92010Coogs
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142
Ziggy1983 brought up the following:
By 1983 we are about the same age. I attended U of H later and graduated in 1994…The same deplorable attitude from our administration happened in the early/mid 90’s but even worse. In fact our then administration wanted to shut down our football program for good. Many on this site do not even have a clue this happened.
The following is key to our future success.
We suffered seven major set backs from the 1960’s at the hand of the uta/ncaa. Anyone denying it has no clues, none on why we have this issue. The damage caused has never been talked about but our lack of attendance is at the core of these seven major set backs.
Who, which program could/can sustain these kind of set backs? I can’t think of one program that has gone through what we did. Even smu with its death penalty did not endure what we went through. We never had the luxury of the $B’s that smu has. We are a public school that was HIT regularly by another Texas public university. Let’s call a spade a spade. That university saw us as a major hindrance to their success. You don’t believe me? Then why was uta “in bed” with the ncaa?
Now we find ourselves in a position that we have not experienced prior to our first probation and without uta.
Can a plan be put together to erase these seven major set backs with the help of Red Bird Capital, Yormark and the entire BIG12? I sure would like to see it happen. One more time, a thriving U of H is what the BIG12 needs.
When you know you have a problem you need to analyze on how you can solve this problem.
Ziggy1983 mentioned students attending in the 80’s. The same is true for my time period.
The following is key. We have anywhere from five thousands to seven thousands students attend game. The main question is how can we get more students into our stadium.
The BIG12 needs a thriving U of H program including sold out games, many sold out games. What can this new equity firm do to help our attendance? This has to be discussed between Red Bird Capital, Yormark, Mrs Khator and Eddie Nunez. Does it mean Red Bird Capital helping with our ticket prices? Again, think about this as a long term project that will pay ten fold in the future.
Could Red Bird Capital do this with a Boise State program yes and no. The Greater Houston area is a unique marketing treasure chest. By being so unique it represents an untapped market. Remember friends, seven major set backs resulted/results into the situation we find ourselves in.
Is our campus an area where people want to come? Clearly this has been an issue for decades and can’t be ignore. But think about the following. A regularly packed TDECU stadium will bring new business opportunities. Our campus does not 15 bars, five hotels or 12 grocery stores. It needs a few “patrons” Some other campus have businesses that are only open two or three days a week. Can we do the same thing. That has to be looked at.
I’ll preface this with a few things. I haven’t read the entirety of the thread, I don’t post “often,” and I’ve been attending games since the Kolb era and remember Blake Joseph and Case Keenum splitting game time. The following are my opinions as to why people do not go to TDECU:
The general Houston population is “lazy,” if it takes over 30 minutes to arrive somewhere, doubt and excuses to not go somewhere begin to creep in.
For the general public AND even some alumni, the gameday experience is too “chaotic.” It is my belief that the majority of people are willing to pay to park, without issue, if it is “easy,” and has a “simple” SOP. Parking at NRG is “easy” and no one bats an eye at $50, queue in your car here, pay, park, done. Once you start involving different colored lots and parking passes, etc. that just creates friction for your general Houstonian.
The next item I repeatedly witnessed during the Keenum-Robertson days. People don’t know what to do and/or what’s available for them to do, once they arrive. I would have people approach me at the tailgate I was invited to and ASK where they could go to have “fun,” I would try my best to advise them, but even as an alum, I didn’t always have the best answer for them.
If there was a well known culture of, “let’s gather here and then go to the game,” UH would have more casual fans show up.
I believe if you just simplified arrival parking and had a place and/or places for non-tailgaters to gather pre-game that was easy, obvious and welcoming it would make a world of difference.
Had it been Houston with a lack of fans in the stands in a bowl game, the low attendance narrative would have played out. Somehow other teams are exempt for low attendance?
Biggest game of the season for Tech in the playoffs and they didn’t travel well either.
I agree with you. IMHO, the PUF was the start of our problems (and the MAIN reason I detest the cows) and one reason our growth has been slow. ANY conversation we have without mentioning the PUF is NOT fair to UH. In the past we weren’t able to throw a bunch of money around and still really don’t.
It is a tribute to our perseverance that we have come as far as we have, We did what we could with what we had.
Every time I come home I go by the campus and a amazed by what I see. The improvements and changes are amazing. Dr Khator had a vision and its working. We just have to keep it going. It is my belief that money and investment begets MORE money and investment. Having Yormark involved and getting the Big 12 money will be huge.
I just hope UH has the fortitude to continue to develop the area around the campus. Yes, we will dislodge people and the ‘wokesters’ will be screaming, but people dislodged will get fair market value and the people who stay will see property values climb accordingly. I would also like to point out the people who will scream the loudest don’t live anywhere near our campus.
Another thing that people miss is we have a number of HISD schools near us that will benefit directly from our presence. Maybe I am dreaming but I still believe UH is turning into something special.
I was attending undergraduate and law school from 9/66 to 12/72. You mentioned the PUF which is an obvious benefit to two schools. However, without the benefit of PUF during my tenure we built 19 major buildings. School was always something of an obstacle course. I never could figure it out. However we have always had a fairly solid number of legislators. I guess they just worked a little harder than others. We were just coming off a period when we were a private school. Once we became public there was quite a demand.
The only other explanation I have came from CBY. He told me that President Philip Hoffman had great contacts with the downtown business community and could get him into any boardroom that he wanted. Ancient history but no otherTexas college has ever built that many buildings that fast.
I LOVE that we did. It only proves sometimes the path between two points is not a straight line… Btw 1977-1983.
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92010Coogs
(What's another word for Thesaurus?)
156
The reason why I brought up this equity firm into this is because it represents unique opportunity for us but even more importantly a unique opportunity for the BIG12 to build a major foothold in the soon to be third largest city in the U.S. This is the worst outcome that uta and atm could envision. Both fought with the ncaa for decades to have us dismissed every chance they could get. They are no longer in control…for now.
Equity firms typically operate in three to five years cycles. That is the down side. Red Bird Capital, Yormark and Khator through this could be an historical "marriage: made in heaven.
Honestly Tech fans had better turn out than Oregon, Bama, and Ohio St in their playoff game. They have nothing to be ashamed of on that front. Now their offense on the other hand… lol
The Rose Bowl is a big deal to the locals so it always sells 90k+ tickets. So probably a good 30-50k of that was neutral fans. I have it on good authority though that the Bama turnout was pitiful and that IU fans massively outnumbered them. Which makes sense because it was the biggest game in their history and generally speaking the Rose Bowl is a much bigger deal to B10 fans than SEC fans. Also this may surprise people but Indiana has the largest living alumni base, so they have the potential to have a massive fan base if they sustain this kind of success.
