The root issue I have seen is the only people who receive care and attention are the top donors or the ones who make enough noise. Most fans do not fit in those categories so they get ignored or get shitty service. It has been like that forever and it turns fans and alums away. I have tried to get alums going to games only to have UH screw something up with no remorse or apology. The alum decides UH doesn’t care about them so they stop caring about UH. Then someone in administration will try to shame those same alums for not showing up. It’s a neverending circle of crap that no one seems to want to fix.
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Yep, that is a feeling I have heard from others.
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No idea, just saw that his name was in the mix there.
I will help load Hunters moving truck if he takes the Arkansas job.
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Hunter is a great guy and has done a wonderful job as AD. Especially with the fund raising and facilities. We have a great head, basketball coach, track, golf, football is still up in the air but deserves another year for evaluation
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One of the best points made here is the lackluster fan experience both at the stadium and on the back end with tickets. On the field products can have varied results, but what should never change and constantly improved on is customer/fan experiences. These experiences make bad results more tolerable and great results the best. Bad product plus bad experiences mean people don’t come back. A good experience at least makes coming back an easier sell when the team is not performing at the highest level.
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He’s kept momentum in some areas going, but a “wonderful job”? Not really. When your support base is largely unhappy about things that ARE controllable (parking decisions, ticket office management, response to issues, etc.), then performance needs to be improved.
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We have a great football and basketball head coaches? Let’s see, one took a top 20 team and lost to Tulsa and Tulane. The other is so full of excuses of why we can’t compete you wonder who the hell hired him? Do you really want a coach that all he does is complain about the facilities? Or steals seats from season ticket holders for his wife? I’d rather have a coach that just wins, without excuses. lol.
Which top 20 team did CMA take to Tulsa and New Orleans? Not the 2017 Cougars because we weren’t ranked. If you mean last year’s team or 2015’s team, come on, each year is a new team and both of those teams lost significant talent to the NFL or graduation.
I was typing something earlier about giving up my season tickets for football and it was not because of Major either. I decided to take it out of my comment but I have the general feeling about going to football games now. And I am not big on tailgating. The entertainment factor is just not there for me as much this season and I tried to sell more of my tickets than I have ever considered in the past. I cannot isolate one thing but it is just kind of there and the ever-increasing cost of the product is not helping. I have had season tickets since they moved back to The Rob (back in the day when we were happy to be bowl eligible even if we were likely not going to win the bowl game).
And this is before they explain how they are going to price me out of my basketball season tickets when FertittaDome is ready…
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So, Pezman is Sr Assoc AD at Cal. Seems like he’d be a very solid hire when the time comes.
I’m trying to move stuff around to take my dad to the Navy game. I wasn’t aware that the tailgating was moved. Is there still a group of tailgating tents in the UHAA parking lot? Cougar Alley?
Maybe Hunter will fix some of the changes that occurred this year. I got an email asking why I didn’t buy season tickets this year and an offer for $15 Navy tickets. I thought that was a good way to get some info (if it’s used) and sell a few more tickets to a typically fun opponent.
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Yeah, ticket prices will likely remain the same, and student tickets will be expanded by 1000 the night before the game once Hunter sees there are still 14,000 unsold tickets. Lol!
Here’s the breakdown for the last 3 years. Looks like last year was worse. Both 2016 and 2017 we only had 2 home games not at 11 AM or on Thursday night. That’s two out of 7. Maybe we are all a little sensitive about it because of the 4 games in 19 days stretch last year.
2017 2016 2015 2014
DAY AND TIME
Saturday 11 AM 3 3 1 1
Saturday 6 PM 1 1 2
Saturday 7 PM 1 2 2
Saturday 2:30 1 1 1
Thursday 7 PM 1 2 1
Thursday 6 PM 1
Friday 8 PM 2
The 6 11am starts in the last two years plus 3 Thursday night games is just brutal. That’s 9 of 13 garbage start times. Kills tailgating.
He is a financial man not an AD. Mack brought him here as Financial Officer then promoted him to Asst. AD.
Like with Major, we did a world search to find a new AD and guess what, He was already here. Sounds familiar.
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Why didn’t Pezman get promoted? Already moved to Cal?
Thursday and Friday night games are also a killer for OOT Coogs. At least lame working stiffs with kids in school like me.
Since Coach V posted here what he posted on one of the other sites, the below is my reply on that site.
Here’s my thoughts on the matter coming from a different perspective. I was raised an LSU fan and spent 2 1/2 years as a student there. At LSU people tailgate all over the campus and have always done so. The walk to the game from any lot at UH is nothing compared to many places people park and tailgate at LSU and have a lot of fun all over the campus which is much larger than UH area wise. You don’t have to be next to the stadium to have fun.
