UH and UCF

Cougar Football
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UH has gone on a roller coaster since Art Briles became HC.
UH has had some success but before anything could be sustained the HC left for a better job. Thus UH either made a bad hire, Levine, Applewhite, or hired another HC with one foot out the door.
Levine recruited some of the best athletes seen on a UH FB team since Yeoman. But he was a good special teams coach, not a HC.

Now UH is going through another O change and the D is a total rebuild that could be good to very good next year.

So, let’s look at the best team that UH has played against in CUSA/American conference play.

UCF - They have won or been co-champions in the CUSA 2 TIMES.
2007 and 2010. They have won the American 4 TIMES, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2018. They also have a 5-3 record against UH.

What has been the foundation of the UCF FB team that has been missing at UH. George O’Leary. O’Leary was the UCF HC from 2004 to 2015. In his first year as HC when UCF was in the Mid-American conference he had an outstanding 0-11 season. Amazingly in his last season at UCF he had an 0-12 record. But it was what he did in the seasons between those 2 O-fer seasons that has made UCF the best G5 FB program in the country.

O’Leary teams in 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2012 won the East Division of the CUSA and in 2007 and 2010 won the CUSA Championship.

O’Leary teams won the American in 2013 and defeated Baylor (BIG12 co-champion) in the Fiesta Bowl. In 2014 UCF was co-champions of the American.

UH from 2004 to 2015 had won 3 CUSA West titles and 1 tie with Tulsa who won the tie breaker. UH won only 1 CUSA Championship during the O’Leary years. UH won the American in 2015 and the Peach Bowl.

But since 2015 UCF experienced the same outstanding talent base that UH had the year after 2-8 Yeoman retired.

UCF has now had 2 consecutive unbeaten regular seasons and has yet to be beaten in this year and can an American Conference team upset them this year?

UCF made a great hire Scott Frost who like Herman, inherited outstanding talent on both the D and O. Unlike Herman, he did not abandoned his team and defeated Auburn in the Peach Bowl and UCF had their first unbeaten season.

Frost left for Nebraska, but the O’Leary built program is humming along with another outstanding hire in Josh Heupel.The recruiting did not take a hit because Frost stayed with the team to the end and UCF kept most of the recruits.

So, this is a long way of saying UH needs a George O’Leary and if given the time UH may enjoy the type of success that UCF has enjoyed.

Is Holgorsen our O’Leary, no one knows. But with all the human outcry over UH beginning 1-3 with the schedule including one top 4 and one top 19 team, what would it be like if UH had a 0-12 season in 2019? Can’t happen, so 1-11?

Must win now is a societal issue but only one team can win the championship each year.

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I like a lot of what you said, but disagree with some of it. We had our O’Leary, it was Bill Yeoman. What UCF has done so well is to stick with the formula of getting the best coordinator they can hire to be their HC. Someone hungry to prove themselves. Their history in D1 hasn’t been as long as ours, but the administration is punching the right buttons and pulling the right strings.

Holgorsen can turn this around, but he needs to stop making excuses, and actually effecutate change. It reminds me of an addage in a movie, a president elect was entering the oval office and asked his predecessor for advice. The sitting president looked at him and said there are two letters in that drawer over there, when you get in trouble, read the first letter. He thought that was strange and moved on, not remembering the advice.

Then the new president’s first scandal happened, and he remembered the advice from his predecessor and opened the first letter. It said, “Blame everything on me.” He did and the scandal blew over. When another scandal hit, he opened the second letter. It said, “Sit down and write two letters…”

We are four games in and Holgorsen has already blown through letter one.

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Had we made a better head coaching hire after Lyin’ Herm, we’d be in a different position at the moment I believe. it’s tough to maintain momentum when a coach leaves and a coaching hire doesn’t pan out

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Very much agree. I have to remind myself that the contract stipulations that were placed on the new hire by our administration severely hamstrung the candidate pool. It is unfortunate, but the alternatives with the exception of maybe Les Miles wouldn’t have been better than Applewhite.

Someone can correct me if I am wrong, but the candidates were:

  • Major Applewhite
  • Todd Orlando
  • Lane Kiffin
  • Les Miles
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Think Lincoln Riley was in the mix early on, but i imagine we would’ve lost him to OU weeks later

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Yes, but not a finalist after he was informed he was the HC in Waiting.

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we’ve had one in 2002, why on earth would we want another…once is enough!

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Fixed it. I was a Junior. It was 2001.

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Otherwise the candidate pool was definitely… not inspiring. Think the buyout we wanted played its role for sure.

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I was a Junior in 2001 with 2 years left for my
5 year degree plan, thanks for fixing it. 2001 I remember the horrible feeling Football wise and National (Sept 11, 2001). Worst year ever, in my lifetime…

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I did not forget Bill Yeoman, I can remember sitting in the Astrodome watching UH play Colorado in the Bluebonnet Bowl. But Yeoman, our hall of fame coach would be the topic of hundreds, heck, thousands of negative posts on Coogfans today. Why? His first 4 seasons as a UH HC.

1962 7-4 won the Tangerine bowl.
1963 2-8
1964 2-6-1
1965 4-5-1

It was not until his 5th season that he had all his players and decided in desperation in 1964 to start using the veer or triple option that he was inventing. It did not materialize in on field wins until 1966 with players he recruited for that O.

