You guys used to have a big time football program and a big time basketball program. Then you guys went from powerhouse to horrible.

Can a UH fan give me a brief summary of what happened, I supposed starting with the collapse of the SWC?

I know that probably was the biggest thing, but TCU also was 'left out' and they still maintained and built a football program. So I assume something else happened at UH.

Our admins, did not place great emphasis on sport success (after the SWC days) like the present admin does. Now, we did have a lady as Chancellor Dr. Marguerite Ross Barnett, at the time who talked one of our alums into making the largest donation ever to a university at time of 55 million to UH, to build its indoor football practice facility back around 1990, but we were still in the SWC at the time, and she died (some type of cancer) within a 2 year time span after taking helm of the University, she kind of was like the present Chancellor we have Dr khator, who place great emphasis on sport success. She had survived she would have been the one to lead UH through the dark days of being in conference USA, but it wasn't meant to be, she passed away prematurely.

short summary, i think someone will give you an indepth summary

overall: the SWC collapsed, it was between houston and baylor to be the last pick, the rumor everyone says is the texas governor was a baylor alum at the time and pulled some strings for them

coaches: string of horrible coaches who were kept too long in the 90's..both football and basketball were essentially killed by 1 coach each around the same time..brooks took a regular tourney team to a regular 9 win team in 3 short years, helton in football took a power in the SWC to a team that couldnt compete with some teams at the mid major level...

fan support plummeted when you drop from a top 3 cenference to a startup conference, who when you look at the list now it had some decent names but at the time were nobodies

its hard to motivate your fans and alum to invest in a situation like that mixed in with losing, so we didnt,

tcu comaprison; will point out that TCU was picked up by the MWC the top midmajor at the time with byu, utah so they had the softed landing ground..

but will point out like every other transfer team they did plummet, the difference between tcu and houston is when tcu started climbing out it got its coach to stay...if we had got briles or sumlin to stay like coach p we almost likely would have been as highly regard

(05-22-2015 06:55 AM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  You guys used to have a big time football program and a big time basketball program. Then you guys went from powerhouse to horrible.

Can a UH fan give me a brief summary of what happened, I supposed starting with the collapse of the SWC?

I know that probably was the biggest thing, but TCU also was 'left out' and they still maintained and built a football program. So I assume something else happened at UH.

Fan apathy in late 80's and early 90's coupled with series of absolutely terrible AD's and administration turnover were partially to blame.

UH's VP of Government Relations was a T sip and slept while Baylor out maneuvered him in lobbying with state as Big 8 chose SWC partners. Went through a decade where governor(s) appointed mostly non-alums to Board of Regents, some of whom had never been on campus prior to their appointments. They subordinated athletics and viewed our "place" as a commuter school and wouldn't fight for UH in Austin. This was a huge hurdle and effective lobbying by Houston Alumni Org. etc. resolved it, but it was disastrous at the time.

Fans spoiled by winning 4 out of 5 first football championships in early SWC days and three final fours in basketball, 16 national championships in golf under Bill Yeoman /Jack Pardee, Guy Lewis, and Dave Williams respectively, led to disappointment in their successors. Attendance was disgraceful in that timeframe.

White knuckling onto sterile and outdated Astrodome for football games when we should have built stadium on campus sooner was also a factor.

Let basketball venue Hofheinz deteriorate simultaneously.

This has largely been overcome as realignment caused wakeup call to alums and fans. Many other factors also- I'm sure others will chime in.

One of the biggest follies was UH's lack of preparation for the the SWC collapse.

During the glory days, UH fielded nationally competitive teams in both major sports, and filled up stadiums due to the local interest in SWC teams.

However, no one capitalized on this. UH made no effort to build its own on-campus football stadium, even as we knew the Astrodome was fading into obscurity, nor did they put much effort into keeping its historic basketball arena modernized despite having one of the most successful programs in NCAA history. Outside of athletics, UH was slow to rid itself of its commuter culture (which has all but vanished now!).

Now fast forward to the 90s. The football and basketball programs are in a major downswing (it happens to everyone) at the worst possible time. The SWC is starting to crumble, and UH has just had what might be its worst 5 year run in athletics in its entire history. Fan support has all but evaporated (commuter culture can be overcome with winning, but if you start to lose watch out). The facilities are non-existent to sub-par at best.

Worse yet, UH had zero political support. The formation of the Big 12 was heavily influenced by the Governor and Lt Governor, Baylor and Texas Tech graduates, respectively. So, more or less, UH's stock was at an all time low when musical chairs began.

