Joining one of the top conferences in the country was a mistake?
You’re flying over the shark now
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You’re ridiculous. I mention Aggy getting as many or more probations as UH and point out that our athletic administration and program were at their nadir, so maybe I’m really an Aggie posing as a Cougar. We pretty much blew it. It’s as simple as that despite your need to find scapegoats.
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Not really. A UT or ATM is THE thing to do in Austin and Collie Station. They are there to see and be seen while they network.
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Yeah, really. Gerald is absolutely right. And those 100k crowds for FCS and G5 opponents don’t just include people from College Station and Austin. Fans from the Houston area and all over the state go to Kyle Field and DKR for games.
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SWC team records 1991-95:
TAMU 51-8
UT 34-22
BU 34-24
TTU 32-26
TCU 26-29
RU 23-31
UH 12-42
SMU 10-42
With the exception of TAMU, the SWC wasn’t exactly setting the world on fire. The low point in our program occurred at a very bad time for us. Interesting how the “bottom 4” programs that were left behind happen to be in the state’s top recruiting regions. IMHO, that was the cherry on top for the schools that went to the B12.
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Chris, the SWC teams assumed we would come in and be like TT, generally have a good enough team to give UT, Arkansas, and aTm a quality win, but not good enough to actually win the conference. When we won it 3 out of the first 4 years, it set off all kinds of alarms in Austin, Fayetteville, and College Station. But to be honest, I am not sure how much input aTm had.
Maybe reading this article will help you younger guys understand some of the things we older guys talk about.
SHEPARD ARTICLE.pdf (133.8 KB)
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What happened in the 70s had no effect on UH allowing its athletic administration to become completely incompetent in the 90s, nor were the 70s responsible for a five-year record of 12-42 and an almost non-existent fan base. Texas and A&M had every reason to move into a better conference with more visibility and markets. The only reason Tech and Baylor got in was because of the efforts of Bob Bullock, David Sibley, John Montford, and Pete Laney but primarily Bullock and Sibley.
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Our administration was horrible at the end of the SWC. But lets not act like we didn’t do anything since our first few years of the SWC and we were a drag on the conference. There was a Heisman that was won, there were a few top 25 finishes and a few all americans. Our basketball progrm under Pat Foster was probably the second best program in the SWC behind Arkansas. Our basketball progam from Alvin to Clyde to Ray was pretty awful.
Lets also not act like Texas didn’t do anything to keep us out and it was all on us. There are lots of reports saying the Big 8 schools wanted us instead of Baylor but Deloss Dodds said if we were included Texas would not be.
So there is truth on both sides. Yes we were incompetent and stupid. Yes Texas did torpedo us.
By the way the University of Texas still owns the Houston land…hmmmm…
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My problem isn’t with what happened at the end up the SWC, its what TCU and Houston both did once the didn’t get invites to the XII. TCU went and became basically so good you couldn’t exclude them the next time the dice rolled, we did not.
We need consistent excellence (obviously easier said than done) instead of a blip here and there.
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UH was a drag on the conference in its last few years, and that wasn’t because Texas was trying to “keep us down.”
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We did suck in those last few seasons.
That said, there have literally been BOOKS written about how it was the work of Bob Bullock, and the acquiescence of Ann Richards, that got Baylor into the Big 12 over us.
Make no mistake…getting that Church School in over UH was a move pressured by certain politicians then in office.
Had nothing to do with our recent performance at the time.
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Yes, I said as much in an earlier post. No question that Bullock got Baylor and Tech into the Big 12, but there wouldn’t have been much point in Texas and Aggy leaving if they were going to bring everyone along with them. Very unfortunately, the SWC imploded when we were at our absolute nadir as a program, and that was mostly due to incompetence and a revolving door in the athletic department.
The last few years yeah we were bad. But our history was such that no one expected us to be bad forever. We would have been competitive in the Big 12. We would be now as well.
Texas didn’t want us in. There was and still is bad blood between the schools.
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Not just sports performance but also performance of our administration.
Our political power was so bad that we couldn’t even get the houston city council to let us put UH logos on the street signs through campus.
As far as whether we would have been competitive in the big 12, who knows. We have never lived up to our self professed potential even in the conferences we’ve been in since then.
