Commentary Sports

Lack of student, alumni support justifies UH’s status

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After a rough couple of games, the stands at TDECU Stadium looked somewhat empty, despite an announced attendance of over 35,000. | File photo/The Cougar

It’s a comfortable 78 degree Saturday morning under partly cloudy skies at TDECU Stadium, and the two-loss Cougars are ready to take the field for their ninth game of the year. It appears, however, that thousands of fans are still stuck in traffic.

Just as the team is playing in fair weather, it appears the Cougars are playing for the fair-weathered.

A virtually empty student section lying in the shadows of a vacant third deck provides a cozy backdrop for the game’s opening kick. Suddenly, it seems that this stadium was built far too large.

It’s been two weeks since Cougar football fans collectively slandered Big 12 Conference officials for opting to not add UH — and others — to their conference. However, the students and alumni’s failure to show up for the team’s conference matchup against the University of Central Florida Saturday morning proved why UH isn’t ready to be in a Power Five Conference.

The announced attendance of 35,846 is obviously misleading today as the figure assumes all season ticket holders are at the game.

TDECU Stadium currently seats roughly 40,000 people, but was designed with room to expand up to 60,000 seats if need be. It doesn’t appear this will be necessary anytime soon as a third — if not more — of the stadium collected dust Saturday. It’s hard to believe that this is the home field of a team who has lost just three games in the last two seasons.

There’s no way around it — losing to Navy and Southern Methodist University this month was disappointing for fans. Sky-high expectations and national media attention provided unprecedented hope to a fan base that was eager to build off of last season’s success.

After a 13-1 season in 2015, it appears that a sense of entitlement has set in among Cougar supporters. Backing a team with two losses seems to be far more difficult for students and alumni, as opposed to a team that was undefeated for a large portion of last season.

Fans’ disappointment is understandable, but the scene at the 11 a.m. kickoff resembled a two-win team rather than a two-loss team.

The Cougars have not lost inside TDECU Stadium since Nov. 8, 2014 and boast a 16-3 record all time in that confines. Their 13-game home win streak is the third-longest active streak in college football — behind just Navy and Clemson University. The team’s play over the last two seasons warrants little room for excuses as to the lack of attendance.

For the sake of perspective, take a look at Iowa State University.

In 2016, ISU finds itself in a tie for last place in the Big 12 with a record of 1-7. However, last weekend, the Cyclones enjoyed a crowd of 52,763 in a losing effort to the Kansas State University Wildcats.

In fact, in 2016, ISU is averaging 51,485 in home games despite its poor play.

The prospect of joining a Power Five Conference was fun while it lasted, but it is obvious now that it was not deserved in the first place. Schools in major conferences have no trouble filling stadiums game-in and game-out across all of their sports, one thing that UH fans seem unable to do.

Until alumni, students and fans display an ounce of effort to support their teams regardless of circumstance, UH Athletics will not take the next step as a program.

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9 Comments

  • UH homers tout the size of the City of Houston and all there is to do as a P5 selling point yet when people don’t show, they lament that there is too much to do besides attend UH games. Typical homer logic.

  • I have a question. How did the ISU crowd look to you, Reagan? I am sure you tuned in since you are doing such a fine job of researching your subject. However, if I had to guess I would guess that you took the paid reported attendance number to base your report on. That would be ok since paid attendance is the only number that every one reports…..including the 35,846 in attendance for UCF at our stadium. By the way that UCF attendance represents 90% capacity of TDECU stadium. That is a healthy % in case you did not know. You might want to take a look backward at this year’s attendance numbers which are most impressive. Next, take a look forward at our next two games, Tulane and Louisville. One report has the Tulane ticket sales at around 37k. Another report has the Louisville game sold out. You know Reagan, it is easy to pile on but you might want to write a fair and balanced report if you want to be taken seriously.

  • You lost me at comfortable 78. It was pretty warm and mostly sunny on Saturday (at least at the Cougar game I was at, not sure if you were there or not). Yes, the stands looked empty, but the shaded areas were packed and people were standing several deep to watch “comfortably”.

