As far as I'm concerned, Penders had brought us as far as he was going to take us. Tom brought an uptempo, fun style of basketball to Hofheinz and put some wins on the board, mostly against some below average competition, but snuck in a few marquee accomplishments (vs. Arizona, LSU, CUSA Tourney win) But at the end of the day, that was all we were going to get, just some sizzle, not steak. CUSA was a 1 horse league for 5 of Tom's 6 years here, and he couldn't manage to put us in the top 3 during that time... it was SO ripe for the taking, too. And the one conference title we pulled came as a total fluke (this team was not Penders' best team by far) during the year when CUSA was the weakest it has ever been. The way I see it, this change of coaches will be very similar to the Briles-Sumlin transition. Briles was a decent coach who brought exciting football to Houston. He beat a bunch of sub .500 teams and produced some winning seasons. That's exactly what we hired him for. He wasn't going to bring us to the promised land. He was going to prevent us from dying altogether. That is exactly what Tom did. And I salute him for it, but it's time to move on. Penders' successor will have more to work with than Tom did, that is for sure, and hopefully we can hire a Sumlin for basketball. A young, talented, energetic coach who will can make this his own program. Exploratory studies are being done to build new facilities, but in the interim, both Hofheinz and Robertson will receive more spit-shines until we secure the financing for some shiny new tin-can style stadiums for both programs. This hire will be the most important of Mack Rhodes tenure.
I'm not a big Penders fan, but I do keep track of the team and etc. It's kinda sad that so many people want him gone.... he is so much better then Clyde and the other guy that I don't even remember his name.(McCallum?). Atleast Penders brought a winning attitude and brought the program back to the other side of 500 while he was here. He actually had real opponents too, like LSU, Arizona, Kentucky, UNLV and etc. Don't think we would have a chance to play those teams without his connections. I know he wasn't the best recruiter and etc, but honestly he was right, the media doesn't cover UH basketball at all. I know 610 would give away tickets and they would be like ...ya, UH has a basketball team...and etc. Penders attack on the Houston media is warranted, I think Houston media covers UT basketball more then UH or Rice combined. So what, they may not as good, but they are local and UT isn't..... anyways, I say give Penders some respect for what he did here, he accomplished more then anyone done here in the last 20 years and the team even made the NCAA tournament.
That's a chicken vs egg argument. Would a new arena help recruit kids and increase fan support? Sure, but how can you justify spending that kind of money on a program that doesn't deserve it? What if you build an arena and the current coach still can't cut it? Is it just wasted money then? The best thing to do is to have a plan in place, a goal to work towards. Win now, build interest, create actual demand and then use that demand to build new facilities.
At some point, U of H is going to have to take a giant leap of faith and just "assume" that if they build, they will come... because they will never get into a Big Conference or land a Big Name Coach without new facilities... and the Conference is the REAL golden ticket. My plan would be to build a small, tricked-out, 5,000 seat arena (the Hof is 8500) for basketball that was literally connected to the alumni center. (play in the toyota center for a year while building) And for football, raze Robertson, and build shiny, tin-can style (aluminum), 30K seat stadium with b****in' press and luxury facilities and room for expansion up to 50K. (play in rice or reliant for a year while building) And while we're at it, to subsidize cost, call both places the Mattress Mack Sports Megaplex or some crap.
I would just redo the current place. Get rid of those ghetto plywood "suites" and you have the perfect freaking place. Make it more modern in terms of remodeling it, get a video board along with new seats and everything. Would have to be cheaper than a new place and then you can keep the history alive. Duke plays in a 70 year old building, keep the history. Or screw it tear it down and build another parking garage. I will buy a spot in there, right next to SR1.
Well, you're going to get your wish, because the 5-year plan involves remodeling it. I don't think it is a good idea though, polishing a turd... The press and luxury suites will always be a joke at hofheinz, the way the place is engineered is from a by-gone era... You can't compare Duke (near ivy school, elite program, elite coach, captive market, major conference) to Houston. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Cameron_Indoor_Stadium_interior.jpg if Duke was in Houston's position, that place would be considered a dump... not "historic"...
You build the stadium first and then fire the coach if he is still not recruiting well. The Coogs should hire Willis Wilson, build a new stadium and then fire the coach. Willis knows the drill.
The "luxury suites" were added in 1998 and ruined the place. Took away the view of the court you had from almost 360 degrees in the lobby. Job 1 is get rid of those. Nothing about those is because it is old. they have always sucked. And how does the picture show the Duke building as being better? at Hof you can walk all the way around in the lobby or whatever and see the court. Duke has those entrances and obstructed seats in the back. Did you ever see the place before the plywood specials? You know how loud it can get in there with the low ceiling? it is just nuts.
Um, yeah, the luxury and press facilities suck because the building is old and wasn't made to have them. They don't have private bathrooms or kitchens/serving areas, they don't have better sight lines or more comfortable seats, or flat screen tvs, or anything. They are literally plywood boxes with folding chairs and a mini fridge. They suck butt, and it is largely because they were put in as an afterthought in a building that didn't have the ability to accomodate anything better due to its age. I'm all for getting rid of them, but that isn't what is going to happen.
I'm surprised the thread got this far without someone at least mentioning Bob Marlin. Dick Justice wrote about it today. As a SHSU alum, I'd hate to see him leave. As a long time UH fan, I think he's the perfect hire. He won't light up the season ticket sales on name alone. But give him a couple of seasons and you'll see immediate improvement and possibly a perennial tourney team...not to mention someone who would be willing to be there for the long haul. If you hire BCG, should he get a contract longer than 2 years? You know he's bolting at the first sign of success.
I said it jokingly earlier, but the 610 rumor monkeys are trying to float the idea. He's raising a family in West U, it's a job that would allow him to be home more than his commentating gig. The problem is 1) money (we ain't got it) and 2) desire (he ain't got it) As the poster above me said, Jeff is not going to deal with kids. Hell, he hated having rookies on his NBA teams. Why would he want to coach kids and wipe the butts of high school recruits?
Lol, yeah, it's funny to imagine him sitting in a living room talking to a recruit and his parents. I think you are right that the people are trying to float the idea just because he lives in Houston. He likes it here, so why wouldn't he want to have a coaching gig here? I can buy the argument, but's it's just highly (highly) unlikely to happen. Also, here is a nice blog entry by Greg Lucas on the UH coaching situation: http://greglucasfshou.blogspot.com/2010/03/which-way-for-uh.html
Billy Clyde is going to be our new coach. He is going to get an incentive rich contract. He is going to have wild success. He will leave after 3 years. So sayeth the Donny.
Do you think we can get him to fall for the "don't sign the contract trick again"? How long of him coaching without a paycheck would it take for him to realize we never officially hired him?
Oh yeah were you at the Kentucky game when they played UH? They booed him like crazy, if we hire him you can count on an instant 1K boost per game from TAMU fans.
Well, of course they booed him. He was coaching the other team, and a lot of people recognize that he shat all over A&M. As Travis Johnson said "God don't like ugly." If he comes here though, well, he may be rancid butter, but he's on our side of the bread.
