https://twitter.com/AustinJState/status/1009576953916088321
Would have been great to bring in someone to replace Jenkins that actually knew how to use those weapons on offense. Instead…Kim Helton arrived.
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"For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these, “It might have been.” "
from Maud Muller by John Greenleaf Whittier
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How did the fanbase feel about jenkins back then and did you feel he got a fair shot to build the program?
I don’t know how other felt, but Jenkins reminded me a lot of Briles; just an incredible offensive mind, but paid no attention to the defense. If he had coached that '93 team, it’s possible we would have been to a nice bowl game.
Schedule was tough though: at USC, at Michigan, at A&M every other week for the first 5 weeks was a brutal setup. Still, we would have had a chance with Jenkins in those games. Instead, Helton came in, installed the pro-set offense and wasted Jimmy Klingler’s and Lamar Smith’s last year as we didn’t have the road-grade offensive linemen yet that could run that offense against decent teams. Ended up 1-9-1 instead with a win over Baylor and a tie against SMU.
Don’t get me wrong, Jenkins deserved to be fired based on what came out…no coach can survive the allegations (see Hugh Freeze at Ole Miss). Still, there were good coaches out there that could have been brought in to salvage something of the talent there. Helton was only brought in to clean up the program…no further thought about how he would run the offense/defense mattered to admin at the time. Dark times were coming.
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The administration saw football as a liability because of deficits.
The beginning of some dark times.
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Surely you’re not talking about the clips in the practice films of girls running on the beach and taking their tops off? I thought that the whole thing being offensive to the innocent boys on the team was silly. For a young man of college age to be offended by that is hard for me to comprehend. I think the main thing is we started losing and running up the score iritated many. I think Jenkins was perfectly suited for an OC, but as an HC, he wasn’t because he ignored the defense.
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No, he resigned because of the assistant that was fired and then reported NCAA recruiting violations.
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TU planted a coach on our staff (cant remember his name). He flipped on the program to the NCAA and the media. Violations were extremely minor. The public perception after the spin and narrative set by the Chronicle was not. Doomed Jenks. The Chronicle and TU are not our friends. Should be attacked at all times for anything and everything.
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Steve Staggs. Eventually sued UH for wrongful termination and settled out of court. Guy never worked in college football again.
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Did they look that good on the practice tape because they were good or because they were facing a terrible defense?
Typical academia wonks without vision.
Patrick you know my feeling toward Mr. Jenkins. No I do not believe that he should have been fired. In fact it perfectly illustrates this period in our history and what was to come. I was in the middle of it when it happened.
It is also noteworthy to point the real reasons why Mr. Pardee left for the Oilers. Did Mr. Pardee clearly understood what he was up against? We will never know. I would love to listen to his son on this very same subject.
So a Coach on his Coaching staff turned on him and accused him…Superb. How true or not were these? The same allegations were committed by every football program in these times and yes still exist today. The ncaa was in bed with uta and atm. Did someone got paid at the ncaa to come down on us? Yes, I can’t prove it but I have no doubt.
The fact is that our then administration was more than divided. Most hated sports and wanted to do away with it. The other fact is that it was superbly convenient for uta and atm to conspire with the ncaa…again. I have not doubt that every probation that were given to us was orchestrated by both of these so called “fine institute of higher learning”
I am not logical you might say?
Who benefited from these probation?
Who still benefits every single day from these probation?
Let’s just compare on how other programs have been punished for the same allegations. Yes, it does not even come close. SMU? Yes they sure were a thorn in their backside too.
I grant you that our defense was not great but a 10-1 was in IMO the best Coaching job that we ever had. I do hope that Mr. Jenkins comes back in some capacity. Poetic justice?
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I for one am a HUGE JJ fan. If he could just be an OC and give it hell, he could help anyone. He also LOVES UH! I am a 1985 grad and follwed that whole issue closely. I would welcome him back at least at a consultant level.
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I misspoke using the word “deserved.” I meant to say that there was no way that he could survive the allegations due to the media coverage of the “alleged” allegations as well as the fact that the administration’s attitude was turning against athletics.
Were there violations, probably…as you stated, everyone was doing it and UH was targeted as was common in Texas at the time if you weren’t named UT.
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This about sums it up. There is a reason staggs never coached again. And, it’s not that he was a “whistleblower” as the media gloriously portrayed him. It was a hit job from the beginning.
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Thank you RED80/Mike for forwarding me the HC article. I will try/or get help to get it posted.
Just watch every 30 for 30 on ESPN about Any SWC team and there are always former Dallas Morning News people “breaking the story”. Their sports group was nothing less than a hit squad for UT.
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This was also on the arrogance of the apathetic athletic department. We had 2 legends with Guy and Bill. We had Jack Pardee come in and made it look easy to win here again. As soon as he was an Oiler we were winning still, and winning big. It took one losing season and off fied garbage and the AD thought we could just do it again.
It happened in Basketball as well. Guy was replaced by Foster and as soon as we couldn’t win NCAA tournament games we threw the ball to Alvin and that sums up the 90’s for UH. No one at games, not winning, bad coaches and terrible systems to play with our abilities to recruit.
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Horn went for the knock out punch by keeping us out of the big 12. Used “tittygate” as one of the reasons. We’re back. Nothing. And, I mean nothing can hurt horn more than our success. They know this. However, by exiling us they have signed their own death warrant. We are far stronger now than we have ever been overall with athletics and academics. We shut down their htown incursion bid. We are out of their reach and growing stronger every year. Sick it horn.
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