Cheap alumni is due to some of our fans blowing money on dumb things like luxury cars, jewelry, having kids too early in their 20s, boats, designer clothing/accessories etc upon receiving the degree trying to appear successful without an established career.
I’ve seen too much of this from my classmates and people I went to UH with.
It’s hard to build generational alumni when our graduates send their kids to other universities instead of UH.
Many high school students in the local area see UH as a back-up option so that doesn’t help either.
Then add in the fact that UH was always transfer U for people who originally went to other schools and transferred back to UH when it didn’t work out so they just got the degree and left UH for good.
UH needs to address these 3 issues first before building a fanbase and producing dedicated graduates.
It goes beyond athletics to build for the future.
That’s what we see when comparing our student attendance to others. UCF, for example, has a huge on-campus population to draw from, and it’s also a more engaged fanbase among college students. That engagement in college leads to more support after graduation.
Regardless of the population make-up, I think attending UH is more often a business decision, where some other schools have other drivers. UH has historically had more students paying their own way, and even people who care about sports can’t make it to games and end up less connected to the school.
Your post reminded me of a couple in my Sunday school class back about 20 years ago complaining about the annual giving campaign. The woman said, “We can’t afford to give much to the church, heck my car note is $950.00 a month.”
This is why I always preferred to meet people in person at the parking lots whenever I give away or sell discounted tickets to see who they really are.
I had an upgrade to a suite at a UH football game years ago during the Herman years and listed my tickets to sell at a discounted price as long as they can make the Thursday night game.
Tell me why this guy still tried to haggle me and then he had the nerve to show up in an $80k Audi convertible with his wife wearing a Gucci purse.
Sounds like a problem with the administration if it’s been the same for so long. And it IS a problem with the administration so it’s a wonder we have the fans we have. I know I’ve gotten to the end of my rope.
I don’t know that this is simply a UH problem, as I see stories like this around Houston for things other than college sports as well. More of a city problem and UH is just stuck here.
If I were an athlete and all thing’s equal I’d probably prefer Florida over Houston. It’s a short horizon decision and they’re young. Not that it’s exclusively FL vs HOU. I think UCF has some nice qualities that make it attractive.
I listed my tickets at $10 for my seats and they had seat backs lol.
That is already discounted 80%
But this is common occurrence among our fans.
I get that you don’t want to over pay but at least look the part lol.
Trying to haggle in a luxury convertible with your wife wearing designer clothes and accessories is not a good look.
At least when I buy tickets from a fellow Coog, I don’t haggle if I know it is already being sold for a loss and below market price.
The pandemic exposed these people who try to look richer than they are.
They were the ones trying to sell their $80k luxury car/truck as fast as possible to keep themselves afloat.
Orlando isn’t a super metro like Houston, so probably most of their students are from outside of Orlando, whereas most of UH’s are from Houston. So what. We’re still a great school and our degrees are great too. Don’t let naysayers saying we’re a commuter school brainwash you into thinking we’re inferior.
