Excellent essay! It identifies yet another aspect of the problems we’ve been observing over the past 5 years.
The reason why K-State has thrived on JUCOs was due to the CULTURE that Bill Snyder built.
Bill Snyder never made excuses.
Bill Snyder never blamed his players.
Bill Snyder never whined about his schedule being too hard or not having enough facilities.
Without a strong culture, it doesnt matter who you bring in. Look at Texas A&M as a prime example of that.
Instilling a culture was the idea with hiring someone to stay for awhile (Dana). But unfortunately, it has taken too long, and may not be the right fit as many are seeing. We’ll see how Big 12 conference play goes this year.
I feel like they are trying to build a culture. Just need the right guy that gels with the school, admin, city, student body, fans, etc. Not every hire is a homerun. But we’ll get there eventually.
Just remember to enjoy the games in the meantime. Control what you can control. Have fun at the games. GO TO THE GAMES (if possible). Support players AT the games. Support your alma mater AT the games. Tailgate/drink/party AT the game. Our fans/alumni need to build a culture as well
I’ll take it a step further and bring up Eddie Robinson. NOBODY and I mean NOBODY in major college football had to do more with less than Eddie Robinson.
He had to make sandwiches for his players and find sleeping arrangements when restaurants and hotels wouldnt serve them.
He had to drive the bus to away games.
He had to make sure all of the equipment was up to date.
He had to do most of the recruiting.
Hell, he even had to coach half the sports that werent even football because Grambling couldnt afford to hire somebody.
Yet the man never complained, he never whined about Grambling’s budget, he didnt blame his players in the media when they lost, he didn’t run off to another job or any of that stuff.
Yet he still sent over 100 players to the NFL.
Its all about culture.
Good article. But culture and brand go together.
Best football culture UH has had in recent years was 2014 to 2016.
Levine lost the 1st game played at TDECU , lost his job, but the UH team grew together and defeated Pitt Panthers to end 2014 season.
Herman was HC in 2015 and 2016 and the returning players bought into what Herman was promoting and went on to have a 13-1 season with wins over Louisville and Florida State. In 2016 they opened the season with a victory over Oklahoma at NGR and beat Louisville again.
Then Herman left and UH did not do what UCF has done and do a good search and bring in another Herman type AC to be the HC.
Except for a 2021 season against cream puffs, UH has been meh since 2014-2016 years.
Oh, and another interesting fact about the scheduling during those winning years. UH played OOC games against P5’s, Tennessee Tech, Texas State, UTSA, Grambling St., BYU, UNLV, and Lamar.
This article has a great photo of the Rice game home stands. It was probably taken in the second half but the home side upper deck had fewer fans than an average 300 section at TDECU. The upper deck on the visitors side was probably closed because no one sat there. After all, there was not enough people who cared to attend the game so it was never needed.
Developing a culture starts with the HC and Players, then make the fans realize this in no longer the G5 Coogs. UH has become a P5 program and should schedule OOC’s like we did during those winning 2014-2016 seasons.
Dana is no culture builder never was, never will be.
CDH’s culture is defined by his overall record. He is a 70% winning coach. You’ll win more games than you lose during the season. Some seasons will be better than others. Let’s see how this season goes.
He is a 70% winning coach
This is a lie
57% at UH.
59% overall
Winning % in the 50% range is MEDIOCRE.
To be a dominant program…you need 1, 2, 3 losses MAX…especially with a G5 schedule
Wiki lists his overall head coaching record as 89-62. Rounded it’s 70%. Where did 59% come from?
89 +62 = 151
89/151 = 0.5894039735
Rounded 59%
Checking my math, they have the same % Dana Holgorsen College Coaching Records, Awards and Leaderboards | College Football at Sports-Reference.com
Got it. I like him less now.
Made me question my math skills… and I have a BS in Math ftom UH. 
You did good my friend!
CDH and culture in the same sentence…
…and that was with a G5 schedule where we were top tier in getting a bump up
Maybe CDH and lack of culture…lol
THIS ! ! ! ! !