  • A comfortable 78 degrees Reagan? Did you sit on the North side where thousands got sun burned? It was very hot and many of my group headed to the shade.

    Who are you anyway? The UH surely doesn’t need any negativity from within from people like you.

  • Your article would be interesting if it weren’t so full of false information. You seem to have a need to emphasize the negative. I can only guess that somehow you think that makes you a better reporter, more insightful than we mere mortals, whatever. What we end up with would be a good propaganda piece if you were writing for another paper. But you’re not.

  • Lack of journalistic integrity, editorial support justifies UH’s status

    It’s a comfortable Tuesday at The Daily Cougar. The University of Houston continues to make strides toward improving its academic reputation as thousands of students receive quality educations to prepare them for work and life success. It appears, however, that Reagan Earnst is still stuck in traffic.

    Just as thousands of fans who attended the game apply aloe vera to their sunburns, Reagan falsely describes the weather as fair and decides to insult his readership and his university.

    A virtually empty analysis lying in the shadows of vacant journalistic integrity provides a cozy backdrop for Reagan’s click-bait article. Suddenly, it seems that the Daily Cougar stage is far too large for him.

    It’s been one day since Reagan slandered Cougar football fans by asserting that they collectively slandered Big 12 Officials for not adding UH – and others – to their conference. However, this student and his/her editor’s failure to post a competent article on Monday proves why Reagan isn’t ready to be a successful journalist with professional integrity.

    TDECU Stadium currently seats about 40,000 people, but was designed with room to expand to 60,000 seats if UH gets added to a P5 conference. It doesn’t appear as though this will happen as the Big 12 sent UH, and many other universities, on a wild goose chase requiring huge amounts of time and resources. It’s hard to believe UH is the same football team after LSU fired their coach, and rumors spread like wildfire that Tom Herman will be coaching at UT-not UH next season.

    There’s no way around it, watching the team spiral out of control on and off the field amidst the coaching rumors and the P5 rejection in the last month was devastating for fans. Sky-high expectations and national media attention provided unprecedented hope to a fan base that was eager to build off last season’s success after being relegated to the athletic and academic minor leagues for the past two decades.

    After a season as a UH student in 2016, it appears that a sense of entitlement has set in among Reagan and the Daily Cougar editor. Researching the whole situation, reporting factual data and professionalism seems to be far more difficult for the daily cougar, as opposed to writing half-truths, insults and inconsistent statistics in an effort to make The University of Houston, its students and its alumni look and feel worse than they already do.

    Reagan’s disappointment is understandable, but this article resembled Baylor ethnocentric arrogance and propaganda rather than the ideals and values that UH is striving for.

    The Cougars have not lost inside TDECU Stadium since Nov. 8, 2014 and boast a 16-3 record in that time frame. Their 13-game home winning streak is the third-longest active streak in college football – largely due to a huge increase in season ticket sales, fan attendance and fan noise. The fan support and unwavering commitment of UH leadership to improve academics and athletics and over the last two seasons warrants little room for the author to lodge insults toward toward UH as an institution. The fact that a student would callously, inaccurately and publicly slander their own institution is sickening.

    For the sake of perspective, the author compares UH attendance versus teams like Tulsa, Lamar and directional UCF to institutions who play against other P5 institutions like UT and OU while reciting these schools’ own inflated statistics.

    The prospect of joining a P5 conference is much more involved than average fan attendance for one game. Making an assertion that UH is not deserving of an invite to a P5 conference based on approximately 30% of the fans not attending one game, especially in light of the recent extenuating circumstances is completely unfair and unwarranted. Asserting that schools in major conferences have no trouble filling stadiums across all sports is completely false. Again, writing a factual, accurate and truthful article is one thing Reagan seems unable to do.

    Until Reagan learns to respect their university, the 70% of fans who did show up and support their struggling team and university, write articles based on sound data, research topics thoroughly and write with an effort of meaningful purpose rather than gaining attention like a spoiled child, they won’t be ready to take the next step as a human being that can be a positive representative of UH and the Daily Cougar.

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