Where do you see that in his bio? What I read was: -Author of Houston's Best Dive Bars -Co-author of Murder & Mayhem in Houston -full-time journalist in the Houston for the last 14 years -walked a total of more than 200 miles of Houston streets on about a dozen different trips, writing about the adventures as part of the “Sole of Houston” blog series -covered crime, courts and culture for the Press -Senior Editor with Texas Monthly. I mean, that is a Houston guy. Also, it's really hypocritical to cite an article from TM that you like while dismissing another one entirely. The winner of the Big 12 (OU) was placed into the college football playoffs ahead of the Pac 12 champion. The profile of the conference is falling to all of you. Every single team in the big 12 finished ahead of UH in the recruiting rankings last year. Let's give it a few years before we throw UH in that field of top recruiting schools. I'm not saying that won't happen but this 1 good year at UH and everything is changed is a weak argument. Also, it's not even national signing day. UH is only behind 3 Big 12 schools in the 247 ranking but it will be passed by Texas by the end of the recruitment season. Still, the 4th (or 5th IMO) spot behind those big 12 teams is still a good sign for the school. The conference is certainly losing recruits to the SEC. That has less to do with the big 12 and much more to do with A&M going to the SEC and bringing SEC teams into Texas Markets and TV sets. It has opened up competition from 6 schools (Texas-Ok Area) to 13 schools (SEC West). There is no reason to expect that Texas would not lose recruits based on the simple principles of a free market. Again, Boren is a former political and made his career about making public statements criticizing **** in order to get his own way. That is just how politics works. He is doing the same thing here. It is certainly a big deal that he represents OU and is saying these things but everyone has opinions and the severity of his threats should be taken with a grain of salt. Texas has responded to his outburst by saying that they will talk about everything internally at the meetings. The board of trustees at OU and Texas will never approve either program leaving the other especially if it negatively impacts the Red River Shootout or Rivalry or whatever they are calling it now. This is certainly true however again, this has nothing to do with the big 12 national clout. This is because of the new media rights agreements that all the conferences forced their teams to sign that screw them out of TV revenue if they leave. Florida St and Clemson both showed interest in joining the conference until talks broke down. You will not see a big 12 team leave unless the conference dissolves. UT absolutely cares. They went back to the table with ESPN 5 years ago and helped the conference secure financial stability by negotiating a massive TV contract. As Major has said, going independent is a disadvantage in terms of the playoffs. Also, the Longhorn Network isn't working. That is not an indication that UT can function independently from a group. That might be true however it's like comparing billionaires with slightly less billionaires. You have teams making 25 million annually and potentially more with a championship game. You think that will increase if they join other conferences that will then have to split revenue among more teams? That's why OU will only leave if it's part of a much bigger play that will increase TV revenue significantly. It's only going to happen if the TV contract in 2025 is not extended. Also, they are ahead of the ACC in revenue per team. Are you staying that means a level of instability with the ACC? Also, they are pretty much equal to the Pac 12 in terms of revenue per school (25.5 to 25.3). I pretty much agree with your thoughts about the appeal of Big 12 teams. My point here is that the conference is solid financially and structurally for another decade but I was pretty excited when it looked like UT,OU,OKST and TT could be a sort of pod in the Pac 12 and we could play USC, Oregon, UCLA etc every other year. Bingo bango I'm against it because I feel like it waters down the other teams. It's like when a league expands and has an expansion draft. You make it less likely that any one of the teams will break through on a national level. The bigger reason is I don't like the idea of a regional conference. No other conference has 5 teams from 1 state and you end up with TV viewers cannibalizing other TV viewers. You don't increase TV presence. I think it could be different in a few years if UH can get their viewership and attendance up. As I have said, the ratings points for UH games are very bad in the city and are being completely overvalued by Donny and the lot. They should be at least 30-40% of the top 20 games in order to present a big pickup for any interested conference. They would be a much better appeal for the ACC so they can infiltrate Texas like the SEC has. They'll also get limited access to the Houston Market and the viewing numbers for UH games MIGHT actually go up because they'll be seeing new teams. They are also coming from their big win vs Florida St. As I have said, a Pac 12 invite is not happening by itself. They are much smarter in their long term planning. They will hold out for OU,Ok St, Texas and a 4th team. That 4th team could very likely be Houston but TCU is also a possibility. It's hard for me to believe Texas Tech is just the assumed pair with UT. If you look at today, TCU is certainly the much better pickup. They have been near the top of the national football world for nearly a decade. If Herman can keep up the momentum at Houston with wins and also get attendance to be respectable and possible great then I would think it would be UH coming with UT. That's my biggest issue with UH fans on this board. It's this massive sense of entitlement that has come with a single great year with wins with an underwhelming performance in tv viewers and attendance. Give it 2-3 years and you'll get the respect that you think you deserve now. Again, the big 12 ousted Bebe in favor of a new commissioner that came from the Pac 12 that everyone (OU included) approved of.
