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The ACC understands they would be buying a growth stock. But one with the potential to "someday" become the "best" public University in the state of Texas...why? Location, Location, Location.
No other " big public" school in the state of Texas can claim they are in the heart of Houston, soon to be the 3rd largest city in the US, and are as connected to the business community (UH CEOs everywhere), political community (including a Coog as mayor) , and soon to be medical center (largest in the world) as is the University of Houston.
UH is never going to be the best public university in the state. It’s just not going to happen.
UH is never going to be the best public university in the state. It’s just not going to happen.
Not in our lifetime...but look at the projections for the city of Houston. The University of Houston will continue to grow. I expect it to become a UCLA type of school and then you have that look at the bigger picture from a location and connectivity standpoint.
The Third Ward will be gentrified into an urban district in a generation or two...its just a matter of time. So you'll have that with a campus with possibly 60,000+ students connected with mass transit to the rest of the city. By then, UH will further strengthen their connection with the business, medical, and political environments of the city. Our endowment will continue to grow by the billions.
In fact, UH had a campaign to raise $1 billion dollars in funds and they reached their goal 18 MONTHS EARLY so they are just continuing to see how much more they can raise by their deadline. Plus, many companies in the Houston metro are giving money to UH directly to create additional endowment funds. I know my last employer donated 250k directly...and they are a small company. All of this is because we don't get access to the PUF so UH finds their way around it.
I also strongly believe that you'll start to see a trend away from the smaller land grant schools and toward the more connected city schools with direct connections with the professional environment. This is why so many UH grads excel in the city of Houston....they figured it our early on
I'm also thinking it will become too expensive to run a school in the middle of nowhere. Think of a place like Ames, Iowa...Lubbock, Texas, etc. And then look at a relatively brand new school like University of Central Florida, located in Orlando, and how quickly they are growing.
Initially, these schools were placed to create "learning centers" where parents sent their college aged children but with increased communication is that really the case anymore?
I can't find the figures for OU-UH, but I was there. I remember either the Chronicle or one of the local tv channels estimated about 1/4 or 1/3 OU fans. I would agree with about 1/3 OU. That's in sold out Reliant Stadium (or whatever the heck it is called now). Point is, even programs like Vandy and Baylor get to play OU, UT, A&M, Tech, and TCU every year whereas UH gets a steady diet of schools that generate almost no local interest. Of course the attendance numbers will be lower for UH. But when UH plays a team with a strong regional draw, the fans show up. When UH is winning, the fans show up. The fans showed up for Tech, too. This is not 1990s UH. UH football attendance was an issue then. 2019 is a lot different, although the Applewhite era almost killed off all the momentum. Hence the reason to pull out all the stops and write a blank check to Dana from W. Virginia. UH still has a long way to go, but the trend is and has been upward for some while now.
Last edited by DanielWayne; 03-27-2019 at 08:16 PM..
Mike Gundy, Barry Switzer, and Dana Dimel (Kstate) are on record stating that UH would be a threat to their Big 12 recruiting. The Big 12 is afraid of taking off the AAC leash from UH.
"The concern is, and where that comment is coming from, is if your northern schools put a southern school, and another school in Texas, in the same league, that essentially is going to pull recruits from all of us," Gundy said. "That’s what it comes down to."
Former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer, who led the Sooners to three national championships during his 1973-88 run in Norman, said "it'd be a hell of a mistake" to let the Cougars into the Big 12 if the conference decides to expand, citing recruiting concerns.
Dimel's objection to Houston in the Big 12 is related mostly to recruiting. "You can recruit Houston. If they get into the Big 12 they will be tough to beat in recruiting, because of the proximity."
The point is, the Big 12 is afraid of competition from UH. Remember when Herman was at UH, UH was competing HEAD TO HEAD with UT and A&M for a handful of 4-5 star recruits. That's UH without all the P5 media attention, giant ESPN contracts, and mega payout bowl game affiliation that go hand in hand in a P5 conference. Remember when the Big 12 was in it's infancy? Baylor was practically winless for a couple of years, but they were raking in tons more conference money than UH was even when UH was at the top of their respective conference. It's easy to say UH can't do this or can't do that when you casually gloss over the benefits of P5 affiliation.
Non Texas big 12 schools may have a beef regarding recruiting. But I bet the real reason is they didn't want another Texas school in the conference. That would have brought the number to 5. Even the Pac 12 only has 4 teams from California and they think that's enough. Houston is just the odd man out and it is mostly thanks to Baylor and Texas Tech. I don't see Texas being interested in making a new Southwest Conference. 2025 will be interesting. That's when the GOR runs out and it is not a secret that OU and its fans are not all to happy with the Big 12. If they leave, the conference is pretty much done because Texas will not stay. As far as TCU, well they settled for them. If A&M stayed in the conference, TCU and Houston may have been conference mates.
Non Texas big 12 schools may have a beef regarding recruiting. But I bet the real reason is they didn't want another Texas school in the conference. That would have brought the number to 5. Even the Pac 12 only has 4 teams from California and they think that's enough. Houston is just the odd man out and it is mostly thanks to Baylor and Texas Tech. I don't see Texas being interested in making a new Southwest Conference. 2025 will be interesting. That's when the GOR runs out and it is not a secret that OU and its fans are not all to happy with the Big 12. If they leave, the conference is pretty much done because Texas will not stay. As far as TCU, well they settled for them. If A&M stayed in the conference, TCU and Houston may have been conference mates.