Not having an RV, the remoteness of the RV lot doesn’t affect me. I know those who can afford a $100,000.00 RV are bigger donors than I and are used to being catered to a lot more than I, a mere All-American level donor. I have never been catered to, so I don’t miss it.
I used to tailgate in the Yellow Lot, but when they built the garage and made the old area west of the garage, which used to be the yellow lot, strictly RV village, it put my parking in the garage which prevented me from having the gas grill and shut down the tailgating for me. But, that was OK with me, because I could see the necessity – progress has it’s casualties. Sometimes I would join Ed and his “Come and Take it” crew at his RV; but it was different and I always just felt like a guest instead of how it was with my set-up and my son doing the cooking and my daughter and her family joining us.
But, I fully agree that the atmosphere has been diminished greatly for many. For others, I don’t know because I’ve seen them tailgating along Cullen, and in remote lots, for several years now. Let’s face it, we knew things would have to change when they tore down the Rob and started a massive building program. There is only so much land next to the stadium and with a bigger stadium – complete with band facilities, nice locker rooms, a club, and other amenities – something had to give. I gladly relinquish my old spot in the lot next to the Rob for TDECU.
Though I always predict an undefeated season and go into each game thinking it is possible for us to win, I really didn’t expect much more than a 7-5 season this year. We just lost too many key players from the 2015 and 2016 seasons. Sure we started last year great with the win over OU; but, attrition and LTH dalliances took its toll. To think this year would be better with a new staff and so many new faces was just wishful thinking.
I don’t know how good a coach CMA will be; but I am certainly willing to give him enough time to find out. One year, a rebuilding year at that, is just not a fair assessment. Yeah, he’s in his 3rd year at UH; but being an assistant to a control freak is not remotely the same as being the HC and does not give HC experience.
I have been a donor and season ticket holder since 1978 (2 years before I graduated from UH). That’s less than some, more than others, but still long enough to have been through a lot with the Coogs. To me, we are in a much better place than we were most of the time I have been a Coog. Maybe I’m just an eternal optimist, but I truly think we will start ascending again beginning next year. We’ve been through bad – and it didn’t look anything like this. Bad seasons were 1-10 with Coach Yeoman, 1-9-1, 1-10, and 2-9 with Helton, 0-11 with Dimmel, and 3-8 with Briles. 6-4 aint anywhere near that.
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All good points - on balance, we’re clearly in a much better place than we were years ago. For me, at least, it still feels like that progress is tenuous, and more needs to be done to ensure that it is at least maintained. Allowing negative momentum to take hold just can’t happpen.
Tailgating isn’t a huge deal to me, but it is to a lot of people, and it definitely adds to the overall engagement and “feel” of the program. People are still making it work, though - it just seems like it’s being made more difficult than it should be.
The ticket office experience continues to be a weakness of the program, which is frustrating, as is the lack of responsiveness to legitimate complaints.
My biggest worry is that all of these things, combined with what seems like a loss of identity on the football side, will bring back the malaise that has plagued us in the past, especially with continued price increases.
We just have to get better on the field and off. The good news is that we’re close. The concern is that there’s no plan to get there.
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I really have to commend the folks voicing their concern for the program on this thread. Having been a long time season ticket holder this season has been “meh” for me. I received my undergrad from UH, hence it is where my heart lies. After the hollow love for the city and program from Herman, it felt like a ton of air was let out of the program. My hope was the administration would again catch lightning in a bottle with an engaging coaching hire to build on the momentum. Instead we are left with CMA and the boring uninspired football we see on the field. I knew we were in trouble as soon as CMA picked his DC.
I received my masters from the “U” and also enjoy following the Canes. After suffering through years of Al Golden and the passive defenses of CMD, I was super excited when that whole staff was canned. I remember visiting Canes forums and them being jealous of the cougars aggressive defense with its unique “3rd Ward” identity under Orlando. So when we hired CMD I knew CMA was going to be Levine 2.0. An uninspired leader with no sense on how to pick a staff. Watching the transformation of the Canes defense under Diaz and the regression of our defense just let’s you know we are not trending in the right direction and it’s all coaching (we have players to do better than we have done).
In general we all know that CMA will get another season or two; I will do my obligation and purchase my season tickets (likely donate a good portion of them to friends or family). My hope is that the princess and the billionaire wake up and fix this before the damage takes years to repair. The continuity hires have maintained no continuity of our previous success or momentum (one day we will learn this). Looking forward to cleaning house and hiring AD CP and next up and coming dynamic football coach.
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This.