The fall from SWC to CUSA was nearly a program killer. I tip my hat to TCU for bouncing back like they did. Many of our own left us for dead, but after bottoming out in 2001, there's been a remarkable renaissance the last 15 years.

I would also include the collapse of Houston's economy in the 1980's as a contributor to UH's athletics plunge.

As oil prices dropped from $40/barrel to $10/barrel, Houston's oil-dependent economy plummeted. Houston lost 212,000 jobs between 1982 and 1987, mostly oil and related services, but then extending to banking, real estate and others.

What everyone says is true.

But not hiring Deloss Dodds was a GIGANTIC MISTAKE OF EPIC PROPORTIONS IN SO MANY WAYS.

Short but true story: Deloss was actually our Athletic Director for a few hours. But the Board axed it later in the evening. Earlier in the Day he was waltzed around the Athletic Department being introduced. Then axed.

No wonder he hated us. No wonder he wanted us OUT of Big12.


Another tidbit: we had open SEC invite sitting on table late 80s..


We really shat ourselves and can only look within to blame.

(05-22-2015 11:34 AM)ShockerBob Wrote:  Another tidbit: we had open SEC invite sitting on table late 80s..


We really shat ourselves and can only look within to blame.

Ehh.... We were in discussions to accompany A&M if they moved. Had they at the time we would have gone along.

Saying we had an invite in hand is a bit of a stretch though.

I hate to bring it up, but NCAA sanctions also did MAJOR damage. We had major scholarship restrictions over several years that caused the talent level, especially depth to fall off dramatically. Even the great 1989 team near the start of the sanctions felt impact on their depth. That team had exactly 2 QBs and 2 RBs on the roster.

The 1989 team also had no TV sanctions. So instead of gaining momentum from having a Heisman worthy QB on TV every week, Ware had the best season by a QB that no one saw since the TV era began.

Those "tough" sanctions they announce today are nothing compared to what happened to many teams in the SWC in the '80s and '90s. The negative sanction impact on UH was high in the next tier below SMU's highest level.

Thanks guys, definitely gives some insight that this Northerner did not have before.

(05-22-2015 11:34 AM)ShockerBob Wrote:  What everyone says is true.

But not hiring Deloss Dodds was a GIGANTIC MISTAKE OF EPIC PROPORTIONS IN SO MANY WAYS.

Short but true story: Deloss was actually our Athletic Director for a few hours. But the Board axed it later in the evening. Earlier in the Day he was waltzed around the Athletic Department being introduced. Then axed.

No wonder he hated us. No wonder he wanted us OUT of Big12.


Another tidbit: we had open SEC invite sitting on table late 80s..


We really shat ourselves and can only look within to blame.

Great post. Had no idea. Very interesting.

Good info thanks to all for sharing.

When you were in the SWC did Texas and Texas A&M look down on you or were you or were you accepted/respected?

Cedric Dempsey
Tom Ford
Rudy Davalos
Bill Carr
Chet Gladchuk

Our list of "distinguished" ADs between Harry Fouke and Dave Maggard. Add those numbnuts to our prior administrations' indifference to athletics, and you see recipe for disaster after breakup of SWC.

The fan apathy piece I get...you go from home games vs big name teams/Texas (localized) teams to CUSA against teams nobody in UH land cared about (UofL, Cincy, etc). Hard to fault fans for that.

(05-22-2015 01:23 PM)Bearcats#1 Wrote:  Good info thanks to all for sharing.

When you were in the SWC did Texas and Texas A&M look down on you or were you or were you accepted/respected?

After joining the SWC, and promptly kicking everyone's teeth in (winning the conference 3 times in the first 4 years), we had their respect athletically... but it always manifested itself in ridicule and mockery academically. Very much red headed step-child syndrome.

Meh doesn't matter. The best time for the program is ahead and we will help the conference get there too. Obviously we don't need P5 assistance and other programs here are on the rise as well.

Wow I did not know a lot of what has been said about the Houston Cougars. So when the SWC collapsed the folks over in CUSA were excited to be getting such a big fish. I hope Houston will be a power again in football and basketball.

(05-22-2015 01:30 PM)vcoog Wrote:  Meh doesn't matter. The best time for the program is ahead and we will help the conference get there too. Obviously we don't need P5 assistance and other programs here are on the rise as well.

