UH needs to hire a new GM type position for Football

But if Applewhite is successful he likely gets poached too… that’s why you need someone above Applewhite that can maintain “the system.” :slight_smile:

C’mon man let’s get real. There is no “system”, there is only the UH way of doing things. And that will always be affected significantly by our head coaches. Just look at CKS on the hoops side of things.

A g5 team could win the title. There hasn’t been a g5 team remotely capable…including UCF.

BS. In the current system, no G5 team would ever be selected for the 4 team playoffs.

The g5 conferences need to improve their top to bottom quality of play to be seriously considered.

We had a an upward trajectory towards the top four the last time we had a great season. But every year 30-40% of our conference is pretty bad. And you can’t lose to a pig and still be considered playoff-worthy.

To the OP. Do you have an MBA or are working towards one?

Because what you posted which by all means is agreeable and goodly sounds like a business school answer.

But we are not a business we are an institution and we should act like it. No room for a GM.

@ HCNY. I am not the OP but can you explain what you mean by an “institution?”

As far as I’m concerned great leadership, organizational, and management skills transcend all types of entities (i.e., military, business, churches, universities).

It’s clear to me that UH has to change in order to develop a P5-worthy football program. From my perspective the football program is in disarray.

Well hiring someone (a GM or whatever you may want to call it) for ~$200,000/year is hardly going to resolve the humongous discrepancy in coaching compensation between UH and the Top 10 P5’s of college FB.

On the other hand, if you were able to contribute an additional ~$10,000,000/year toward UH football coaching compensation, then you could help stabilize the UH FB coaching staff with a group of Top 10 coaches who are paid Top 10 national salaries.

Do you happen to know anyone who is willing and able to contribute ~$10M/year to the cause - to bring the UH FB coaching staff’s salary in line with the likes of Alabama, Texas A&M, Ohio State, Michigan, Texas, Oklahoma, Clemson & Florida State - just to name a few?

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Did I forget to mention “out of the box” and “innovative” thinking… of course we can’t throw money at the problem!

My only hope is that Tillman and Khator are cooking up something… they aren’t stupid and they can’t be happy with what is going on…

Tilman has other Basketball issues !!

Right! He has his own coaching issues doesn’t he! :slight_smile:

Right ! And since all kinda stuff starts on this forum I heard that CKS was headed to downtown to meet Fertitta to uhhh just talk. :stuck_out_tongue: Yep right b4 huge game for athletes, students, school. Seen that one before ? That’s All !!

That is just wrong!!:grin:

HCNY,

Yes I have an MBA from UH. Part of the benefit of earning that degree is that you have the tools to identify a problem and come up with possible solutions…even outside the box solutions Yes, t UH football is not a typical business, per say, but they have elements that we can be in front of and we can work at streamlining the COMPLETE process.

To answer some questions here:

  1. Where will the money come form? Well, it looks like Florida State is set to send us $1,000,000. We could create this position at a rate of $200,000 per year for 5 years. Or $250,000 per year for 4 years. It will be paid with the buyout money from Florida State.

  2. Role of the GM. This role would be a jack of all trades type role that helps to make sure we streamline what WE define as UH culture. Over the past decade we have enough examples to see that hungry ambitious coaches who WANT to use UH to better their career seem to leave us better than they found us (Briles, Sumlin, Herman, etc.) and they bring the spotlight to UH in the process yet coaches who want to be lifers, or with mediocre resumes, seem to leave us WORSE off (Levine, Applewhite, etc.) .

I am brainstorming here so feel free to add or comment but her’s a first stab at teh job duties of this position.

Job Duties of the GM Position

Football
-If needed, identify head coaches that fit in with the criteria of what we want to achieve at the University of Houston, despite their intentions. We need to establish a structure so we can PLUG our type of coach into OUR culture. If he leaves…great…if he stays …icing on the cake.
-Assists the head coach in determining which media opportunities are beneficial. The GM would also assist the HC with a message that is consistent with the culture of the University of Houston football. OUR MISSION STATEMENT AND OUR CULTURE.
-ALIGN our recruiting and marketing. I don’t know if UH, or Herman, came up with the H-Town takeover but we need consistency and it needs to be directed from the University. The GM would make sure this process is aligned. Say, we went with a recruiting/marketing slogan of Houston All Stars…as in we WANT you to play for the University of Houston, a team primarily comprised of the best talent in the city of Houston plus other talent. That’s just an example but we have to step up our recruiting.

