University of Houston faces a widening money gap to keep pace in big-time sports

Cougar Football
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Good article, although Barron tends to try to make too many comparisons between UH and Texas/A&M that most reporters do. Wish that he would have included more Tech stats since that’s really what our competition is right now when it comes to the P5…unless we can get access to the PUF.

Still, what I got out of the article is that our situation isn’t as dire as what most try to make it out to be. There are also some interesting financial tidbits in there.

As an alumnus, Pezman is uniquely qualified to understand the mindset of UH fans and, perhaps as importantly, to harness that energy in a way that will enable the school to keep pace as best it can with the spending race in hopes that a future realignment of the major conferences will provide access to larger revenue streams.

“It’s an aspirational thing,” he said. “There are teams at the highest level of what you intend to do, so you’re always striving to be better. It fuels fires around here, not just within me but within the administration and the institution.

“There’s a lot of ‘want to’ around here.”

It also competes well on the playing field against conference foes, ranking second to Connecticut as of mid-April in the annual Learfield Cup all-sports standings.

Note: With Baseball, Softball, and T&F’s success, the Coogs actually finished as the top American Athletic School in the Learfield Cup and 72nd overall. In Texas, we finished behind Texas (7th), A&M (11th), Baylor (45th), Texas Tech (54th), and TCU (57th)…realize that almost all P5 schools have more sports than UH does (Texas Tech has the same).

In the AAC, Houston finished with 301 points while 2nd place UCF finished with 230 points, which is a pretty big spread. Coogs had a really good year athletically.

http://www.nacda.com/directorscup/nacda-directorscup-current-scoring.html

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He does have a keen sense of the obvious !

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And, once again the Comical misses no chance to attack our own home-town team. Does it blame its beloved atm or uta for our money woes? Well, of course not!

Meanwhile, the Comical is in more trouble than the Cougars. The sooner they close their doors for good, the better!

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https://twitter.com/jared_gogets/status/1008394179322445824

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https://twitter.com/SDA_III/status/1008405461291405313
https://twitter.com/Carl_Lewis/status/1008419824211505153
https://twitter.com/CPezman/status/1008441352227643392

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Well I don’t see how UT and A&M are responsible for our athletic money woes.

I can see how by refusing share PUF monies, UT and A&M are depriving UH of academic money, but then every state school can make the same argument.

If you open up the PUF to UH, the really fair thing to do would be to open it up to all 40 state institutions of higher learning.

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UT is directly responsible for our money woes because they deliberately and maliciously kept us out of the merger of the SWC and B8. They have continued to block our entrance to the B12. These acts have cost UH over $400 million.

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While I have no doubt that UT has no love lost for UH, the stories that I have read paint a picture that B8 wanted a full merger, the networks only supported 4 from the SWC. Texas Tech and Baylor has political bigwigs backing them, UH had no one.

Blame UT yes, but don’t let the others (including UH administration at the time the B12 was formed) off the hook. The UH admin was totally unprepared and lacking in focus.

As far as B12 entry is concerned, there was one shot last year, which didn’t work out. In a few years we’ll get the real inside story why. I think as much as UT didn’t push for UH, the non-Texas Big 12 members were probably not too keen on having another Texas program in the conference.

If there had been a really solid non-Texas program to pair with UH, maybe the Big 12 would have expanded with UH.

It really came down to finances and the Big 12 got everything it wanted, without having to expand. I don’t blame them for doing what has turned out to be a very sweet financial deal for them. I doubt very much if expansion with UH and a pair school would have given the 10 Big 12 achools any more of a revenue bump than they got for not expanding.

Next year each program will get $40 million for its Tier 1/2 content. This is more than Pac and ACC get for tier 1/2/3 content! All things considered, the Big 12 has a seriously sweet deal compared to all P5, even SEC and Big 10.

It’s simple calculus, expansion will take place if and only if it makes financial sense. Or in other words the current members benefit financially, at least as much as the added members do.

Back during the B12 expansion circus when everyone was excited with all the political support UH was getting, I made a prediction that in order to get real UT support, UH would have to make some kind of concession to UT.

The problem is that UH wants UT support for entry to the Big 12, but is expects UT to do it without expecting anything in return. I’ll make another prediction here, as long as UH keeps to this line/approach, UT will never support UH entry to the Big 12 (or any other conference UT might be in).

On the other hand, treat it as a business deal, offer UT something and then UH may get more than just meaningless hot air and worthless tweets coming from UT admins.

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Right on and $400 might even be on the low end. They have always been scared of us and what we can accomplish with the same tools at our disposal. That is why they kept us from joining the SWC, got us ncaa sanctioned, keep keeping us out of the small 12 and probably put pressure on the other P5 from getting us in.
I will say it again and again. With the same tools we can accomplish multiple titles a la Alabama. That is how a threat we represent to uta and atm. They know it and have acted on it for decades.Shame on you both so called institutions of higher learning.

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Every public State School is making the same argument. Have not you noticed? EatEmUp is right on all points. We are not controlled by a despot or a king but it sure seems like it. Does this happen in any other state? The current PUF situation is a perfect definition of how a dictatorship rule.