It's the great "American" gamble. P-O-T-E-N-T-I-A-L. There is plenty of it in the American. Way more than any other G5 conference. I hope BYU and the American stay close together. Teams in Texas and Florida hotbeds. SMU and Houston were once top-notch programs. UConn, Cincinnati, and UCF have played in BCS bowl games. Most programs already with 30-40K home attendance. Great markets from Philly to New Orleans to Tampa.

Landing a 5-star recruit is a great step in the right direction for Houston.

Dang, I thought we (Cincy) got kicked in the nuts. You guys got it like three times and twice as hard.

Quote:The University of Houston and the SWC

By EatEmUp
April 9, 2006

The Cougars had ambitions of getting into the SWC very early in our sports history – certainly long before we were ready to compete in that famous league.

As soon as we started indicating that interest, we immediately encountered fierce opposition from Rice University, led by their famous coach, Jess Neely. They wanted no competition here in Houston. And the other SWC schools, who opposed us quite as fiercely as Rice, hid their opposition by saying they could not support another school for membership unless another member in the same city had no objections. A cowardly approach, if ever there was one.

In the early days, Rice was quite good, even winning the SWC championship in 1949. Right after that, Rice Stadium was built – holding 72,000 people! It was built largely from public donations, and Brown & Root built it in less than a year – at cost. It was to be a stadium for both Rice and the University of Houston – it was even named “Houston Stadium” to indicate it was a stadium for the entire city; however, it was built on the Rice campus. The name “Houston Stadium” did not last long; Rice soon changed it to “Rice Stadium.” And Rice had complete control of the new facility.

We were allowed to play in Rice Stadium for a number of years, but Rice placed all kinds of restrictions on our use. For example, we could not play any opponent in any year that Rice was playing that same opponent here in Houston; we could not play anyone in Rice Stadium on the same week-end that Rice was playing a game there – even if we played on a different day, or if we played at a different time on the same day; there were other restrictions. These restrictions made it very difficult for us to complete our football schedule – every year. We could not schedule until we knew Rice’s schedule.

Those infamous restrictions even extended to forcing us one year to change the venue for our biggest game of the year. We had scheduled a game with A&M at Rice Stadium on a day and week-end when Rice was scheduled to play away – all in accordance with the restrictions. And then, Rice changed their schedule to play a game in Houston that day; and they forced us to play elsewhere. We had to move the game to the old Jeppesen Stadium (now Robertson Stadium), which seated only 22,000 at the time. Suddenly we were trying to squeeze our largest crowd of the year into a stadium that would seat about one-third of the expected crowd! Not only that, on game day, the ushers, who were normally supplied by Rice at Rice Stadium, showed up at Jeppesen Stadium wearing their Rice University uniforms which they usually wore at Rice Stadium – interpreted by many of our fans as a needless affront!

Well, we drifted along, playing in Rice Stadium at Rice’s convenience, and playing the strongest teams we could schedule - even a SWC opponent occasionally. And we applied for membership in the SWC every year. We were turned away every year.

And finally the conference tired of our incessant applications. So they passed a new rule that forbad applications altogether; from then on prospective members had to be “sponsored” by an existing member, and “seconded” by another. Neither seemed likely in our case.

So for several years, we pursued sponsorship and seconding from any SWC member who would listen to our pleas. In effect, we were reduced to begging, hat in hand. The SWC schools rather enjoyed that, I have no doubt.

And then there is the matter of the infamous betrayal by Rice. One year we had acquired a sponsor and a second. Somehow Rice became aware of this, and their representatives came to Harry Fouke, our legendary athletic director, to discuss the matter. They asked Harry to get our sponsor to back off and let Rice be our sponsor. They said they had changed their minds and now wished to support our bid. They further said they thought we would have a better chance of approval if we were sponsored by Rice since we were both in the same city. We agreed and asked our sponsor to desist, after securing the promise of a second from another SWC member (that may have been Baylor, but I am not sure of that); then came the annual meeting of the SWC. Harry Fouke confidently went to the meeting site in Dallas and waited in the hall while the members went in for their session. Harry waited – and waited – and waited, thinking the door would open and he would be invited in for further discussion. The door never opened until the meeting ended. Rice had not sponsored us for membership, and the meeting was over; no chance for an invitation now until the next year!

So, again we went on our merry way, disappointed yet again. Nevertheless, we kept fielding stronger teams, and we began to beat some pretty big-name schools. And the public began to ask – ever more loudly – just why the SWC continued to deny admission into their storied league of an obviously deserving Texas school.