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“Come on man “ !
Don’t introduce any facts into this issue !
Facts from 1977? No one denies that the University of Texas has always been a very powerful institution and didn’t look kindly on UH entering the SWC and winning the title. That doesn’t mean that UT had it out for us in the mid-90s when the Big 12 was being formed. That was about the changing television landscape and the paucity of performance and fans at other SWC schools. Arkansas didn’t give us the side-eye when they left the SWC a few years earlier for the same reasons UT and Aggy did.
Most of the UT fans/grads I know that are my age and younger have almost no feeling toward UH at all.
The ones who care about realignment do wish that UH was taken instead of Baylor in hindsight.
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Let me tell you Sam how “ridiculous” I am.
U of H comes into the SWC and wins the SWC.
Did you think uta and atm loved it that we won?
The answer comes right after.
The ncaa starts knocking on our door.
We are now on probation
Did that kill any momentum?
We got off probation
We start winning again
The ncaa comes knocking on our door
We are on probation again
Did that kill any momentum?
That time the ncaa, uta and atm made damn sure we would be “put down”
Look it up Sam. uta, atm for the same infraction got a slap on the wrist. surely you will deny that too?
Was that a coincidence Sam?
Andre Ware wins the Heisman despite every effort from our SWC foes and without being on TV. Great SWC friends we have.
The next year we finish 10-1 while on probation. David Klinger is not considered for the Heisman after an amazing season. What that a coincidence too.
Did that kill any momentum?
Every single time we were “breaking through” either a probation or a coaching change stopped our momentum. For any program if spells trouble. For an independent young program to a newly included SWC member it spells disaster. The fact is we never had “clear sky” while we were in a P5. I was in school in the early 90’s. Were you Sam? Our administration that was never into sports had enough. Was that orchestrated by others? Why shouldn’t think it was especially what with happened since we joined the SWC?
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We were on probation before we entered the SWC, and we continued that tradition after we joined. Actually, I think A&M has been on probation more than UH. Keep believing the conspiracy theories. Everyone, especially Texas, is out to get us!
It us untrue that Houston was wanted by the Big 8 schools. Chuck Neinas the commissioner of the Big 8 at the time stated that ESPN told him that ESPN wanted Texas and Texas A&M and they would accept two others and that is it and they did not care who the other two were.
Here are reports that make that clear.
https://www.si.com/college/2016/08/16/big-12-expansion-oral-history-big-8-swc-merger
Meanwhile, ABC/ESPN got involved.
Chuck Neinas, Big Eight commissioner from 1971–80, executive director of the CFA from 1980–97: ESPN did not want all the members. They wanted eight from the Big Eight and they’d take four from the Southwest Conference. Obviously, the two they wanted most were Texas and Texas A&M. I received a call from Loren Matthews, who was a key executive with ESPN with whom I had developed a good relationship. And Loren told me, he said, “Here’s my problem. We want the Big Eight, but we don’t want all of the Southwest Conference.” I said, “Well, just let me make some phone calls, and I’m sure they’ll get back to you.” So I called DeLoss Dodds at Texas, Donnie Duncan at Oklahoma and Bill Byrne at Nebraska, and the rest is history.
There is nothing at all that indicates that ESPN cared about who the other two were with UT and A&M
Britton Banowsky, executive director, College Football Playoff Foundation, former SWC assistant commissioner: I think it made a huge imprint on the growth of college football. And I think it was a key part of the overall mosaic of college football.
Banowsky: It got to the point where I think the Big Eight guys said, “As long as Texas and Texas A&M are in the deal, we’re gonna give you two more spots. You guys figure it out and tell us who they are.”
As the merger neared, Texas politics played a key role in who went to the Big 12 and who didn’t.
The above makes it clear that the Big 8 (after ESPN told them Texas and A&M and only 2 others) did not care who the other two were. It states clearly the Big 8 told the SWC they could figure out who the other two were.
Those are quotes from the commissioner of the Big 8 Chuck Neinas and an assistant commissioner of the SWC both of whom are still highly involved in college sports and are highly respected.
I see no evidence that UH was wanted by the Big 8 schools at al anywhere much less “lots of them”. I see no reports that Texas made any demands about UH being in or not.
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