Marketing- I think this area requires a ton of work so I’ll let some other here chime in on how this GM can help

Student Outreach
-The GM would reach out and organize a group of student leaders to generate support and passion for the UH football program. He/She would help guide these students but the students would run this program. They could do things like…Knocking on dorm doors to invite fellow students to the games. Organizing in game forms of support. Approaching professors to have them mention the games in their classes. etc.

Alumni Outreach

  • The GM can even work with and assist volunteer alumni groups to help generate support for the football program. Maybe help organize booth for season ticket drives. Maybe approaching some business with a large amount of UH alums and inviting them to the games.

Community Outreach
UH is also not tapping into all it can in the Houston community. The GM can help direct this as well. Maybe, work with HISD (or other large school districts) to create UH Football game events.

Educate the Media
The GM position would also be sure to make sure positive news about UH and its season is known. Nationally televised games, TV ratings, etc.

Monitor Conference Realignment
The GM would keep a pulse on where we stand with the Power Conferences and what we need to do to be a more attractive candidate.

I’m sure there are others to add to this list but the point is that Renu and Tilamn and our AD have their duties…this job could help and keep an eye out on the rest . If decided, this GM can handle similar duties in regards to the Basketball Program…so He/She would be working on our 2 biggest sports.

These are just some ideas the GM can help stream line. YES, we are doing these things in bits and pieces, bu the sole job of the GM would be to streamline or align these elements so we have a noticeable University of Houston Football culture. So, when a coach (or AD) leaves, we aren’t starting form scratch…we just plug in the new coach/AD and move on.

And some here have mentioned that Pezman is a UH alum…all I have to say is that I hope he stays and that he is 100% committed and loyal but we have been burned by 2 UH alums, as coach (Briles and baby Briles) so assume nothing.

Quite a Thesis you put together! What if new GM leaves after first year. :stuck_out_tongue::joy:

You’re contradicting yourself… first you say it’s a cash disparity, but then you talk about how we need improve the quality of play from top to bottom. The P5 gets the cash with a ratio of 20-1, they get the recruits, and they get the coaches.

How do you propose the G5 keep up?

I’m not contradicting anything. It’s not easy but TCU did it. There were times at the end before they were selected by the b12 when the media already talked about them like a national power. You have to have a long term vision. We have it, but we can’t run Tulane, ECU, Uconn and Tulsa. They have to figure it out.

TCU had a few billionaires funding their program, so they were an exceptional case as is Oregon with Mr. Nike.

The reason that the TCU coach hasn’t been seen interviewing is because he is probably making more $$$ than any other coach in the Big 12 - and that’s saying a lot with both UT and OU paying their coaches some big buck$$$.

TCU gained entrance into the BIG 12 the hard way. They earned it.

They won games. They won MWC championships. They won bowl games. From 2005 through 2011, TCU went 77-13 and won 7 out of 8 bowl games. During this period, TCU won 11 games per season or better. Their worst season was 2007 when they went 8-5 and beat UH in the Texas Bowl.

Another advantage is that Gary Patterson has remained as their head coach. He’s the Bill Yeoman of their program, maybe better.

There is no magic bullet for UH. We have to look no further than to TCU as an example.

We need to win games. We need to win conference championships and bowl games. We need consistency and tenure at the head coach position and staff.

Do this and we’ll earn our P5 invitation ,or at the very least we’ll dominate the AAC and become a regular fixture to a NY6 Bowl.

All the duties described for a GM are already the duties of our AD.

Most of the problems with UH football come from recruiting failures. Absolutely no Head Coach in forever has brought in top classes regularly.

As stated above Gary Patterson at TCU did. Thus their rise to a National Power and inclusion in The Big 12.

It won’t matter who are our Offensive/Defensive Coordinators are if we do not have talent. Indeed that is true anywhere.

Applewhite must show a break through in recruiting. Then we will win big and the fans will come, as we saw in 2015-2016.