The Fruits of Houston’s Tanking

Oof. It looks like part of the disconnect is that some people don’t actually know what tanking is or isn’t. A few definitions:

  • (in sports) deliberately lose or fail to finish (a game).

  • a strategy of sports teams intentionally fielding losing teams in order to gain benefits that pay off later

  • the practice of intentionally fielding non-competitive teams to take advantage of league rules that benefit losing teams.

2 Likes

My point comes back to that second bullet point you just posted. Thanks for doing that for me!

looks better if we own up to it…instead of aimlessly trying to defend it, hopefully it pays off

1 Like

I have to call BS. Not once last season did I watch a UH football team “intentionally field a losing team.” Did any of you? And if you think so, which game was that in?

1 Like

Any game that D’Eriq King, Mulbah Car, Keith Corbin, Gleson Sprewell, etc. did not play in. Which was a lot.

I don’t know if tanking is the right word but we certainly did something in that direction. We used the rules to our advantage.

That word just doesn’t bother me like most. Call it what you want. If it works, I’ll call it smart.

1 Like

I agree. I’m not mad at all that we did it. But people need to quit acting like we put the best team out on the field that we possibly could. News flash, we didn’t.

1 Like

I don’t think people are saying by us not putting the “best” team we possibly could on the field, we were intentionally trying to lose. Even with those stars sitting out, the team still fought hard and tried to win. Unfortunately, the results(not winning) were directly related to not having those guys on the field.

But let’s not confuse the actual intentions of the team due to the decision to red shirt players. The guys who played fought hard and that will carryover into next year. Imagine being in a close game with other AAC powers and your team doesnt fold due to having been through worse. That type of determination and grit rubs off on freshmen and new Coogs. That’s how you rebuild a broken program.

People are enamored with having King and company back; I’m more fascinated with the overall culture change. CDH will look like a genius soon enough.

3 Likes

why should we? Is your suggestion that a team should always play every good player on the roster no matter the circumstances? Only then is the team considered “not tanking”?

There are many strategic reasons for not playing your best players every game. Are you implying NFL preseason should be called NFL Tank Season? Sitting good players at the end of the season prior to playoffs so they dont get hurt is tanking?

Your attempt to place a negative moniker on the Coogs just doesn’t work for me. There are several ways to spin this situation, some negative some positive but the outcomes are the same. Nothing to see here folks. It dont mean nothing!

1 Like

You could make a similar argument for the 2011-2014 Astros. Their players and manager wanted to win games but most think the organization tanked. I realize they got top draft picks for being terrible but we got something too.

This has become a weird semantics argument on the word tanked. Like I said before - tanking may not be the right word but we did something in that direction. I know I’m in the minority but the word doesn’t bother me. It didn’t bother me when the Astros did it either and people said it.

1 Like

That is a stretch and not even close to a fair comparison. Winning is not the top goal in an NFL preseason game. We weren’t playing preseason games last year.

You could easily argue they are tanking those games. Of course they aren’t tanking the season because they’ve already locked in their playoff spot. Those games are meaningless to the team going to playoffs. We weren’t playing meaningless games this year.

Aren’t there strategic reasons for not fielding your best possible team in the NFL? See, we’re getting closer here.

I don’t ever want to hear the word “tanking” used again for teams not fielding their best team to get a high draft choice. Their strategic reason to not fielding their best team was to get a high draft choice. Ours was to get King another year of eligibility with a much better roster around him.

There is one tangible difference between our situations and say the Miami Dolphins or Cincinnati Bengals.

The Bengals and Dolphins knew with 100% certainty they were going to get a good draft pick. They traded away many of their better players in order to lose, all while getting draft picks in return.

By redshirting a senior QB, he is hoping that he comes back net year. But, and if you read some of the threads on this board, that is no certainty. It’s a calculated risk and CDH gets nothing in return, except maybe a returning player. CDH did not set out to lose. And, anyone that watched King, could see he was not the same player he was in 2018.

I think the rules should be changed back. No reason we or anyone else need to do this. Gives the illusion of taking advantage of rules just because you are having a bad season. My two cents.

We wouldn’t need to do this if coaches were redshirting young players and trying to build a quality program. Instead we have coaches throwing every log on the fire trying to win fast so they can get a bigger job offer.

2 Likes

Yes, we (Houston) are trendsetters, not followers!

2 Likes

CDH made the best of a bad situation. He had complained about or lack-thereof a redshirt program.

In baseball, rosters expand at the end of the season. Personally, I like the idea of being able use any 4 games. I feel it gives you a better chance to evaluate the players under different settings. Plus, look at Tune. He lost a season because Applewhite threw him in a late season game. after the fourth game.

2 Likes

It’s well within the rules, and once becoming the norm, it won’t look like programs are taking negative advantages of the rules. The question is will it change?

1 Like

Some of our Senior players have now had three head coach’s. Think about it. The Lying Coach had no thoughts of being here long, in fact began interviewing for the South Carolina job after being herer for only 6 months! Applewood did not know what he was doing. Lack of recruiting equals lack of depth. It had to be done. Period. Whether you red shirted upper classmen or not, it had to be done. Holgo is here for the long term, we will turn it around next year, more depth, more wins, equals more and better recruits.

4 Likes

I would also like to add attendance to your already awesome list!

2 Likes