The Cougars are now ranked #22/#25 in the nation. In the past five seasons, the Cougars have a record of 41-24 and are now 6-0 this season. Houston boasts one of the most prolific offenses in FBS college football in the passing game.
While I am the first to lament about Houston’s poor attendance, especially in basketball, for the last nine home football games, students and Alumni have packed Robertson to 30,000 or more.
So the question remains: why Houston is still in Conference USA and not looking into realignment options.
An article published on ESPN.com today by Andrea Adelson brings to the surface the rumors about the Big East’s expansion. The Big East now looks to expand with six new teams, those teams in the running included East Carolina and Central Florida.
While geographically they make sense, geography is irrelevant in today’s football landscape. SMU has also publicly addressed their desire to move to the Big 12 conference. However, with the recent addition of TCU, this seems unlikely.
Besides rumors, I have not read any public announcement about the desire of Houston to move on to a bigger and better conference. While attendance could be better and facilities should be upgraded, the Cougars deserve the chance to be in the national spotlight on a weekly basis.
The athletic department should be actively pursuing ways to improve Houston’s position in college football.
There was once a time when Houston was nationally relevant. Now is the time to make a move and return to those days.
— Peyton Hill, graduate student
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The collective eyes of the college football nation roll at schools that make public declarations that they want a new conference. Dr. Khator and Mr. Rhoades are the best combination of president/athletic director UH has had in decades. They know what they are doing. Reporters, coaches, and fans feel sorry for schools that blatantly state their intentions. East Carolina has been over the top in pleading its case in the media for membership in the Big East. The world rolls it eyes and pities them because a month later, they are still in Conference USA. SMU creates an entire website dedicated to making the case that they are BCS-ready. Still in Conference USA. In today's world of media public relations, you don't show your cards until you know the outcome. When the Big XII said they wanted TCU, they already knew TCU would accept. To save face and stay respectable, UH should not make any public statements until they know the outcome. To do otherwise, seems like you are the littlest kid on the playground and you're begging to not get picked last. Stay classy, Houston.
I agree with you wholeheartedly. Look at TAMU and the begging it took for them to finally get the SEC to accept them. I feel that UH is good enough for someone to come looking for them. I like the low key effort. UH is showing a good poker face right now. No one knows what if anything is going on.
It's obvious Mr. Hill has never attended a Cougar Pride event, an athletics banquet, or an Alumni Association board meeting. Plenty is being done and discussed. These decisions are made by university presidents and athletic directors, and I can assure you our intention to improve our conference situation is known by those who matter. I'm quite glad our administration has not publicly begged like SMU. Those who are deserving don't need to.
It is obvious that the author does not have the proper credentials to be discussing such a matter in an open forum such as The Daily Cougar. I agree that he does not sound like he has ever attended official UH athletic sponsored events.
The article presupposes that there is little being done by our AD department, to the contrariety, the AD is extremely active in this process and he frequently sends send out emails to donors pointing out the aggressive position they are taking with 2 BCS conferences. He noted that a decision was made early in the process that UH would lobby the conferences in private, in order to avoid and any potential negative publicity.
Wow, I didn't know you wrote article Peyton.
Please, stop acting like UH deserves to be in a better conference because we don't. The only reason we are where we are is because of the weak teams within Conference USA and the fact that we schedule games against FCS teams like Georgia Southern.
Until UH plays the likes of Bama', Texas, Arkansas, or any Big 10/SEC team and CAN beat them, we don't deserve to be anywhere else because Cougar football is overrated.