How do you know? There is no point for any of us to say “We will get invited or this conference won’t invite us” Only our leaders and the one(s) that will (or not) know.
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A business, politician or conference can spin the narrative to get what they want.
We all know that the B1G in large part is about increasing revenues and to do that, they have to go to the last large TV market available to them, the state of Texas.
If they cannot strike a deal with the LHN and UT, UH is a viable alternative to deliver the Houston market and some of the rest of Texas as a P5.
If the Texas market is what they want, they will go after UH. Some people say they will not because UH does not have AAU status but I think B1G can put a new spin on it. They would say that the University of Houston is on its way to AAU status and will only reach 80% conference payout until it has AAU status.
Would UH accept such a deal? HECK YEAH!
I think that kind of deal would say that education is still very important to the B1G but will also take advantage of opportunities when presented.
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I think there are 8 times more people following Penn St than Rutgers in the New York area. Rutgers is never known for sports nor capture the hearts of New Yorkers!
That may be. But the reality is, Rutgers’ TV ratings are/were better in NYC than those of any other state flagship, AAU member, adjacent to the B1G’s then existing geographic footprint that otherwise might have been invited at the time.
Given that, it’s hardly surprising that the B1G invited them in their hopes of further capturing/deepening their penetration into that NYC media market.
Moreover, given that that does indeed give the B1G even more viewership and following in the NYC metro than with just Penn State or any of its other existing schools, it’s silly to think that the B1G “regrets” that decision.
Hell, when I lived in the DC metro area, Penn State had a huge following in that city as well (for some reason, Penn State seems to produce a large number of DC area civil servants; when I worked in the Pentagon, those Penn State grad DOD civilians were everywhere!). Guess what? If the B1G wanted to expand into a state adjacent to their then existing geographic footprint, and, at the same time, wanted to deepen their penetration into the DC market beyond what just Penn State would have provided them there with a state flagship, AAU member school, then Maryland was easily the OBVIOUS choice. No other state flagship, AAU member, Division I-FBS school adjacent to their then existing geographic footprint would have accomplished that more effectively.
Merely having Penn State’s following in DC wouldn’t have benefited them in that DC market as much as an addition like Maryland would have.
Not sure why that’s so difficult for some here to grasp.
UH, by contrast:
a) is not adjacent to the B1G’s existing geographic footprint (then or now),
b) is not a state flagship, and,
c) is not an AAU member school.
Those are all preferred factors in B1G invites, or at least, that has always been the case in the past.
Given that, it’s puzzling to me why anyone would think that WE of all people might be getting a B1G invite, or why anyone would think that we might even be more deserving of one than Rutgers or Maryland, given that they both enjoy all of those desirable attributes (from a B1G perspective anyway) that we don’t!
Our athletic teams may indeed be better than those at Rutgers, and arguably Maryland as well (obviously, UH doesn’t sponsor varsity lacrosse). But the quality of the athletic performance is not the ONLY factor involved in such decisions.
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And Ohio University was the orginal flagship school in the state of Ohio…but obviously the MUCH younger Ohio State school became the priority.
Things change, and I for one, really like where the University of Houston is headed, in terms of significance in the state…especially with our focused leadership AND especially since we have the most desirable location in the state.
Texas should have gone the California route and create 1 or 2 major systems but they did NOT. Instead they dared their upcoming public schools to prove they could be a state school via grass roots channels. Well, the Univetsity of Houston did and now we have satellite schools in many cities and we are far from stopping.
The best way the think about this, since we took the Houston name, is to imagine if we took the Texas STATE name instead (which was available)…then we would have the same name as Ohio State…just in a bigger, more important, more populated state.
The leadership of the B1G is not as naive as the average fan. They KNOW we are a large state school and that the state of Texas can probably support FOUR flagship level universities…Texas, Texas A&M, Houston, & Texas Tech
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Is Nebraska a AAU member? I don’t see their name listed among the membership roll of universities that are AAU members.
They were stripped of it after their BIG invite or around the invite…
From Wikipedia.