I'm responding to shsu33 who is a UH football fan, but does not attend UH. It's full of facts if you are familiar with UH and Houston. Lots of good points and Herman mentioning that he wasn't happy that the fans didn't fill the stadium this season. It's definitely many factors on UH as a football program historically. I know plenty of UH students current and alumni. they go to school and then they go home. It's not a campus life type of school .
Kind of odd for someone your age to know plenty of current college students. Perhaps they're commuters who have families and full-time jobs. Nevertheless, UH has the 2nd largest number of students living on campus in Texas behind A&M. The commuter narrative is quickly evaporating.
http://www.sbnation.com/college-foo...sident-gordon-gee-big-12-expansion-12-schools The expansion train keeps on a'rollin. I have my doubts that UConn vs Iowa State will rustle enough jimmies in the Northeast corridor to deliver those 10MM+ TV sets the Big 12 network, but if that's what they wanna try, go for it. UConn has a friend in Bristol, so I hear.
Wasn't Uconn the only team to beat UH this year? you have to admit, if they add UConn to the big 12, it's a powerhouse hoops conference.
The Big XII is already a good hoops conference, agree adding UCONN would make the conference elite.... but it is overall an odd add to the Big XII.
a decent amount from UH website http://www.uh.edu/admissions/apply/international/ Think about it, it's cheap compared to other colleges. It's in Houston so there is a large international community to connect with.
Same reason every urban campus struggles with attendance. 1) commuter proximity 2) competition for time, attention, and money If you live off campus at A&M, chances are you are still within spitting distance. And the entire town revolves around gameday. Whereas in Houston you probably live in Sugarland or Spring and have about a billion other things to do. It's been that way all over the country for damn near a century. UH is evolving though and has made significant strides to become a community campus, and not a commuter one. All hail Renu.
USC and UT are somewhat special cases because of how long they've been around. It's not like UT was founded as Austin's commuter school of choice or something. Some of our peers (2014 rough attendance estimates): UCLA - 75K (UCLA typically drags behind USC) USC - 75K Pitt - 41K Miami - 52K Cinci - 30K TCU - 44K SMU - 21K Maryland - 46K Cal - 47K Washington - 64K Northwestern - 38K Temple - 30K Rutgers - 50K Boston College - 34K Arizona - 50K Memphis - 30K
UofH is very diverse, but you are incredibly wrong about most of the students being foreign or not liking American Football. Pretty damn impossible to ignore that giant stadium on campus
I'm not sure if tinman is just tripping over his words or whatever, but most of our international students aren't the biggest american football fans I've ever seen. Same goes for any other university, really. However, if anyone wants to crap on our student body's desire for top level athletics, they need to realize that the ballot initiative to increase the student fees to complete the football stadium passed with an overwhelming majority.
If UH consistently wins, no question stadium will sell out and be an attractive place to spend 3-4 hours or more on a Saturday. We live in a state that loves football so much.....
Current students are not the issue with attendance problems. If you have been to any games the past couple of season at TDECU the student section is always packed. It is the alumni and their apathy from the late 90's to the early 00's where sports was not on the minds of the leadership and it went by the waste side and Renu Khator since she has been at UH has changed that mindset. We lost about 10-15 years before Briles to connect to that group and lost thousands of potential alumni sports fans. That is the group of alumni that should be filling in for the older ones but UH missed that opportunity. I believe if UH can continue this success and the current students get that connection to the school and the sports teams that when they become the alumni they will be still attending games and that would get UH to where it needs to be.
