The discussion always looks at our football program as an athletic problem and then pursues an athletic solution. The origin of our situation is and has always been political. If the desire is to join the Big 12, just look to Tech, Tcu and Baylor. No one would argue that they are better than us on any level. They are where they are because of politics and for no other reason. Objectively, on an athletic basis alone we would be a better member than any of them, ignoring so many other factors. We were a far more substantial member of the SWC than any of them ever thought of being. It was pure politics and we have paid dearly as a result.
I suggest that RK and our lobbyist, invite every UH alum that is a politician, st. Reps., senators, county officials etc. to a meeting. The sole purpose would be to design a program to bring the most political pressure possible to force UH into the Big 12. We have a lot more alums in state politics than you would imagine. Do not give me the usual defeatist bs that Texas is all powerful. Texas needs to get its bill passed as well. Properly configured, they would quickly realize that we mean business. Tech will get the sense as well. Baylor and TCU, while private, still are subject to political pressures.
We embarrassed ourselves for sure. However, as long as âHoustonâ remains on our jersey, the city fathers need to lend some support as well. The city of champions took a hit as well.
We will never earn our way into P5. The cards are stacked against us. We will continue to be a coaching carousel. Politics created this beast and politics must solve it. No coach, no AD will ever politic our way out of this problem
Tillman knows what I am talking about. He knows where the levers are. The legislature convenes in a week. Now would be the time to start. We have paid a helluva price for some political maneuvering long ago.
I believe you would find that all the efforts youâve described have been taken. Despite all the efforts with state and city politicians, the B12 is an independent body and they still control the voting on expansion. If you recall, no one was more incensed than TF when not a single university president showed up for UHâs presentation to the B12.
Thatâs not to say that continuous pressure isnât constant â I think it is. But there are many variables at play when GOR expire and despite state of TX political pressures, UT will do whatever makes them the most money. Bet on it.
I would bet that our current administration is utilizing every avenue possible to improve the university today and set us up for more improvements as we go forward.
Great idea but I donât want to be in the Big 12 ig thatâs the only goal. If invited by them onlyâŠYES but they are my 5th choice among the P5 conferences.
Iâm hoping the ACC or PAC is more realistic than that middle America conference with many members who love to keep us down.
Your assumption that UT can force the Big 12 to take UH, is only partially valid. UT could force the Big 12 to take UH, only if the Big 12 is looking to expand by 2/4/6 members. All the political pressure on Texas will not make the Big 12 expand if the rest of the conference and the media partners donât support it. IN the event that expansion is on the cards, the 4 Texas programs can band together and veto any expansion of it does not include UH.
The Big 12 does have ways around that too. With a nudge and wink from UT, they could change their rules to require a simple majority (i.e. just 6 votes) to decide which new members to admit. In this case the Texas 4 could actually publicly vote against expansion and come out wringing their hands about how they tried to but just didnât have the votes to block expansion without UH.
The best hope might be to force a dumping of Baylor (very possible if the Texas Rangers open a serious investigation into BU football program and bring to light all the crimes being covered up by the school, and protected by BU friendly Waco judges and prosecutors), and add UH as a replacement. The Big 12 already owns the DFW-Austin market, so dumping BU wonât be a loss, while adding UH will be net gain (even if as many detractors may argue, itâs just a small gain).
Actually I think if we get all the political ducks lined up, we have a very good chance of making it to the Big 12, if the conference ever decides to grow to 12. Political pressure will not work to get us into the ACC or PAC.
We have a PAC that applies pressure in Austin already and has done a good job doing so. We have the Governorâs and Lt Governorâs ears and are in constant contact with not only our Coog alum leaders (one of which is the Governorâs chief of staff), but our representatives as well.
They are doing their best to position us for the future (College of Medicine has been a big focus as of late for obvious reasons), now we just need an opportunity.
Always felt like TCU got into the Big 12 cause it was coming off a win in the Rose Bowl and played in Fiesta Bowl year before and had gone to the College World Series year before. And there facilities compared to UH were more updated. They wanted 2 football schools to replace Missouri and A&M so picked the Orange Bowl Champion in West Virginia and Rose Bowl Champion in TCU. If UH had down there facility updates in 2011 when Big 12 was adding teams good chance UH would of been picked over UH. Now I think OU and Texas have one foot out the door. So they can add UH but theyâll be gone by time UH gets into Big 12.
If UH is admitted to the Big XII, I expect it to be like the Big East admission: with only one season left of the conference before the P5 go to P4 and have one from each P4 in the CFP.
TCU got it because Del Conte convinced Doddâs that TCU would sell their soul to UT to get in.
Houston wasnât in the conversation in 2011 due to Dodds hating us, A&M recommending us (which pissed Doddâs off even more), and the other schools not wanting to build our brand. TCU was seen as controllable because of their size. Houston is a threat to the Okie Stateâs, Iowa Stateâs, and Kansas Stateâs.
Big12 should have added Louisville at the time, but it probably turned out for the best considering the scandals at Louisville since.
TCU 2008 finished season #7
2009 finished #6
2010 finished #2
You say TCU sold its soul. I think they just showed they were committed to there athletic program and there football program was a top 10 program at the time. UH was trying to sell itself based on the Houston Market. TCU sold itself based on its athletic department.
Donât underestimate the effect of Del Conte slobbering all over DeLoss knob. Adding TCU made no sense. They got lucky in that ESPN was willing to let the Big 12 add any programs it wanted. TCU makes no sense. They donât add a new market, the Big 12 already owns the DFW market, and they have a tiny fan base. ESPN was letting DeLoss, and Chuck Neinas run the expansion, and DeLoss added the Texas program that stroked his ego the most! They should have added WVU & Louisville, or if they needed a Texas program, UH, but they went for TCU.
Markets donât mean everything. Look at Rutgers and Maryland and the Big 10. Has that really helped the big 10? Bet they regret taking them. TCU was the hot football program at the time. Still think it was the right choice. They should of brought in Louisville instead of West Virginia.
Not only was TCU the right choice, your comment about the market not being critical is evident in schools with much smaller markets having much better attendance and the fact that Houston has always been in the Houston market with an increasing number of potential fans / viewers but that hasnât translated to a slew of offers from other conferences.
Basketball is what the B1G was thinking when they got Rutgers. They have their conference championship game in Madison Square Garden. New York is more about basketball than football.
The B1G is also collecting millions in cable subscriber fees for the B1G network. The B1G commissioner knows what heâs doing. He has his conference distributing $51M per school, more than the SEC does.
This is the reason UH would be very valuable to the P12 or ACC. They can collect a lot of Houston cable subscriber fees for their conference network channels.
By market I mean exposure. The Big 12 already had a lot of exposure and presence in the DFW area. On the other hand the Big 12 has no presence in Houston and much smaller exposure. Adding UH (or Rice) would give the Big 12 with a lot of games in a market which the SEC is huge in.