 16, they will look back on their old SWC neighbors but that’s the only scenario I see by which they would welcome you.
I was a Cougar for one year, so I don’t say that with malice. I say that with a clear eye about how this conference bingo thing works. The SWC died largely because it was so “inbred”. TV execs said “you can get people in Texas to watch, but who else?”
If I were UH, I’d instead try to make the school as attractive to the SEC as possible. Particularly if they can’t get UT or A&M, they may decide UH is their ticket to the Houston TV market.
June 15, 2010 at 6:01 pm |
Dear Bob:
In a perfect world, we Cougars would have been ready for this fight when it came upon us this past week, but that’s not the way things work. We Cougars will fight against the logic of the media moguls, if need be, but we will give it nothing less than our best shot, anyway. Today is the hour of our opportunity – not tomorrow.
In a perfect world, UH would have gone into the new Big 12 with the other Texas state universities several years ago. Baylor got there instead of UH because they better understood and played the importance of Texas politics in these kinds of situations back in the 1990s. Now maybe a few of those same same political folks, or their adversaries, can help us too.
We simply don’t need an excessively logical lukewarm approach here. We need passion, intelligence, and politics, all working hard for us right now. I’m simply hoping it’s our turn to spin the wheel of good fortune and hit a lucky landing spot in the Big 12 with a little help from whomever our friends happen to be.
Regards, Bill
June 21, 2010 at 3:11 pm |
As a Longhorn with strong Houston ties I have to respectfully disagree about UH ever being admitted to the Big 12 or the wisdom of the Big 12 even considering UH for admission. UH probably has zero chance of getting in the Big 12 while DeLoss Dodds is alive. He remembers all too well the way UH screwed over about 10,000 Texas fans in 2001 over those erector set temporary bleachers that were deemed to be unsafe. He’s till PO’d UH wouldn’t move the game to Rice or the Astrodome when that was discovered. UT has not played UH since then and won’t.
UT, A&M, and Tech delegations will keep UH out because they don’t want to split any money with another team, especially UH which brings nothing to the table. OU, OSU, Mizzou, KSU, KU, ISU would outvote UT and A&M anyway. UT and A&M already dominate the Houston TV market.
Finally, bad blood runs deep. UH was its own worst enemy when the Big 12 was formed. Bullock and Junell (House appropriations chair) insisted Tech be allowed to tag along. Bullock and to a lesser extent Richards (no one important paid any attention to her) also wanted Baylor in. It’s my understanding the other soon to be Big 12 members didn’t want Tech or Baylor because of their mediocre academic standing and poor attendance at major sports. They may have preferred UH, however, if you will recall, that was around the time of the arrogant Jenkins teams, word coming out about athletic department funded abortions for player girlfriends under Yeoman, and UH fans getting real obnoxious during blow out wins which were frowned upon before the days of BCS rankings.
Word is the Big 12 is considering adding 6 teams to create a super conference including: Notre Dame, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Iowa, Arkansas, LSU, Louisville, Pitt, West Virginia, Boston College, Rutgers, North Carolina State, Maryland, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Georgia Tech, Miami, Florida State, Clemson, South Carolina, and believe it or not, USC and UCLA. UT wants to make a big play and steal Notre Dame and essentially put together an eastern half of the Big 12 that would be willing to come in with and create a market that would dwarf the SEC in TV sets. The ACC and Big East are vulnerable. Notre Dame may be willing to come along if it can pretty much name the other 5 schools and set up a division that is favorable to them. The odds of this happening are pretty long, granted, but you will see the Big 12 being an aggressor conference. UH’s time has come and gone in the major conference arena.
June 21, 2010 at 4:36 pm |
“UH’s time has come and gone in the major conference arena.”
Wayne! My SABR Friend! I can’t believe you said that!
Unless you think your orange blood affection for UT makes you major league and the red blood allegiance of people like me for UH makes us minor league, I would invite you to free yourself of that petty conclusion. We of UH are not prepared to settle for the second class citizenship that people like DeLoss Dodds wishes for us.
In time, we will be back, my friend. Take it to the bank.
Regards,
Bill McCurdy
UH 1960; Tulane 1964; UT 1975.
