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The rumors have been swirling for some time now as the sports world awaits next weeks decision from Villanova on it's intentions to either accept or decline the Big East's invite to move up and be a football member in their conference. Houston has become very proactive in it's efforts to make itself the most attractive option out there for possible expansion by BCS conferences. Have their efforts positioned them for a big payoff?

Think there is anything to this .... paid site so I do not have the details on the rest of the article.

this is being discussed on the bball board.

No credibility to article - it suggets Navy to Big East which is silly.

It claims that Houston, Navy, and Villanova will join the Big East, and that their inclusion is supported by ESPN. I do not believe it, largely due to the inclusion of Navy.

Houston's plans for facilities are cited as evidence that an invite is coming, yet Navy has no such building plans. If building plans were a true indicator, as the author suggests, then they should be present at both schools.

It also uses as evidence that Houston is informing its athletes that they will be changing conferences, which is no evidence at all. Memphis was similarly once telling football recruits that they were joining the Big 12.

The article is perhaps best understood as propaganda, not journalism.

Samurai Stang wrote:It claims that Houston, Navy, and Villanova will join the Big East, and that their inclusion is supported by ESPN. I do not believe it, largely due to the inclusion of Navy.

Houston's plans for facilities are cited as evidence that an invite is coming, yet Navy has no such building plans. If building plans were a true indicator, as the author suggests, then they should be present at both schools.

It also uses as evidence that Houston is informing its athletes that they will be changing conferences, which is no evidence at all. Memphis was similarly once telling football recruits that they were joining the Big 12.

The article is perhaps best understood as propaganda, not journalism.

Well said.

One major difference- sad to say, is that the Houston business community does indeed support the U of H. The Dallas business community could care less about SMU. I have lived in both locations and must admit that Houston does more for UH than the Dallas businesses. I believe that there are many SMU alums working in Dallas as business executives but they pay little attention to SMU. Thank you GT your lack of efforts are well rewarded.

GO PONIES!!!

redpony wrote:One major difference- sad to say, is that the Houston business community does indeed support the U of H. The Dallas business community could care less about SMU. I have lived in both locations and must admit that Houston does more for UH than the Dallas businesses. I believe that there are many SMU alums working in Dallas as business executives but they pay little attention to SMU. Thank you GT your lack of efforts are well rewarded.

GO PONIES!!!

I couldn't disagree more. The support can always be better from alum and businesses alike, but the business support is pretty good. Look at the corporations that donate to the school for new facilities.

RE- I will respect your judgement but I lived in both Houston and Dallas. My opinion was that Houston was more supportive- at least they were more open about supporting UH. IMO it was more of a community thing than a university thing.

GO PONIES!!!

People seem to think that if Villanova does not upgrade football to FBS then UCF would be the next candidate:

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/201 ... -fbs-level

UCF before Houston

I have always gotten the impression that UH had a little bit of money and support. I know it's a commuter school, but I remember them being able to raise money, having legitimate links to NASA, and being able to move the school forward, as opposed to other commuter schools, like Memphis, who seem stuck continually in a rut with no plan. I know they got something like a $60M donation in the 80's.
I don't know much about them, overall, though, maybe somebody could fill me in.

UH is certainly better positioned than most non-BCS schools for a conference shift. That being said, I would be really surprised if they are in fact the top candidate should Villanova decline. Someone else said it best when they commented that UH's athletic accomplishments are nowhere near what TCU did before getting a BCS invite. For all the talk of the new facilities, they remain nothing more than pictures on paper at this point. We're talking about a football program that has showed sparks of promise, and little more. Same goes for basketball. They sit in the middle of the 10th largest television market in America, and can't deliver it by a long shot. So if I'm the Big East, I see some positives. . .and a whole lot of negatives.

Maybe SMU should publish a drawing of Ford Stadium expanded to seat 85,000 with a retractable roof and a jumbotron like the one at JerryWorld. That would probably get us into the Big-12 using the UH logic, right?

If Villanova declines and Notre Dame doesn't go all-in (which no one even thinks is a possibility at this point), then you have chaos on the basketball side with any new addition. That's a big problem for the Big East and could very well result in a conference split. I would have to think that they are REALLY hoping that Villanova says yes.

The UH business community is not UH oriented - UH is irrelevant in the world of Houston. and UH does not deliver the Houston market - we are closer the delivering Dallas then they are to delivering Houston. SMU is not where we should be, but we are much more relevant to Dallas business then UH is to Houston business. For starters - their school is not very good - its fourth tier. Business likes to be associated with successful enterprises.

And the complaint about GT on business and community support is silly - if there is ONE thing you would praise him for it would be that. We are 400M into a 770M capital compaign - ahead of schedule in the toughest economic environment since the depression. We have doubled our endowment in record time and academically moved from 90 something rankings to just outside the top 50 in the country. Access to money is not our issue. Sports-wise - lack of bodies are our issue and we cant fix that - but it will get better as we get better. If TCU, USC, Duke, Northwestern and Vandy (small privates in mid to large markets) can pull off BCS sports of relevance, we can too.

gostangs wrote: If TCU, USC, Duke, Northwestern and Vandy (small privates in mid to large markets) can pull off BCS sports of relevance, we can too.

add public school UCONN to that as well

RGV Pony wrote:

gostangs wrote: If TCU, USC, Duke, Northwestern and Vandy (small privates in mid to large markets) can pull off BCS sports of relevance, we can too.

add public school UCONN to that as well

And Miami. The U.

The UH Athletic program has had one major benefactor over the years-former San Diego Padres owner John Moores-but he died. Moores in the mid 1980s gave one of the biggest athletic gifts ever to an American University at the time-25 Million-$51 Million to the University at large. Otherwise, they have struggled