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We had our chances. The new day dawned and we were the darlings of the NCAA a few years ago. Cracked the Top 10, great coach, new stadium, celebrities in the audience. But alas, the sun has gone down and risen in the Bayou City. A new day is upon us Mustang fan. The next 4-5 years belongs to the University of Houston.

How Houston launched a college basketball renaissance http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basket ... d/26105398

Yeah... it sucks.

They probably won’t ever admit it but they copied everything we did from arena, roster construction and appealing to their city. It definitely looks like they are in it for the long haul as Sampson seems pretty happy there. God I would love to have that guy leading our program.

the major difference- cougar high has an admin. and board that is committed to winning and putting a premium program in place. At SMU RGT would be thrilled for all of the sports programs to just fade away and be forgotten and his lap boy AD is doing the best he can to accommodate that idea.

I'm glad. I want to battle for a conference title in a strong conference, not race to be the tallest midget.

LA_Mustang wrote:They probably won’t ever admit it but they copied everything we did from arena, roster construction and appealing to their city. It definitely looks like they are in it for the long haul as Sampson seems pretty happy there. God I would love to have that guy leading our program.

Another difference - Houston actually pays some attention to UH.

DanFreibergerForHeisman wrote:

LA_Mustang wrote:They probably won’t ever admit it but they copied everything we did from arena, roster construction and appealing to their city. It definitely looks like they are in it for the long haul as Sampson seems pretty happy there. God I would love to have that guy leading our program.

Another difference - Houston actually pays some attention to UH.

I agree, but for a minute Dallas cared about our program. People underestimate how big basketball is in this city and we had their attention. 2014-17 there were quite a few season ticket holders with no affiliation to SMU. Of course, they are now gone.

One more thing, I started a thread on this because of UH but we hosted ESPN’s College Gameday not too long ago. That is really a huge deal. You have to be legit to land that. Looking at us now, it is hard to believe. Now the message from our program - we can’t practice 5-on-5, boohoo. give me a effing break.

LA_Mustang wrote:They probably won’t ever admit it but they copied everything we did from arena, roster construction and appealing to their city. It definitely looks like they are in it for the long haul as Sampson seems pretty happy there. God I would love to have that guy leading our program.

Jeez. Well we could copy Alabama or Duke...but the big difference is one small fact...we don't try. There are a few amazing boosters keeping this thing going otherwise we'd be Tulane.

We can only hope that SMU gets it's act together and comes back to become a great rival of Houston's but right now they are owning us in both bball and football

Oh my gosh, they were doing the same thing down in Houston when we hired Larry and shot into national basketball relevance. Y'all must really enjoy self torture.

Pretty cool scene there. Seth just said UH’s admin deserves all the credit.

We have better fountains

redpony wrote:the major difference- cougar high has an admin. and board that is committed to winning and putting a premium program in place. At SMU RGT would be thrilled for all of the sports programs to just fade away and be forgotten and his lap boy AD is doing the best he can to accommodate that idea.

RGT does not wants sports gone but he and the big money alums at SMU are not gonna be visibly blatant about athletic success as UH Chancellor Renu Khator and Tilman Ferttita. Not their style. Maybe the next SMU prez will be?

Khator said football success at UH is defined by 10 wins and that 8-5 will get a UH head coach fired. UH is not Cougar High anymore, btw. There's been lots of changes on Calhoun street the past decade.

UH has hired people who know or at least understand what it takes to be relevant in a big city sports market. And they're putting in the money and time to do execute their vision.

The football and basketball programs have been aggressive about marketing ( i.e. UH basketball is a Jordan school now), recruiting and scheduling, not to mention the physical upgrades. UH may not be a big-time operation yet, but they're certainly trying . By comparison, SMU athletics is high school-esque.

dcp- RGT waited over 20 yrs before he did anything to make major improvements in our sports programs. IMO- it was not his idea but he was pushed by a few wealthy donors who wanted our sports programs out of the basement. Had those donors not stepped up we would still be 'bottom basement' in our sports.

Cougar high is aggressive because Fertitta is an alum and aggressive business person. He is well known in the Houston community and actively promotes UH. IMO we have nobody on our board who wants to win and who is as 'sports minded' as Fertitta. In fact IIRC we have very few alums on our board. Most are just cronies of RGT who he recruited to help secure his position in future years.

redpony wrote:dcp- RGT waited over 20 yrs before he did anything to make major improvements in our sports programs. IMO- it was not his idea but he was pushed by a few wealthy donors who wanted our sports programs out of the basement. Had those donors not stepped up we would still be 'bottom basement' in our sports.

Cougar high is aggressive because Fertitta is an alum and aggressive business person. He is well known in the Houston community and actively promotes UH. IMO we have nobody on our board who wants to win and who is as 'sports minded' as Fertitta. In fact IIRC we have very few alums on our board. Most are just cronies of RGT who he recruited to help secure his position in future years.

Orsini was an aggressive athletics leader and businessman. Like him or hate him...bottom line is that he did NOT fit the SMU culture. So here we are...