University of Houston Athletics
Ask the AD - June, 2015
6/29/2015 12:00:00 AM | General
Ask the AD - June, 2015
Houston Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Hunter Yurachek will answer the questions of Houston fans at the beginning of each month on UHCougars.com's Ask the AD. Click on the graphic above to submit your question to Hunter. You can also follow the Houston AD on twitter at @HunterYurachek.
Gerald Bluhm
UH will never be able to be prominent in sports unless we are in a Power 5 Conference. Any hope? Any efforts?
Gerald, thank you for your question. I believe we have a great opportunity to make the University of Houston a prominent national name across all of our sport programs. Our goal is to place Houston in the best possible position across the national landscape, and at this point in time, we have a great opportunity with The American Athletic Conference. We have to be the flag carrier of The American, and we are setting standards for each of our sport programs in regards to conference competition. To become a fixture on the national scene, it is imperative all of our sport programs are in the upper echelon of The American and advancing to NCAA postseason competition on a yearly basis.
Brandon Cunningham
I would like to congratulate you on being named the AD at the University of Houston. What is the current timetable for the exterior skin on TDECU stadium being completed?
Brandon, I greatly appreciate it and will strive to serve you, our staff, our student-athletes and our loyal supporters as we all continue to take the University of Houston to its highest level. In regards to TDECU Stadium, the exterior skin of the facility has been completed. During the design process, stadium architects placed value on air flow throughout the stadium to keep occupants cool and enhance the fan experience. The open concept has allowed just that, especially in some of our warmer months. Look forward to you and others filling the stadium full of red this fall! If you haven't purchased your season tickets yet, do so at UHCougars.com/2015 or if you are a returning season ticket member, please renew at UHCougars.com/renew.
John Price
Have you considered allowing the students and alumni to design alternate logos for the Coogs? Many of the established teams (Baylor and Oregon, for example) have several logo variants that they can put on merchandise and uniforms.
John, appreciate your question. While we continue to establish a stronghold in the Houston area and across the State of Texas with our current primary (UH) and secondary logos (Cougar head), we will focus on strengthening our brand with those two marks before we attempt to expand our logos. We do not want to confuse those who are just now realizing the Houston experience and joining our fan base.
Robert Finch
Some of my friends and I who are retired would like to volunteer at the athletic office. Have you ever considered a program such as this?
Robert - the biggest way you and your friends can help our department is by continuing to spread the word of Houston Athletics and encouraging those around the city to purchase season tickets and become members of Cougar Pride. That being said, we will have volunteer opportunities coming up and will have the ability for you and your friends to sign up on UHCougars.com. We will certainly email you when those are set and posted.
Wey
Will we see more clothing options in local stores than last year? Specifically, will we see more Nike products? Are there plans on increased licensing the Cougar brand on more items other than apparel?
Wey, we along with our licensing partner, Learfield, are continually working to expand the footprint of merchandisers who carry Houston Athletics apparel. Currently we have 216 major retailers in the Houston area that carry Houston Athletics apparel along with several smaller entities. You can find the list of major retailers where you and all UH supporters can purchase UH gear at UHCougars.com/retail. If you see a store that you believe should be carrying Houston apparel, ask to speak to the manager and inform them passionate Houston fans will flock to their store for UH gear. You can also let the manager know they can contact our licensing contact Daniel Foster at dfoster3@central.uh.edu to start the licensing process if they have not already done so.
Brian Reading
Our baseball team is doing so well this season, but as far as I can tell, there are no jerseys available to purchase by fans. Any chance I could purchase one?
The official Houston Athletics Fan Shop operated by Barnes & Noble is striving to provide our fans the best Houston Athletics apparel available. We are working to expand the selection to include more game-used authentic jerseys, autographed memorabilia, as well as apparel that matches what our coaches & student athletes wear. Keep an eye out on the as we continue to expand our selection!
Rakesh Singh
Why don't we have a page on the UHCougars.com site for news on football, basketball, baseball recruiting? Most alumni would love to read whom we are recruiting and who has committed to us, and who has signed with us.
Rakesh, I am glad you have been swept up with the excitement of our programs' current recruiting efforts and the #HTownTakeover that is occurring as we speak. Due to NCAA bylaws, we are unfortunately unable to comment on potential student-athletes until they have signed either a National Letter of Intent or a financial aid agreement with the University of Houston. There are, however, recruiting sites that are not affiliated with the University of Houston that do provide great coverage of our team's recruiting efforts that I would recommend searching for online.
Aidan Bynum
Tying in with the "H-Town Takeover" I think the Athletics program should fly City of Houston Flags at all events, while the flag isn't as iconic as Chicago or DC's it's still our city's Flag and could help foster a sense of pride for the city and the Program.
Aidan, great idea. We will look into the City of Houston flag and how we can incorporate at our events. We certainly want to partner with the City of Houston and all of its constituents. I hope you've recently seen Coach Herman made a trip down to City Hall to meet with our esteemed City Council and presented Mayor Annise Parker with a customized Houston Football jersey. We are looking forward to continuing the #HTownTakeover!
Jay Ginsburg
I am interested in attending the basketball tournament in Las Vegas this December. Can you provide any information about it, such as dates, where it will be played, start times, tickets, and team hotel?
Jay, keep your eyes on UHCougars.com and our social media channels as we finalize the information on our non-conference schedule including a return trip to Las Vegas this December. Once we have the finalized information from the tournament hosts, we will certainly post for you and our basketball fans. Also keep an eye out on men's basketball season ticket information coming very soon. We'll need you and all of our fans inside Hofheinz Pavilion on a consistent basis to help provide the best competitive atmosphere for Coach Sampson and our student-athletes.
Stephen Dorsett
Great meeting you at the Alumni Event at BWW. Glad you were able to make it, wish we had better results Sunday but we got the Host - great job on that.
Sorry I had to run so quickly, but look forward to seeing you in Orlando in October for UH/UCF. Let's grow the Central FL COOG base!
Stephen, it was great to meet you in Clearwater as well! A special thank you to the University of Houston Alumni Association for hosting the event and giving us the opportunity to meet. We encourage all UH fans to stay in touch with UHAA at houstonalumni.com for any alumni events around our athletics events. We'll also share UHAA's athletics events on UHCougars.com and our social media channels. Hope to see you this October when our Football program faces UCF in Orlando. UHAA will hold a night before party in Orlando and release details leading up to the season for you and all of our UH fans in the area as we continue to grow our fan base across the nation.