Good news because i'd rate the PAC, B1G, SEC, ACC ahead of the Big 12 anyway. All of those, except for the SEC, should be interested for the exact opposite reason why the Big 12 would not be.
It gives them a P5 presence in the largest city in the state of Texas!
Yeah PAC 12 would a LOT better for UH. The Big 12 already ran off a couple of it's members, so I'm sure UH is wary of how much autonomy it would have to give up in order to go P5 via that route. In the PAC 12 everybody is practically an equal whereas in the Big 12 there is one big giant running the show. Just ask the Aggies, Buffs, Huskers, and Mizzou.
I know it's just a radio guy, but on the ESPN affiliate 97.5 this morning one of the announcers said he predicted UH to be in the PAC 12 in 5-6 years. This is a rumor that has been going on for a while now. Another rumor is that UH met with the PAC 12 a few years ago and was told what they needed to improve. These are the rumors I like.
All of those schools voted for the same unequal revenue share that Texas, Kansas (who will never give up their tier three Jayhawks TV network), and OU voted for. Colorado really never wanted to be in the big 12. They always coveted the pac 10/12. I don’t ever see Houston getting a true invite to the Pac 12. Because while UH delivers the Houston market, it doesn’t command it and it doesn’t bring in the rest of the state like a Texas or A&M does. They could if the big 12 never breaks up but it is still a long shot. The best chance for Houston to reach a p5 is conference imo is for it to be regional. The Big 10 is out. ACC is out.
All of those, except for the SEC, should be interested for the exact opposite reason why the Big 12 would not be.
It gives them a P5 presence in the largest city in the state of Texas!
Nobody running these conferences care how big Houston is. College sports don't follow the same model of pro sports. They only care about how many people will tune into their conference network (B12 excepted, they don't have one and that's why nobody besides UT makes money)
Longhorns could end up getting left with a collapsed B12. Adding UH will change nothing about the fact that only UT in Austin makes money there. They'll either go Pac-12 and be saddled with a rough travel schedule, or be independent and possibly looking at the same.
Texas should probably try to lobby the SEC to allow them in before Oklahoma, ideally with promises of beaucoup SEC Network money from restarting the series with A&M. A&M will vote against because they want to be the only choice for Texas guys who want to play in their home state and in college ball's big league. Same way Georgia wouldn't want Georgia Tech in there, and especially why South Carolina wouldn't want Clemson in there. So the odds aren't good for the Longhorns in the SEC, let alone anyone else in the state. There are no SEC schools in Oklahoma, so the Sooners don't have this underlying political factor and there's no reason for the SEC not to scoop them up.
Pac-12 has multiple schools in several states, so they might actually want another Texas team to even out the travel a little bit. The best case for UH is positioning itself as a viable alternative to Tech or Baylor in the event of the B12's demise.
Nobody running these conferences care how big Houston is. College sports don't follow the same model of pro sports. They only care about how many people will tune into their conference network (B12 excepted, they don't have one and that's why nobody besides UT makes money)
Longhorns could end up getting left with a collapsed B12. Adding UH will change nothing about the fact that only UT in Austin makes money there. They'll either go Pac-12 and be saddled with a rough travel schedule, or be independent and possibly looking at the same.
Texas should probably try to lobby the SEC to allow them in before Oklahoma, ideally with promises of beaucoup SEC Network money from restarting the series with A&M. A&M will vote against because they want to be the only choice for Texas guys who want to play in their home state and in college ball's big league. Same way Georgia wouldn't want Georgia Tech in there, and especially why South Carolina wouldn't want Clemson in there. So the odds aren't good for the Longhorns in the SEC, let alone anyone else in the state. There are no SEC schools in Oklahoma, so the Sooners don't have this underlying political factor and there's no reason for the SEC not to scoop them up.
Pac-12 has multiple schools in several states, so they might actually want another Texas team to even out the travel a little bit. The best case for UH is positioning itself as a viable alternative to Tech or Baylor in the event of the B12's demise.
I agree with some of your points, but I don't think Texas is or should be worried about getting left with collapsed B12. First off, the B12 is probably in better shape than most of its detractors would say like with most things. But second, if it collapsed, it's not Texas that would get left. They'd be in good shape, lots of conferences would want what they bring to the table. It's someone like Baylor that would get left. I'm honestly not trying to run down Baylor. It's just an example and it's true, they wouldn't bring as much to the table to other conferences as a blue blood like Texas/OU. The latter schools would survive fine, it's more some of the other ones that would take a hit. I'm not saying it's fair but it is what it is. Last, I just think conference affiliation is overrated, at least between the P5 conferences (regardless of how well your conference is or isn't doing at any given moment), because (1) it's all cyclical and (2) we don't know what the whole conference picture will look like several years from now. It wasn't really that long ago Auburn ran the table in the SEC and didn't play in the championship. And then the SEC became the best and likely still is, but its two best teams got exposed in their last 2 games this year. Not that it means anything long term, but you just can't know the conference landscape and strengths years from now. Best to not be too tied into conference affiliation imo.
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