I think the lows of the Applewhite era are overstated. Applewhite was by no means a good coach, but a lot of the struggles in 2019 and 2020 were due to the fact that Dana took over a team that had one of the best offenses in College Football and ran off a QB that looked Heisman-caliber the prior year.
There’s also the fact that Dana’s success here isn’t a historical outlier the way Dykes was at SMU. We’ve been a ranked team that competes for conference championships in recent memory; SMU has not.
Here is an idea that blame Dana for the low attendence. How about the UH ticketing department stop raising prices each year no matter how well the team is doing. There has not been one year where they left season tickets prices the same as the year before. At the same time they are raising prices for Football they are for basketball. At some point the price increases are going to cause many fans to choose bwtween buying Football and Basketball season tickets because they can no longer afford both. Why dont we set prices for TDECU that maximize selling out the stadium so it looks good to the Big 12 and on tv let alone the home field advantage for how loud TDECU gets when it is sold out. Without looking at the number UH could probably make the same amount in total revenue the if they just left all the 300 level prices the same each year because the tickets purchased when selling out the stadium would most likely recoup the raised price of those seats not sold.
I am talking about season tickets, and it not just the ticket prcie. UH consistently messes around with the Cougar Pride seat donatation added on to the ticket price. So sellouts and Tickets do no fall on Dana but our ADHD ticketing department.
Okay, but SMU still isn’t competing for conference championships. Their best finish under Dykes was 8-4. The lows of applewhite are not overstated. He lost 70-7 AGAINST ARMY. I wont say its one of the darkest days in coog history, because there have been some damn dark ones, but its pretty high up there. And as for us we have not made back to back conference championships since Yeoman was the coach… something we have the chance to do this year.
He lost 70-7 against Army in a meaningless bowl game without an offensive coordinator or several of our best players. I’m never gonna be convinced that I should care about a non-CFP bowl game result. Blowout losses happen.
But close losses on the road after a double OT win in Lubbock dont “happen”? I mean Jesus it seems like you are making excuses for everyone except Dana. I bet you thought it was fine the way Herman left too because “ it was for his dream job” your logic is all over the place and Im done with this conversation. Keep that same energy and dont change up when we make the conference championship again.
Close losses on the road do happen. This isn’t about one game, as frustrating as it was. It’s about Tech last year. It’s about going down 14 to UTSA and having to scramble to make a comeback. It’s about constant unforced errors. It’s about biting on a fake knee to lose to a dramatically less talented Tulane team. It’s about spending his first three years here cosplaying as a speed bump against any team with a pulse.
It’s fine that Herman left because he wanted to leave. It’s a job. He decided to take his talents elsewhere.
You people make me laugh. We finished #17 in the nation last year.
17th out of 119 schools.
And you want to parse plays and cite trends and b#% about a guy that gave 18% of his annual salary back to the school to help build our program.
My biggest concern giving Dana the contract extension was the lack of sustained success against better competition. Last year the schedule was soft. I think everyone can agree. Run the table table this year, then sure give him an extension.
Then again, I’ve never believed in this offensive scheme. I’ve never once thought this would work against better competition.
