Dana Holgorsen on Houston’s Big 12 Future: ‘We’ve Got a Lot of Work to do’
Houston football is coming off an underwhelming season, which was their last in the AAC, as the team saw its overall record come in at a disappointing 8-5. And as the team prepares for the Big 12, the head coach for the Cougars is well aware of the daunting challenges ahead.
Dana Holgorsen addressed the situation by telling media members, “We all know that there’s a football ops building that’s on the horizon. There’s a lot we’ve got to do when it comes to that. Regardless of who the head football coach is here, okay, that has to happen. What we’re dealing with now on a day-to-day basis is going to be dead last in the Big 12. That’s just facts.”
Holgorsen spoke on the disparity of funding, ticket sales, and organizational support from the University of Houston relative to the rest of the competitors in the Big 12 conference by saying, “We better be doing things institutionally to give us a chance. That’s real.” He added, “I know what football needs to look like and we’re going to continue to improve it, continue to make progress when it comes to on-the-field product. Institutionally, we’ve got a lot of work to do.
In reality, the University of Houston ranks at the bottom of the new Big 12 in terms of funding, ticket sales, licensing, and donations per the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database.
The rankings are as followed minus BYU, Baylor, and TCU which are all private universities.
1. Kansas — $35.9 million
2. Texas Tech — $35.6 million
3. Oklahoma State — $30 million
4. West Virginia — $22.8 million
5. Iowa State — $22.4 million
6. Cincinnati — $20.4 million
7. Kansas State — $19.5 million
8. UCF — $17.5 million
9. Houston — $7.4 million
Houston will need to completely turn over a new leaf if they want to compete at the level of the rest of the conference members by increasing ticket sales, recruiting better, and allocating more time, resources, and effort to their program. Holgersen’s bunch has their work cut out for them, and the head coach knows it better than anyone.