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Concession to uta? Did I read this right? Wait? Did I read this right? What is your School affiliation? Have you taken the time to read about history? EatEmUp has taken the time to make it clear for anyone wishing to go back in time. History has consequences and usually repeats itself. Ignoring the past is a recipe for disaster.

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I am a UH grad. I am also a realist. I have been in management consulting for almost 20 years, in the M&A and corporate restructuring areas. It’s a cut throat works where only the strong survive and only the deal makers grow and thrive.

Crying about history and how it has hurt UH will not solve anything. Not being in the Big 12 has cost UH probably a lot more than $400 million. By the time the current Big 12 media deal ends (and depending on the new AAC media deal), not being able to enter the Big 12 in 2017, would probably cost UH something in the neighborhood of $300 - 400 million! And that just between 2017 and 2025.

We have look to the future, and accept that no one will just hand UH anything no matter how much we may feel we are owed it.

If UH wants to join a P5, we have to accept that we may have to strike deals to get support from the right programs, and the right power players.

To get into B12, support from UT and OU is critical, if even one of them says no, it won’t happen. To get into Pac, support from USC will be required. Things will get even tougher if the Big 12 and Pac agree on some kind of joint scheduling or semi-merger. Anything is possible. I can think of half a dozen scenarios where UH gets left out and screwed again.

The current media deals for Big 12 expire in 2025. We should start seeing realignment or expansion movements pick up steam again around 2023. By that time UH has to make it self the most attractive candidate as well as having a strong network of power players and key individuals who are willing to go to bat for UH.

Membership in a power conference should be seen as a business arrangement UH has to make.

Think of it this way. Say UH were invited to join the Big 12. After the buy in period of 5 years UH would see its payout go from currently $6 million to around $50 million. That’s a huge bump. We know that current B12 programs will not see a commensurate bump in their payouts. They may see a relatively much smaller bump, which for UT and OU would beg the question what’s in it for me? UH sees a huge increase, what do I get in return?

If we can’t accept (even though it maybe an odious thought), that we have to make deals, we are in trouble. The biggest mistake would be to refuse to abandon the belief that UT owes us something. They don’t see it that and ultimately they could be the ones who decide how UH ends up.

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The B8 SWC merger happened before ESPN became all powerful. We were kept out because UT wanted us to be kept out.

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Maybe I’m reading this article wrong but it doesn’t seem too bad to me. Yes we have less money. Yes we rely on student fees like all other non P5 teams. So what? The article basically shows that we do more with less. If I was a UT booster, I’d be looking at how little on field/court return I’ve received for all that money.

I still believe before we blame other schools for holding us back we need to take a look at ourselves. The Tillman and Moores have been great for our school but we as an Alumni base have to step up. I know $50 million sounds impossible but if you divide our alumni by that amount, it’s not that much. I get that not everyone can give, but those who can should. I have really stepped up my contributions to the school the last few years. My wife blames Dr. K for that dent in our bank account. Dr K gives me a pride in the school that I didn’t feel when I attended in the 90s.

If we really want other conferences to want us–sell out the football stadium, have a basketball arena that is not 4/5 empty, go to baseball and softball games, etc. obviously, our TV market already helps us. Support our school. I just wish we would spend less time blaming others for why we are not included and more time showing why we should be included. Build ourselves first then they will want us.

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And the past doesn’t help us one bit now. UT is out for itself and I don’t fault them for that. What does UH offer that will also benefit UT?

And hen the bi12 was formed UH was it’s own worst enemy with no vision and wasting resources.

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That’s exactly what I have been saying. Wallowing in the past gets us nothing.

A lot of the blame for UH being left out of the Big 12 lies on UT yes, but some lies ok UH and Texas politicians who were satisfied with their schools (TT and BU) making it, and not caring enough about UH to push for its inclusion in the Big 12. Add to that our own lack of vision and leadership and it was a perfect storm.

I have no idea what benefits UH could offer UT (at least benefits that UH would find acceptable giving), but I hope the lines of communication are open between UT and UH.

This has to be seen and handled as a business deal, with the acceptance that we are the weaker party, and need to negotiate accordingly. No one is saying give up the farm, but giving up a couple of good horses may be required.

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I’m a big fan of your take on this subject.

Yes, Texas has jobbed us on more than one occasion. Yes, if a deal benefits Texas at our expense they will do it again. Yes, we should absolutely be on our guard with them at all times, and have backup plans ready.

But most likely Texas is also the key cog in our moving up. Texas is a crown jewel program, and typically negotiates from strength. So, unless we have strong enough relationships and a strong enough case to convince other conferences to override Texas objections, something I highly doubt both now and in the near term future, we need Texas to be at least grudgingly on board.

Acting like UT owes us is wasted thoughts and actions. They are a huge cutthroat business group and act accordingly. They aren’t going to do anything that doesn’t benefit them, if we can’t give them something there’s no reason to believe that they will lift a finger to bring us along for anything.

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My thoughts exactly.

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@1985Coog, If your post refers to my views on UT and expansion, your fandom is much appreciated. Usually my thoughts just offend a lot of people.

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Not to worry…usually on this board someone’s thoughts are going to offend any number of people !!

Like Clint Eastwood said, opinions are like AH’s…everybody has one !

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