University of Houston Athletics
Check in with Yurachek - July 1, 2015
7/1/2015 12:00:00 AM | General
I hope our UH Cougar fans are having an enjoyable summer and like myself, I am sure you are counting down the days to September 5 and the opening of the 2015 football season as we host Tennessee Tech at TDECU Stadium.
Last week, we saw UH's name mentioned across the nation as University of Oklahoma President David L. Boren provided his opinion about future membership expansion for the Big 12 and thrust the national media into speculating once again about the prospects of future conference expansion. It is exciting to be on the menu per se, but our focus and priorities have not changed; we are going to continue to find ways to get better each and every day and give our coaches and student-athletes the best opportunity to have success academically, athletically and as members of the Houston community and to dominate the American Athletic Conference.
As we look quickly back and ahead to the immediate horizon for UH Athletics, we are moving forward in a very favorable direction, especially in regards to facility enhancements.
- The opening of a $120 million TDECU Stadium last fall.
- The construction of a $25 million Basketball Development Facility scheduled to open this fall.
- The renovation to our Strength and Conditioning facility that will be completed next week.
- The construction of a student-athlete nutrition center, the Cougar Café currently underway.
- The upcoming addition of the new video board at Cougar Field which will be the largest board in a collegiate baseball stadium.
- The pending renovations to Carl Lewis International Track and Field Complex slated to begin later this fall.
- A renovation to Hofheinz Pavilion and a football practice facility on the immediate horizon.
- A study and design of a new clubhouse for our baseball program is currently underway.
- $1.75 million has been raised to build a new Tennis center for our Women's Tennis program.
Regardless of how incredible the list of facility enhancements are received, the one true driver and measure of our current and future success will be ticket sales and attendance at football and men's basketball games during the coming years. Until our attendance in these venues is reflective of those who we would like to compare ourselves too, the University of Houston Department of Athletics will not reach its full potential.
Tuesday, June 30 was our renewal deadline for football season tickets. While we closed out very strong, our sales team should be focusing the entire month of June and July on new ticket sales and not trying to convince current supporters to renew their season tickets. This should be an easy decision for Cougar fans. Help us take the next step, buy or renew your season tickets, convince your neighbors, friends and business associates to do the same and attend as many of these events as possible.
As I mentioned during my press conference in April, it is time for UH fans across the greater Houston area, to step up onto the front porch of the University of Houston. Take pride in the UH Athletic program and let's paint TDECU Stadium, Hofheinz Pavilion and the City of Houston in Cougar RED during the upcoming year.
Go Coogs,
Click here to follow Hunter Yurachek on Twitter.
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News & Notes from Houston Athletics
If you didn't catch it, we've established a Fan Experience Headquarters at TDECU Stadium. The Fan Experience Headquarters will combine ticket sales, ticket operations, season ticket member retention, marketing & promotions and data analytics to provide the best possible fan experience at Houston Athletics' events while continuing to drive new ticket sales records.
Houston fans will have the opportunity to visit the Fan Experience Headquarters Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m., and during home gamedays at hours to be announced, at Gate 1 of TDECU Stadium. Read more...
In addition to the Fan Experience Headquarters announced Monday, Houston Athletics will also create the Houston Cougars Fan Experience Task Force designed to provide fans a voice in how their game experiences can be improved and how fans are affected by the current fan experience. Follow the link to sign up and learn more. Read more...
I hope you'll help me welcome Courtney Steinbock to our family as our new Women's Tennis head coach. Courtney comes to Houston from Oklahoma State and is regarded as one of the rising stars of collegiate tennis. Read more...
Accolades continue to pour in for student-athletes from our baseball program. Both Andrew Lantrip and Seth Romero have received All-America honors of the past week. Help me congratulate Andrew and Seth, and our entire Baseball program for a strong season that has us waiting for more in 2016. Read more...
I'm looking forward to introducing a group of our student-athletes to another culture this August when our Men's Basketball program will visit China to compete in four games and enjoy the culture of Anhui Province. The team will face the Chinese National Team and the Jiangshu Dragons of the Chinese Basketball Association during its near two-week stay in Anhui Province. Read more...
A very well-deserved honor for our assistant track & field coach, and nine-time Olympic gold medalist, Carl Lewis on being inducted into the Texas Track & Field Hall of Fame. Read more...
We push our student-athletes on a daily basis to reach their highest academic, athletic and personal aspirations, so it is rewarding when they are honored for their success. Was thrilled to hear our Women's Swimming & Diving team was named a Scholar All-America Team by the College Swimming Coaches Association of America. Read more...
We invite our female fans out to TDECU Stadium on July 23 for the 2015 Women's Chalk Talk event with Tom Herman and the Houston Football program. The evening is full of fun and football as participants get a hands-on look at the Houston Football program! Read more...
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Compliance Tip of the Week
A current student-athlete may correspond and communicate through social media with a PSA as long as it's not at the direction of the coach or any athletic staff member and they do not mention or talk about the recruitment of the PSA.
Electronic Correspondence, Social Media and Recruiting (I)
Date Published: June 23, 2015
Item Ref: 1
Educational Column:
Question No. 11: May a current student-athlete and a prospective student-athlete connect and communicate via a social media platform at any time and publicly communicate with or about the prospective student-athlete?
Answer: Yes, provided the communication does not occur at the direction of a coach or other athletics department staff member and the communication does not relate to the prospective student-athlete's recruitment (e.g., a student-athlete may not publicly comment on a prospective student-athlete's verbal commitment, a student-athlete may not post any information that would publicize a prospective student-athlete's visit to campus), including information that was initially generated by the prospective student-athlete (e.g., share or "retweet").