Though I do not expect it, but UH can still only have 4 losses (losing to UCF) and win a bowl just like Yeoman did his first season at UH. As I just stated, I do not expect it, but it is still possible.

What UH needs is stability at HC and several years of solid recruiting classes. This is what was done at UCF, Washington St., Oklahoma St., and many other winning schools that are not members of the Blue Blood programs.This is what was done with George O’Leary in his 12 seasons as UCF HC.

Since then UCF has only had 2 seasons of Frost and 1 of Heupel.
Some of O’Leary’s freshmen class may still be on the team.

But yeah, Yeoman should have been fired after his 1965 team with a 15-23-2 record as HC of UH. Awful, get rid of the worthless bum. Win now, build a FB program at UT, Oklahoma, Alabama, etc.

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Yeah but UCF has had 2 o-fer seasons under O’Leary and did not retire him until the last one when the game had passed him by. Oh, and they now have 2 unbeaten regular seasons back to back.

Someday, yeah someday UH may get an undefeated season when after the bowl game we can say 14-0. Would be great if it was 15-0 but right now we are not members of the P5 Equity FB Country club.

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UCF will likely lose Heupel soon. Memphis will likely lose Norvell soon. It is not guaranteed that they will land another outstanding coach when it happens.

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Currently. I think Boise St was that program before UCF and, to your point, they had stability at the HC position.

Also, with O’Leary at UCF note the up and down nature of his seasons. Sometimes you peak with an experienced class and then may have a lull. I am not sure how Dana gets both offense and defense to peak at the same time but I hope he can figure it out.

Will UH “supporters” stick with him and truly support him in his efforts OR will the “win now” mentality eat into the fan base?

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The big question for next year is how well Holgerson uses the Portal for O transfers and still acquires some JUCO’s and HS players. The portal helps teams to get a player like Eyabi Anoma who as a FR does not think twice about a UH offer. Unless his brother is on the team and his father is pressuring him to play with his brother.

But right now the 6’5 250 lb LB, consensus 5 star, SEC All FR Team, is on our practice squad. UH can acquire a passing QB through the portal, especially an Air Raid grad transfer QB who is eligible, a couple of WR’s and maybe an OL or two. Each with several years of eligibility because of the popularity of Holgerson.

UH BB will be good next year with the addition of the Towson transfer, Justin Gorham. If Kansas 5 star transfer, Quentin Grimes becomes eligible, look out. It is a new recruiting tool for UH.

Unhappy players who have talent but are among 3-4 deep position players who are 4-5 star, now are wanting to transfer through the portal. Not everyone can get playing time with OSU, LSU, Clemson, Georgia, Alabama, and a few other blue blood programs. It’s not that they are not talented, just inexperienced and do not want to wait and possibly get passed over by next years 4-5 star player.

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I just don’t think Orlando would have been any better than Applewhite. Think about, would he have hired Coach No-D? Well, he certainly recommended him when Applewhite was looking.
Miles might have been decent, but explain to me exactly how hot a commodity he was at the time…Kiffin was a joke and probably like Applewhite…a decent assistant.
Bottom line is that any of these guys probably would have used us as a opportunity to go to the next level, just like everyone else has since the SWC folded.
If DH wins here, and I think he will, he will hang around as long as we pay the big bucks…
Yes, we could be 3-1 now, but right now we are all sweating for 2-3.
Somewhere down the line the kids that have adapted to his style are going to gel and we are going to be very good…now put that in your pipe and…

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You are correct about everything, but this is a different era. In those days playing in bowl game was a big deal, and the season was only 10 games. There was no ESPN to corrupt/ruin the game. If we are going to be considered for a conference upgrade, we have to win big every season. UCF has done this correctly, someone on Cullen Blvd. should take note.

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I think someone on Cullen has taken notice, whether the action they took turns out to be good or not so good, I think they’ve all noticed. UCF, I read recently, has stepped up their game because they’re recruiting players who used to go to Miami U.

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UH supporters will stick with CDH and support him while he builds a team. The fair weather, band wagon guys will fall away and come back when we are winning big again. Of course they will claim to have always been fans, but that is just the way things are.

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I’ve mentioned this years ago but its worth repeating.
You can be more successful than Boise St. or UCF and NEVER GET INTO the P5 equity FB country club.

An equity country club is like River Oaks or the Dallas Country Club.
To quote an article written in 2014 in the D magazine in Dallas on the most exclusive private country clubs in Dallas. This is said about what it takes to become a member of the Dallas Country Club.

“Prospective members don’t approach the club seeking admittance-they can only be invited in. Even then, it can take seven years on average for an application to wend its way toward final approval. And, it just takes two members to blackball an aspiring member.”

So UH wanted to join the BIG12 Equity FB Country Club with resume and money in hand along with several other American conference teams. Everyone got blackballed.

ESPN/Media Corps. and Advertisers make the decision of who they will accept as a new P5 team or not by way of who they will pay for or not. They have the ultimate blackball vote.

What UH needs to do is improve each year, keep stability at HC and be a Boise St. type team in the American. Yes UH has a lot to offer and can get better. But I quickly channel surfed on free TV and saw Fox and ABC having BIG only teams this morning. The P5 brand is developed and protected just like membership into River Oaks Country Club.

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