UH chair: Legislature should force UH to BigXII

[skyscraper]

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/e ... premium#/0

The Legislature should pressure the presidents of the Big 12 schools to "step up" and let the University of Houston into the conference, the chairman of UH's Board of Regents, Tilman Fertitta, said Thursday.

"Put pressure on the presidents;, say, 'If you don't do this, we're not going to fund you for this,'" Fertitta said in a meeting with the Houston Chronicle's editorial board Thursday. "It's just the way it is. That's the way to do it."

Fertitta said it's "an embarrassment" that the namesake university of the fourth largest city in the United States has not been welcomed into the conference.

"Be a big boy, step up and put this school that has almost 50,000 students and is so high profile, has so many of the top schools in the United States, it's a tier one university -- we belong in the Big 12," he said. "We're a big, major school with an unbelievable history in athletics and academia."

The Big 12 is currently made up of just 10 universities, including the University of Texas at Austin, Texas Tech, Baylor and Texas Christian University. The commissioner of the conference said in December it's unlikely for that to change.

[Mustangs35SMU]

lol....

[well travelled pony]

Premier academics!?! Glorified commuter school. Ha ha.

Go Ponies!

[Bergermeister]

"Tier 1"? Maybe Pier 1?

[malonish]

"Academia"

[HarvCrimYaleBlue]

They will join and a month later the conference folds, basketball keeps the name, and they rebrand as "The Americans".

[sbsmith]

This should give the Legislature a pretty good laugh.

[Pony147]

This is almost as bad as Baylor trying to keep A&M in the Big 12 with that lawsuit

[PonyKai]

Well, when you can't get in on the merits, just have the government force them to let you in.

[Rebel10]

I guess someone figures it might be worth a try.

[redpony]

hey cargo gunki- let's see now- cougar high is absolutely low quality in 'academia' and then how is that bball team of yours doing? umm- let's see- last time I looked they were in LAST PLACE.

Guess you can try similar BU deal and have 'tilleyman the frittata' your big honcho bribe a few legislators to get you in. You sure won't do it on university merit.

[mrydel]

I wonder if this Houston guy realizes there are teams outside of Texas in big 10/12? They would need to convince all 10 of the one true champions.

[Charleston Pony]

we all forget that the state of Texas doesn't make all the rules. Of course, the Houston contingent could force Texas and Texas Tech to take OU and OSU and bolt to the Pac-16 so we can then enjoy a reconstituted SWC some day where Houston can be reunited with all the Texas private schools

[Digetydog]

When we kick the Big 12's door in, I bet SMU will try to grab our coattails like they did with the Big East.

When UH kicks the Big12 door in, everyone will flee. The same thing happens when one UH grad robs a 7/11 night shift manager (and fellow UH Grad) of the night's Slurplee money.

[redpony]

Their man- 'tilley the frittata' owns a few fish markets and sells a lot ofcrabs. Our 'big guy' owns banks. Guess that kind of describes the intellect of the two schools- fishy vs. finance.