She is a good example of outside the box. I don’t know if she’s available or if she fits what UH wants or needs, but I would quietly contact her to see if she would interested in talking about the position.
Yormark represents the new direction for Power Conference leaders. That being the case what would everyone think the qualities and new direction of P4 Athletic Directors would be.
Being an AD previously doesn’t seem to me to be as high on the list as before. Imho i think 80% of power conference college ADs don’t strike me as being hard atop the issues of NIL and the marketing. I think there’re are many B1G & SEC ADs that if they retired today would be replaced with someone very different.
I fail to see the need for an ‘outside the box’ approach. The AD role is pretty much exactly what it was before NIL. Alumni engagement. Ticket sales. Marketing. Fundraising. Coaching hires. What you’re raising money for is arbitrary. Find an AD with an exceptional track record and bring them here.
UH has to be among the most difficult P4 AD jobs in the country. I would hope that the search team does a good job of identifying the characteristics and talents needed to succeed and recruits accordingly.
If it takes 60-90 days to find the best person, then hopefully they make a good decision. If they were to hire someone in just a few weeks, then it’s more than likely another Major Applewhite type of hire.
All I keep hearing is how awesome of a job the Houston position is. That with the amount of money in the city and nil laying around that this is a top tier job for everything. Sleeping giant kind of job.
Herman AND Sampson both proved it’s one of the EASIEST if you come on with a iron clad game plan and are willing to put in the work. We have leaders that DESPERATELY want us to succeed…they just can’t do it themselves.
Herman had us in a NY6 Bowl in YEAR ONE with recaptured interest and Sampson had us in the Dance…and then deep into the Dance.
The problem is they’ve yet to find an AD that can keep up with a coach of that elk …MR tried but also bailed on us.
Throw in the NIL environment and the Houston job SHOULD be a coveted AD job.
We just need an AD to work as hard as those two examples because the high ceiling IS there
I am not so sure the fourth largest city is such an easy sell for UH donations. Houston has a vibrant non-profit community, and thus lots of competition for tax deductible dollars. Houston has one of the largest medical centers in the world. Each hospital system has it’s own philanthropic organization. If your mega-rich, are you donating to cancer, ALS, or heart disease research, or to UH athletics? All mega-rich that I know are sensitive to public perception and peer pressure. Houston also has many non-profit social service organizations that act as a safety net when there are not enough government funds. If your mega-rich, are you donating to an organization that helps the community during a natural disaster or to UH athletics? The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo does a great job of soliciting donations, but they have a great message and give back to the community and fund scholarships. If your potential donor has no UH ties and may not even be a sports fan, your argument has to include ROI, otherwise you are probably wasting your donor’s, and your time.
We can absolutely be successful increasing the donations and revenue for UH athletics with a new AD, but you need the right person, with a smile and loads charisma who is media savvy, who brings some fresh ideas that benefits corporate Houston.
Yeah, well anyone that believes that most likely also believes in Santa Claus & the Easter Bunny.
UH is dead last among Power 4 athletic programs in the State of Texas for a multitude of reasons. The primary reasons are that our alumni connections are so weak and our lack of legacy students.
Re: Personal Choice:
Like others, I chose to attend UH over the likes of Rice or UT or ATM because my older brother attended UH and we were the first college students in a large family and had to pay our own way. (Obviously it was much cheaper to work and commute to classes at UH than to go elsewhere.)
Re: Multi-Generational Wealth:
Schools like UT and ATM and Texas Tech (and even Baylor and TCU and SMU) have far more legacy students (as well as a somewhat different racial mix) and so they benefit from more alumni contributions from multi-generational wealth including the donation of, among other things, large farms & ranches and related mineral interests.
Re: City of Houston Location:
As far as UH being located in Houston, yes, that can be a significant benefit to UH - but a major issue there is that so many of the owners and directors and senior officers of the largest companies in Houston have personal family ties to colleges & universities elsewhere and so they direct most, if not all, of their contributions elsewhere. (That is why even the smaller private schools like Baylor and TCU and SMU all seem to have much greater alumni resources available to them.)
Summary:
So, yes the UH AD job is a great opportunity, but is also so very, very difficult to be successful at the same level as the other P4 programs in Texas and elsewhere.
It would be an easy gig if everyone in the city was on the same page ala Austin
But we sell Houston as a place outsiders can come in and be themselves so what? That means they bring their outside allegiances with them and then we have news media that praise these outside folks
You go to Austin you won’t get on TV or radio bragging about Texas A&M, etc
Houston was treated as the kid people stopped talking about when they walk into the room for so long it’s embedded in people’s heads
Seems like that is something that should have been done before the surprise firing of the AD. I can’t believe there is nobody in place and hardly any hint of who they are looking at.
Better to have the right hire, than a quick hire. Not only does the AD have to be an excellent administrator, he/she has to navigate the Athletic Department’s embrace of NIL, within NCAA guidelines, and roster management which essentially makes student athletes free agents every year. I think there is a very small universe of candidates that could sell themselves to Dr. Khator and Fertitta and have them believe that he/she could succeed in Houston.
