Yep there’s absolutely nothing in the general vicinity of the campus that gives off a college vibe. Just a downside to having a university in the middle of a major metropolitan area unfortunately.
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Rice doesn’t have traditional students…they attract students that are repulsed by the college experience. Brainiacs who probably avoided school spirit activities at all costs.
Hence, they don’t allow a Greek system and their students don’t care.
I’ve been to many public university campuses- compare their Greek row to ours.
No excuses! We are a 100 year old public P5 University with 50,000 students .
UCF figured it out and they are in a City
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Texans fans are alive and well. I had a Texans helmet that was signed by four players circa 2005 and I posted on NextDoor for free. I had 150 messages in my inbox within 30 minutes. I just don’t get it.
Disagree on that assessment about Rice to a degree. Again, what is the student profile that supports athletics like UCF?
I think our marketing dept, athletics should do more - one can always do more. And I do think we need to stop relying on some of the excuses (Texans, Texans, Texans). And more of our fans need to show up and be more loyal to the program.
However, I am also a realist - we were having this same discussion in 1980s and early 1990s… having it now and will be having it next decade. It is ok. I have stopped trying to compare UH to the UCFs and others …or wishing somehow we were more like them. UH is UH - it is a unicorn.
There are a lot of universities that look / feel like UCF. UH has always been unique - honestly it does not fit in any exact box when talking about types of universities - in a lot of areas that helps UH and makes it stronger - in a few areas (where we are less traditional) it is a drag… but that is ok.
Despite the hurdles we have - we keep on going - been some tough seasons - but we also have kept it going thru the CUSA and AAC years - UH may not be a “blue blood” but any college fan coast to coast know exactly who we are [ we are a national brand and are heads and tails above the UNTs and Texas States of the world] and can hold our own reputation wise with the UCFs of the world. We are who we are – embrace it and promote it.
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That’s really more accurate. UH has always had issues with attendance even in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s… forever, regardless of the student type. It goes beyond the university. Can UH marketing do more? Sure. Will that solve the problem, absolutely not. We need the city and state governments, and local businesses to also support UH properly. It would help once we’re in the Big12, but that’s only one of the variables in this complex equation.
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UCF is baby SEC school, yet to hit its stride…I see it as a school who will who will be in the rarified air of attendance of 80k in there stadium one day as there young program and alum grow. Grew up in Orlando as child. have great affection for the city and area.
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I think it will be different this time around for us. I see sellouts or close once in the big12. Pez just needs to price the games right. Offer a bunch of cheap $12 tickets like he’s doing. Get that upper deck sold out. We only need the 40k stadium rocking which can be done and we’ve grown since the old swc conf days and being in g5 didn’t help but now we can get it done.
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UH is a central city school, UCF is 15 miles from downtown Orlando, which is not a “big” city. It appears to be in a suburban area. This is very different from UH which, as we all know, is smack in the middle of an older, poorer part of Houston. UH is also a minority majority school. I don’t know the demographics of UCF student body, but I’d bet it’s predominately white.
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Says 47% white at ucf
They have more black students and about the same Hispanic students as us.
Per this link.
The sec will grab Florida st or Miami before them then they are done bc they aren’t going to have more than 2 Florida schools in the sec.
I think it’s a case where this is their first p5 invite so it’s exciting to their fans vs us. However, we’re going to sell out our stadium once in the big 12
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The issue is several things:
A lot of UH students are bounce backs after a previous experience they either failed at or things didn’t work out so UH is strictly to them a business move to get a degree but they still keep allegiances elsewhere
When you leave 3rd Ward after graduating- find me a family friendly middle class area with invested college minded residents with suburban amenities within a 5 minute drive? Hardly any - so your forced to move out and the burbs have a different mindset now
Does UH market heavily to the middle class and upper middle class suburban areas outside the grand parkway?
And like someone just said - a typical UH legacy for the degree and started working - but their social circle is full of folks from other places and their kids hear that and gravitate towards that
Lastly - demographics matter - are you enrolling more invested students to college life or just ones who need to attend college but doesn’t care about the other stuff?
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We could start recruiting more out of town students and the the big12 will help bc our brand will be better.
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To clarify,
UH has came a long, long way. I have said several times on this board that Millennial and Gen Z Coogs have shown to be a different breed compared to other generations of Coogs, they come to UH by choice, not because they had to. And I mean that as respectfully as possible.
Things are changing in the right direction for sure but there’s more work that needs to be done. Being in a P5 conference is the catalyst to that.
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…and UT is a central city school in a top 15 population city.
We need to stop making excuses for ourselves, it can be done!
Increase the on campus student activities
Build a real Greek Row.
Develop the 3rd Ward to support a 50,000 student university.
I’d invest money into those areas over NIL
We need a strong foundation
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No…that’s the problem.
Especially, when proud UH alums (most likely first generation college graduates) feel their kids deserve better- they deserve a “real” college experience. Those ARE the kids we need to capture. We are not capturing enough of those type of students.
Again, this is NOT about forcing your kids to attend UH. It’s about creating an environment where the WANT to attend.
Uncle Tillman, our biggest supporter, sent his kids to SEC schools.
Think about that
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I think we should make a heavy push in attracting suburban kids who WANT a college experience in other states then mix them into what we are getting.
Students who would gladly move to Texas for the experience.
We need to mirror UT- an inner ciry school in Texas.
How are they doing it?
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what else they got, no pro teams in orlando….
True, Houston is different market than Orlando. We need a entertainment center like Six Flags . Not to attract students,city this size just needs something like it imo. What UH can do if it very serious about the type students they want in the future is have a questionaire designed as part of application process to screen for good supporters of university in the future. Other words be more picky who you let attend your school, especially now it’s becoming a destination school. Recruit top students internationally, I know people are going to say that’s not going to help FB attendance, I will say there right. But it will elevate the academics tremendously. And the international profile more than it is imo
Theres are pro teams in Orlando. Plenty of malls, beaches and theme parks. Don’t be ignorant.