Sampson had nothing to do with Holgorsen’s extension. As I posted, Fertitta and Dr. Khator relied on the AD’s recommendation and ultimately held him accountable.
Time to move on.
Listening to “Locked on Coogs” yesterday and some of the numbers being thrown around regarding fundraising is astounding.
The host said that SMU, when it was accepted to the ACC, raised $100M in less than two weeks!!! It has raised almost $200M since. Note that they are not getting any money from the ACC for two years.
I don’t remember getting a single email from the UH Athletic Department regarding requests for money. I get emails from The Honors College, CLASS, and UH in general, but nothing from Athletics. This is laziness plain and simple.
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Then they need to get rid of Fertitta lol
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Or improve our reputation so they would be HONORED to attend the University of Houston because it is a very appealing place to establish a lifelong connection.
Right now…we are nowhere on their list…we need to improve our connection with both are students, alums, and their children.
I listen to Big 12 media outlets, and we are rarely mentioned.
UH isn’t on anyone’s mind.
We are just a ‘blah’ University and athletic program right now…let’ change that!
Agree with a lot you are saying but at least we are a blah Tier One University.
When I went to UH we were 85% white but we still were far from being a traditional college.
We are no closer today but I remain proud that UH serves the Houston area well even though most alums could care less about sports and giving back to the U.
Unlike most traditional schools UH remains a big city school with a large amount of students who are working folks.
All I can say is that my kids are all Cougars because they were brought up the right way lol.
That said, I just hope our non traditional, diverse University wins in all sports and somehow gets the students involved.
Most of our alums are lost causes and too busy going with their kids and grandkids to traditional college games.
I could care. Just want beat the heck out of all of them on the field!
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Glad they attended!
A lot of people here are oblivious to our reputation and are literally offended at any suggestion we improve our University, our brand, our reputation or even our campus in attempt to become the GREAT Traditional Campus so many believe we can become…I know Dr. Khator has that vision!
So many of our alums are either A) Apathetic B) looking for their children to attend a more "defined: Traditional University or C) Have their Heads in the Sand and failed to realize OUR LEADERS desperately wanted us to become a P4 University and that WILL require improving in dozens of areas.
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Coogs aren’t traditionalists
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Check your SPAM folder.
I’m part of their Alumni Association, CLASS, Cougar Pride & RISE Campaign, and had to adjust my email to not direct their auto-emails to my spam folder.
But I agree, their Media/Marketing dept. needs to do better with regards to outreach.
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Had not seen this article. It is kind of disappointing. They shifted funds around so when students wanted to shift from athletics to student health, the board shifted funds from another source to avoid hurting athletics. What I did not see was where they moved funds from. Now some other student funded account is losing money so athletics wouldn’t.
I can see this as a problem in a few years when players start to get paid from the schools. That means students have to pay their fellow students for something they may or may not benefit from, and potentially far more than what other student workers will make.
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Nope, just your dumb ideas.
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Part of the deal in SMU joining the ACC was they would not receive conference money for nine years.
…and Norbert proves my “head in the sand” type of alum example perfectly
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yes…but they will only be losing out on what they would have gotten in the AAC which is $8 million/year., or $8 x 9 year = $72 million.
In year 10, they start cashing those fat ACC checks!
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Really? I don’t know. I mean, if you believe USN&WR, UH is ranked 70th in terms of public universities, which is higher than every Big 12 public university except all the new adds from the PAC (UA, ASU, UT, CU) and UCF with which I think we are tied. Of course we could always do better, but how much better? We are what we are: an urban research university. We are not some designated flagship state school in some small hodunk college town or state capitol (Kansas, Iowa, Penn State, UGA, Florida, Michigan, Texas, OSU, Cal, etc.) nor are we some STEM college (Ga Tech, MIT, Purdue, Auburn, TAMU, MSU, etc.). We are an urban research university located in the 4th largest city in the U.S., the world center for Energy, we have a 6 of the major professional schools (Education, Medicine, Pharmacy, Law, Optometry, Architecture and Nursing) plus a very good business school. We have put up over 10K beds of on campus housing, more than most of our competitors. At some point, it becomes a matter of what we as alums due.
To me, if I could advise Pres. Khator and the BoR on one thing, it is that they need to improve the customer service of those working on campus. The way they treat students can leave a sour taste in people’s mouths. That sour taste can ferment and turn into sour alumni with bad memories and a negative connection to the school. I was lucky in that my experience in dealing with the University Admin was actually very pleasant.
I will say, however, as an alumnus who is a UHAA Life Member, I have been treated pretty poorly on several occasions by UH staff and admin. This does not make me want to open my wallet.
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my point isn’t based on reality… it’s based on perception.
Some are true…some are false but it is affecting our ability to attract Traditional Students and maintain a Traditional Campus, just like every single other P4 University
On the things that are true abut the perceived perception…we can IMPROVE!
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Fair enough.
We need to change perception. That starts with us. Everyone, where UH stuff, brag about it, sing its praises. That is what I do.
In order to do a full evaluation of the revenue we must look at the Net Present Value of $75 million, right Coogs !
Just sayin’
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More can be done in terms of academics and branding, actually.
The answer is simple, but probably tougher to implement and that is raising our admission standards. Ideally, raising admission standards school-wide, but perhaps start with the engineering school or the business school and making them ultra completive to get into - so much so, that it starts to attract out of state students.
The point is this: too many people in Houston and around the state take UH for granted. They feel it’s an easy school to get into and that’s not attractive. Shoot, some of us on our own board don’t urge their children to attend - it’s true. Spare me the “it’s their choice” narrative.
UH needs to change the narrative not by new colorful banners on campus, or commercials on TV, or billboards on the road or other ads claiming we are a “Powerhouse”. No one takes that serious (I sure as hell didn’t). Those things are NOT tangible and people don’t feel that.
What people feel, both prospective students and their families alike, is a rejection letter saying that their son or daughter didn’t have the grades to get into Cullen Engineering, or Bauer Business school or any of our STEM programs.
It won’t take long before UH gets taken serious when people realize we’re not an easy catch. That, to me, is where branding truly begins - when the people actually FEEL the standard, not when it’s advertised.
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I’d like to add one more bit about branding, at least it terms of aesthetics.
The big UH logo is fine. I love seeing it on everything sports related, but I feel that’s where it should stop.
The Coat of Arms should be the logo we use on everything academic and should be as prominent if not more so than the big UH logo on campus. I love that UH’s coat of arms is actually General Sam Houston’s coat of arms. The history is really cool to read about.
Here’s a little blurb about it:
https://publications.uh.edu/content.php?catoid=43&navoid=15529
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Very Cool!
using their family Coat of Arms makes it more than just about “the City”
Also, making Houston a sister city to Glasgow or Edinburgh is one of those ideas that is so obvious , I am embarrassed for bringing it up.
Our city, and University, is named after one of the most prominent Scot- American Families.
We should tie more of those elements into the Mystique OF the University of HOUSTON
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