PDM92

It's much more difficult to stop UT's offense than it would appear, and this is Ehlinger's third year in the system. They will be tough to stop.

Their defensive coordinator is one of the best in the game, particularly in pressuring the QB. Yes, they are replacing a bunch of players on defense, but the replacements are probably more talented than the ones they are losing (although obviously not as experienced).

Herman also excels when he's the underdog; he's excellent at motivating his players in big games. They tend to play down to their competition when favored.

LSU will not beat UT handily. No team has done that against Herman, particularly in Austin.

This game will be close.

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You serious? They have way more than the word "offer."

"The problem was, I know why he didn’t take it now, it was (expletive) tilted toward the family a little bit. It was tilted toward taking care of the mom, taking care of the kid. Like it was tilted towards that. Now I know for a fact he didn’t explain everything to the mom. I know now, he didn’t get enough of the piece of the pie in the deal.”


Still all speculative in a court of law. Enough for the NCAA to hammer you but not really much in court.

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No one is saying that Wade is going to be convicted of any crime. But it's hard to explain his quotes as anything other than discussing monetary offers to a recruit and his family. Even though it's pretty clear that this is a wide-spread practice, Wade was caught on tape. Has he even denied that he was offering money to recruits and their families?

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I don’t know? That’s what you all say about us st Mississippi State. Houston hasn’t been any better than us the last 40 years, but we are supposed to accept mediocrity. Why can’t they?

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I don't know who says Miss St should accept mediocrity. They shouldn't. And the idea that UH should just accept it is absurd. UH wants to win, and Fertitta is apparently willing to foot the bill.

UH may never get in the Big12, but their failure to invest in athletics in the 80s and 90s left them on the outside looking in. If there's an opportunity to improve their standing down the road, they want to do everything they can to take advantage of it.

There are several reasons why he might prefer coaching at UH, including that he probably just had his best team at WVU and finished 3rd (or 4th?) in the Big12.

He seems to have run his course at WVU. And it's been established that a good coach can have success at UH quickly.

Before Major's firing, I would have said that the pressure to win is lower at UH than at WVU too, but that's questionable at this point.

I don’t think folks at UH were pleased with the last 2 years. If Major goes 8-4 next year, he could be done. The administration knows they need to keep fans interested in the program, and the UH president is on record saying that 8-4 will get you fired. (That was Levine’s record when he got canned in favor of Herman.)

For the guy saying Fertitta has no allegiance to UH, he went to UH. So that's something. And he just put his name on UH's basketball arena for a mere $20 million. (Another UH alum, John Moores, previously owned the Padres and donated $50+ million to UH in the '90s.)

Fertitta is on record as saying that money will not be the reason that Herman leaves UH. Obviously, LSU has several advantages over UH that might cause Herman to leave, regardless of the money. But money won't be the deciding factor.

And for those thinking that UT will never let UH in the Big 12, that's misguided; there is significant political pressure in Texas for UT to get UH in the conference. Not surprisingly, Fertitta is one of the largest donors to politicians in Texas.

If UH is left out of the Big 12, it seems almost certain Herman will be gone next year. If UH gets in the Big12, UH has a decent shot at keeping him. It's definitely any easier road to the playoff going through the Big 12 than the SEC, and Houston is one of the best recruiting areas in the country.

Probably because Herman took a 3rd string QB (who is a shell of himself this year) and won a national championship. Sure, Meyer deserves some of the credit, but look how OSU fared this year without Herman. Obviously, all of their struggles aren't due to Herman's departure, but he definitely deserves meaningful credit for their success.

And when you couple his work at OSU with his immediate, break-out success at UH, he becomes the hottest commodity out there.

Fuentes may be better than Herman, but it's hard to say he's enjoyed a comparable last 2 years. And, heck, Fuentes was hired by Va Tech; that's a pretty nice gig. No one is sleeping on him.

It's almost certain that neither SMU nor UH will get an invite to the Big12. But your view of UH is extremely dated and simply wrong. The new President (Khator) has worked wonders and will continue to do so. UH has several highly ranked programs (including the law school, the creative writing program, and the superconductivity program, not to mention an excellent Honors College). The Carnegie Foundation designated UH as a Tier One Research Institution--that's no small feat. Yes, UH is not yet comparable to UT or A&M, but the academics are improving dramatically and quickly. And the view that UH is a commuter school is quickly going by the boards too; there are nearly 10,000 beds on campus, and two new, off-campus private residences broke ground last year.

As for athletic facilities, UH has a brand new 40,000 seat stadium (expandable to 60k, if a bigger conference mandates the need), and it just broke ground on a $25 million basketball practice facility. Improvements to Hofheinz have also been approved and are in the works. UH also has a $75 million indoor football practice facility.

But to get back to the topic at hand, the rumor mill indicates that Ohio St's offensive coordinator is the leading candidate for the UH gig. This Cougar grad hopes he's the one.