June 21, 2010 at 6:18 pm |
I thought I’d get a rise out of you with that entry but it took less time than I expected! It pains me to write it because before I went to Hook ‘Em High I was a big Cougar fan in the 1960’s and I came close several times to going to work for them. Basically I thought UH got screwed in the dissolution of the SWC but I certainly understood the reason(s). I was annoyed that Baylor and Tech got in. The State of Texas needs at least one more Tier I public institution and I have long advocated that UH should be that university. However, the powers that be have chosen instead to funnel incredible amounts of money into the Harvard on the Plains that if directed to UH, would long ago have made UH Tier I. Getting into the Big 12 would be a monumental achievement for UH at this time even though UH is every bit as good as or better than several remaining (and both of the two departing) universities. But as we all learn, life is not fair. It’s a classic example of “if ‘its’ and ‘buts’ were candy and nuts, we’d all have a merry Christmas”.
Eat ’em up, eat ’em up, rah, rah, rah!
Wayne Roberts
BA 1973, MPA 1977, The University
June 21, 2010 at 10:35 pm |
Wayne:
Nobody ever said that life is fair. Those of us who grew up in the East End grew up knowing it. We didn’t have to “learn” it. It came with the territory – as did UH.
We don’t have to control the money river that UT enjoys as the so-called “Harvard of the Plains” to accomplish our aims as a complete Tier One university. All we have to do is be allowed back into the houses where those folks hobnob. We’ve been there before with the SWC and we’ll be there again – whether it’s with the Big 12, the SEC, or some conference yet to form.
The biggest mistake UH made that first time around was to go up to Austin in 1976 and knock off Darrell Royal’s last Horns club by 30-0. Then the Cougar student body compounded the “we-didn’t-come-up-here-to-just-roll-over” offense by unveiling an enormous twenty-yard banner that read: “Houston Is The University of Texas!”
It wasn’t true, of course, but it frosted a number of local mugs. I even recall thinking and commenting at the time that “Uh-Oh! The tea-sips are never going to forget this day! I’ll bet they’re already going after each other with pointed fingers and accusatory words: “Whose idea was it to let these clowns into our circus, anyway?”
Well, UT got a second chance to snuff us in the 1990s when the SWC broke up and they did so – with some help from a few other adoring members of their Harv-Herd court.
As I said before, we’ll be back someday, and again living in a house in your UT neighborhood. Count on it. It probably shouldn’t happen, but as you’ve pointed out so brilliantly already in your sermon to the choir: Life’s not fair.
Wayne, I loved a number of the things you stated and almost seemed to feel about UH getting screwed in the past – and I especially enjoyed that little “Eat ‘em up, eat ‘em up, rah, rah, rah!” you used in conclusion of your second comment on this subject. In fact, it reminded me of that scene from the 1956 version of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” the one in which the woman is telling the visiting doctor about her Uncle Ira, who is busy smoking his pipe and mowing the lawn. “I don’t know what it is, Miles,” she says. “He looks like Uncle Ira! He moves like Uncle Ira! He even remembers like Uncle Ira! The problem is – he’s NOT Uncle Ira!”
Wayne, as for your Cougar impression [ 🙂 ] (There’s no ill will in this comment whatsoever): You look like a Cougar. You move like a Cougar. You even remember some things like a Cougar. – But like Uncle Ira, you’re just not one of us anymore.
We lost you to the Tea-Pods.
Regards,
Bill McCurdy
BS, The University of Houston, 1960
MSW, Tulane, 1964
Dr.PH, UT, 1975
June 22, 2010 at 3:00 pm |
Just a couple of last few points from my end and I’ll drop it until this all flares up again. The UH vice president for fiscal affairs (the guy trying to clean up the pyramid investment scheme that occurred under Phil Hoffman [man, is that a story…never completely unraveled but included a murder and a suicide] gave me styrofoam cup with that 30-0 score on it and it sat on my office bookshelf for years. Also, in my effort to be cute by referring to a “Harvard on the Plains”, I meant Texas Tech, not UT. UT-Austin has not faired well for decades in the state funding game compared to Texas Tech, which is one of the the kings of special items in Texas (the other being Texas A&M International in Laredo). UT gets its rich reputation from the Permanent University Fund, whose direct proceeds it shares with 3 other schools. That source of funds is now diluted dramatically from what it used to be. Second, it gets a lot of state formula funding because it has the most students. The formulas are heavily based on enrollment, hence UT-Austin gets the most in formula funds.