- University of Nebraska–Lincoln (1909–2011)
Removed from the AAU.[11] Chancellor Harvey Perlman claimed that the lack of an on-campus medical school (the Medical Center is a separate campus of the University of Nebraska system) and the AAU’s disregarding of USDA-funded agricultural research in its metrics hurt the university’s performance in the association’s internal ranking system.[10]
a good point…and in fact I think the name Texas State University was available until just a few years ago when SW Texas State took it in 2003…UH could have taken that name in 2002, and by now might be in a power 5 conference…the road not taken, alas…wouldn’t be surprised if Tx State gets into a power 5 conference within 10 years…they have the right kind of location for it–a relatively small town away from the large metro areas…thus, it could not become a commuter school, and instead will become the kind of insular party school that dominates the power 5 conferences…yeah…the road not taken…
a fair point…but the houston metro area is getting close to 6 million now…that is more than the population of MOST states…
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yeah, good point…and in a way UH is asking a power conference to take a chance on UH and see the POTENTIAL there…it’s kind of like the NFL draft…“take a chance on me, NFL…see my potential! Help me realize my potential!”…UH is asking some conference to help grow UH into a flagship school…
And why would UH expect the B1G to oblige? As you said it’s taking a chance on potential. Which means there is a risk that potential may not be realized, what then? Should B1G give a 10 year window of conditional membership and offer reduced revenue say 80%, and say be AAU within 10 years and you’ll get full shares or we kick you out?
Getting AAU status is not easy. Tech has been trying for years, they even established a committee made up of college presidents and leaders from major AAU schools like Cal to advise them, and so far no luck. Texas helped A&M get into the AAU, and that’s how it’s done. UH is not getting into the AAU without support and help of at least 1 AAU member who is willing to guide UH all along the way. Tech has not been able to that even being in the same conference as UT. Let’s face it the support will have to come from a Texas university, why would an out of state university go to bat for a Texas university?
If UH is asking P5 to take a chance, the one that should do so is the Big 12, with 2 other State schools. The B1G has no real reason to take on the risk.
I really don’t see Texas State becoming a P5 especially being 30 miles from Austin. UT will not let that happen.
The University of Houston is a Flagship university. UT is the flagship of the University of Texas System, A&M is the flagship of the Texa A&M System, and UH is the Flagship of the University of Houston system.
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Our UH president specializes in long shots. Do not overlook her.
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SouthWest Texas State is a really big Lamar. No way they can ever outgrow that. UH/TTech are in a (legitimate) struggle for excess funds from the legislature, the SWTS/lamar/samhoustons/sfa state schools can not compete.
Research at these schools is paltry and they function as mostly teacher colleges (which some originally were) or entry level job degree components. And since science research is limited and they don’t fund the liberal arts the schools are basically extensions of public high schools. I went to two of those for summer classes and it was honestly like being in high school. Automatic A just for showing up to class alive.
I can’t think of any P5 similar. Beside some prestigious private schools (Vandy, Syracuse, Stanford, Northwestern) most of the P5 are
Flagship or secondary institutions. And secondary being a Texas A&M or Michigan State or Pitt et cet. I don’t think any rational person would say southwest texas state is par with Penn state because they both have state in their name.
And Houston Metro area pop is now 7 million.
So I suppose UCLA is the flagship school in California. For years I thought USC was.
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Flagship commonly designates 1) the first land grant institution 2) school with highest research/PhD programs.
Definitely tied to public school though, so no USC.
And thank the lord almighty for that because otherwise baylor, the first college in texas and granted land by the republic, would be our flagship.
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Nope UCLA isn’t the flagship of the UC system. That’s UC-Berkeley . I know the mere mention of Cal, can trigger a few of our posters, but that’s the system’s flagship school.
Okay so flagship of the state does not always mean the state university with well known athlete programs.
So if the B1G wanted to expand into California, they would take UCLA since it is AAU but it’s not a state flagship school. Interesting, according to the B1G requirements mentioned by uhlaw97 above.
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