And finally Texas, whose influence always dominated the SWC, became sufficiently concerned with our improvement that they decided the only way to slow us down was to admit us to the conference, where they could monitor our recruiting more closely. They sure did not intend to be doing us any favors, you can be sure of that.

And so, with Texas backing, suddenly the doors of the SWC swung open to us. They invited us in – with certain restrictions, of course, just to demonstrate our inferior status. We could not compete for the championship for five years, during which time they would bring our recruiting under control, don’t you know? By this time we were playing in the Astrodome, but that was not good enough for Texas and A&M; so they reserved the right for five years (if I remember the time right) to dictate where they would play us in Houston; they preferred Rice Stadium (we had moved to the Astrodome to get away from all those restrictions imposed on us by Rice) because it was larger, they said. Actually, they cared more about dominating us than the size of the stadium!

After waiting 5 years to compete for the championship, we promptly won it all in that sixth year of membership, and went on to beat Maryland in the Cotton Bowl. Cougars began sporting bumper stickers which read “Houston Cougars, First-Year Owners of the SWC.”

Now, that was a very interesting year. Not only did we win the championship, we beat Texas in Austin by 30-0 in front of the largest home crowd ever seen in Austin to that time, ending a 43-game home winning streak by the horns, which led to the retirement of their legendary coach, Daryl Royal. I think Texas gained a total of 24 yards rushing!

But we had to share that first championship with Texas Tech. Now, Tech had waited some 30 years to gain membership in the conference, as had we. But they had been a member for several years before we were admitted. And now, finally, after waiting all those years, Tech had won the SWC championship, but they had to share it with the upstart Cougars. Not only that, they had lost to us that year – and we were going to the Cotton Bowl instead of Tech. Well, that sure did not help to endear us to a lot of folks out in West Texas, did it?

So, Texas then filed some complaints about our recruiting with the NCAA – the other half of their plans to control our recruiting, don’t you know? And we were investigated and put on probation for a year. One of the penalties was that we were ineligible for the championship or any bowl game for a year. How convenient!

After serving our year in the dock, we won the championship again, and were bound for the Cotton Bowl again, this time to play Notre Dame. We changed our bumper stickers to read “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad.”

We lost the Cotton Bowl that year to Notre Dame. Well, we really won the game, but the refs gave the game to the Irish by refusing to make the call properly when the winning touchdown was clearly caught out of bounds on the very last play of the game; no way were they going to call that play against Notre Dame – on national television. If there were any regrets among our friends in the conference, it was never obvious!

The next year we won the championship again, and beat Nebraska in the Cotton Bowl on a pass with only about 12 seconds left on the clock. Just the reverse of the previous year’s game – only this time the pass was legitimate! And now our bumper stickers read “Now It’s Three out of Four.”

They never forgave us for those four years of domination. Their dismay was assuaged somewhat during the next four years while others won the championships. But in 1984 we won it again – in such a manner as to leave the other members of the conference virtually speechless!

On the last day of the season, there were about four teams which could possibly end up as champion; everything depended on the outcome of the games on that last day. Our game was played early, and we won. And then, as the day wore on, game after game fell our way. Every team that had to lose in order for us to be the champion lost, one after the other. At the end of the day, the Cougars were the last ones standing – and we were champions of the SWC once again! We lost the Cotton Bowl that year to a better team, Boston College, quarterbacked by the legendary Doug Flutie, and helped once again by some very questionable calls by the referees, to the delight of our SWC brethren! And then Texas and A&M pulled their infamous double cross. While telling all the other members of the SWC that they were negotiating with the Big 8 for a merger of that league with the SWC, they were actually trying to negotiate their transfer into the Big 8, leaving all the rest behind. They were forced to include Texas Tech in the deal by Bob Bullock, then the Lt. Governor of Texas; and they were forced to include Baylor by Ann Richards, then the Governor of the state.

So, four members of the SWC were “invited” by the Big 8 to join their league to form the new Big 12, leaving the remaining members of the legendary old SWC out in the cold. And as the proud conference died, it came to pass that the last conference game was played in Rice Stadium between Rice University and the University of Houston – a night game. The Cougars won the game – the very last football game ever played in the SWC (I might add that we also won the very last basketball game ever played in the SWC too - against Texas), and we literally turned out the lights on one of the most legendary conferences in American history. Sad indeed – to see a great conference destroyed by internal hatreds that endure to this day!