Hi All,
I’ll be the first to say, I love our University and I am beyond elated that our athletics department will be getting a bigger payday with our move to the Big 12.
Our program will finally be on a level playing field compared to the other Big 12, Pac 12, & ACC Schools.
While we’ll still be behind the Big 10 & SEC, this does not mean we can’t compete with those conferences at the highest level and churn out winning teams.
Sure, at this point in time we’ll never get the horde of 5 or 4 recruits that A&M, UT, or Alabama gets… but we can still compete and beat them with the talent pool available in this great city & state.
Which brings me to the title of this post… analytics & UH Athletics (Mainly Football & Basketball).
Many people oppose or even hate analytics saying it is ruining the sport, and causing games to be predetermined by computers rather than the eye test. I’ll go so far as to say this is a foolish thought and our athletics department should be embracing analytics to find inefficiencies in the recruiting & transfer market, and capitalize on them to build a winning and sustained culture.
There’s so much talent in this great city and state that gets overlooked. And I feel we’re going the wrong way in our recruiting & transfers, we’re going for size and players that “look like big 12 players” according to Dana when that is an outdated way of building a team.
Look at the Astros organization for example. An organization that loses multiple General Managers, Players, & a Head Coach still continues to win and dominate. Why? They are at the forefront of analytics in their respective sport and have their organization perfected to where players & staff can come and go but they continue to dominate and win championships.
the days of hiring a coach and letting them create their own team and control the offensive, defensive, and player personnel is the old way of playing this game. Our athletics department should have an identity pre-determined on the type of offense, defense, and style of play our team should play and From there, then we hire head coaches who fit our identity and allow them to control the culture and way of play. Both the AD office and Coach should be aligned and have a similar goal. That is not happening now, this is all Dana’s show.
Kelvin Sampson is a great example of this. He has not only revived UH Basketball, but adapted his style of play to what the dada is telling him. He’s a one of a kind coach who you give the keys to the program, and let him do his thing. He build the foundation of not only the basketball team, but the operations department as a whole.
Dana is not that guy. And if it weren’t for his ridiculous contract, he should’ve been gone yesterday because his play style is ancient & anemic. While all the numbers and data point to high powered offenses dependent on a pass heavy attack with a running QB, Dana is still playing football like it’s 2009 attempting to turn his QB into a pure pocket passer while primarily rushing the ball.
When we enter the Big 12, we will immediately be at a disadvantage because of the money & level of recruiting our future conference mates have had over us for the past 2-3 decades.
Instead of trying to build how they build, which is not sustainable, we should rebuild efficiently and have our Athletic Department incorporate and hire data analysts to show how we should be a team in this modern age, and how we can find local inefficiencies in the transfer & recruiting market (players) that may have been overlooked but could have huge impacts on the modern CFB landscape & playstyle.