Houston, a member of the American Athletic Conference, is all in on football. After hiring away Tom Herman, the founder of MENSA, the organization for geniuses, from Ohio State, the university also announced $240 million in upgrades to its athletic facilities.
This means Houston will be a prime candidate for Big 12 expansion, whenever the conference decides to that in a last ditch attempt to keep Oklahoma and Texas in the conference.
Big 12 sachems surely think the Cougars would jump at the chance to join a Power 5 conference, but they might be wrong in that thinking.
From The Houston Chronicle:
But make no mistake, UH wants to be under consideration should the Big 12, or any other of the so-called Power 5 conferences, decide to expand. “We want Houston to be at the top of that list,” said Hunter Yurachek, UH’s vice president for intercollegiate athletics.
What list exactly is up for interpretation?
Join the Big 12, which has long been the desired destination since UH was left out of the merger between the old Big Eight and four schools (Texas, Texas A&M, Baylor and Texas Tech) from the Southwest Conference in the late 1990s? Stand pat in the American Athletic Conference, which is entering its fourth season, and hope the next round of TV negotiations lands a deal that stirs talk of a “Power 6.” Or what about another conference like Pac-12, if it decides it wants a presence in Texas?
“I think that limits us,” Yurachek said of UH’s focus solely on joining the Big 12. “We have to keep all our options open.”
While it will be interesting to watch it all unfold, there's no doubt the coaches in whatever conference lands Houston will lose sleep when Tom Herman's brass testicles come sauntering through their doors.
