$106 Million Down the UH Drain

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The University of Houston is desperate to achieve Tier 1 status – this time in athletics.  The Texas Tribune reports that UH has transferred over $108 million from vital academic programs to support its athletic programs that the good citizens of Houston could not care less about.

But while fan attendance may be lacking, the university’s teams have received huge support in another way. To fund its ambitions, the University of Houston has transferred more than $100 million from its academic side to its sports programs in recent years, figures reviewed by The Texas Tribune show. Meanwhile, the university has launched or is planning a series of expensive sports construction projects, and the school’s athletics department has struggled to stick to its annual budget.

Athletics departments at public universities are generally expected pay their own bills, with schools usually chipping in to cover shortfalls. But Houston’s subsidies in recent years have grown beyond the norm. From 2008 to 2014, the school transferred $106 million to athletics, according to financial reports reviewed by Tribune.

Houston’s subsidy shows no sign of shrinking this year, even though administrators have told the department that they’d like it to become more self-sustaining. School leaders remain committed to making the teams more competitive. They see basketball and football success as a way to increase the school’s visibility and strengthen student and alumni ties. To do so, administrators say, the school has to spend money. 

Meanwhile, the Houston Chronicle reports on exactly how little the City of Houston at large cares about UH’s quest to become the No. 4 sports attraction in Houston (after the Texans, Astros and Rockets).

Imagining the Cougars filling the void is laughable in 2015. The University of Houston can’t fill its own football stadium, let alone carry the weight of a major athletics program in a city much more obsessed with the Aggies and Longhorns. But that doesn’t mean Hunter Yurachek can’t recognize the enviable opening currently staring the Cougars straight in the face.

“This is a city that is on the rise, and this is a university that is on the rise. … We want to get to the same level from a wins and losses standpoint and a notoriety standpoint that our pro sports friends are having in this marketplace,” said Yurachek, UH’s vice president for intercollegiate athletics.

Convincing scattered alumni to show up for Tom Herman’s debut against boring Tennessee Tech at TDECU Stadium is one thing. Making the Cougars stand out in a region long devoted to the NFL, NBA and MLB is another battle entirely.

If Herman is juggling 50-pound barbells, Yurachek is lifting multiple mountains at once. Mack Rhoades’ replacement was as honest, upfront and direct as the Cougars’ splashy new football hire during a recent interview. Yurachek also didn’t shy away from the multi-tiered challenges the university faces at it attempts to build something that’s never been built in a city that thrives on endless expansion: a collegiate program that deserves annual attention and devotion, not just random likes on Facebook.

“We’ve got to increase our fan base,” Yurachek said. “We’ve got somewhere in the neighborhood of 160,000 University of Houston alums that live within an hour drive of this campus. Our season-ticket base for football is roughly about 14-15,000, and that’s not good enough.”

UH sports are laughable indeed.  Red advises you to go to a Dynamo game – at least they aren’t wasting your tax dollars on a foolish quest to gain attention.

We Want Rick, We Want Rick, We Want Rick – to Quit

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Rick Perry’s troubled path to the GOP nomination took another hit on Wednesday when  the campaign lost the last of its staff in New Hampshire. Perry’s New Hampshire political director Dante Vitagliano has left one sinking ship for another by joining the still on the ground campaign of Ohio Gov. John Kasich.  According to Vitagliano, “it has become clear that the path forward for Gov. Perry is not through New Hampshire.”  Leaving open the question of exactly where is it that Rick’s path actually runs through?

Apparently, Perry’s only remaining hope is ultra-conservative South Carolina. Perry continues to maintain a staff of five in SC.  Perry field director, Erik Corcoran, heads the staff and claims that Perry has actual volunteers in the Palmetto State,  “We’ve confirmed to [Perry headquarters in Austin] that they hired the right people and we’re in it for the right reasons,” Corcoran said. “I’m not going to disparage anyone who has left, but it sends an enormously powerful message, especially to young people, that there is a team out there that’s in it for the right reasons.”

Listen up young people.  Get on the bandwagon of a 65 year old, tired and temperamental white guy who hasn’t had a new idea since 1996.  The staff needs you.  They’re in it for the right reasons – after all it’s Perry’s last chance to boost his enormously oversized ego.   Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?

Today in Texas History – September 2

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From the Annals of World War II – In 1945, Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz signed the Instrument of Surrender with Japan that ended World War II. Nimitz, who was from Fredericksburg, was named commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet shortly after Japan’s 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor and ultimately had command over all of the Pacific Theater with the exception of Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s Southwest Pacific sector.  Nimitz was responsible for implementing the offensive that eventually brought the Japanese to unconditional surrender. Nimitz and the representatives of Emperor Hirohito (who did not later commit seppuku) signed the peace treaty aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

In 1964, Fredericksburg initiated a plan to honor its most famous son.  A  local group established the Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz Memorial Naval Museum in the old Nimitz Hotel on Main Street in Fredericksburg. From this humble beginning arose the excellent National Museum of the Pacific War.  If you have not been there, you need to go.

Jade Helm 15 Update

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Red was really starting to think this whole Jade Helm 15 thing was a bunch of hooey, when lo and behold Red heard that Lionel Messi and Argentina was going to be in Houston for a match against Bolivia on Friday.  That got Red to thinking about why two South American teams would come all the way to Houston to play a so-called “friendly” against each other when there are umpteen places either in Argentina, Bolivia or somewhere in between that could host this match.  So Red is naturally suspicious that this is a big scheme by Obama (socialist, Kenyan, Muslim terrorist sympathizer that he is) to encourage more illegal immigration – who else watches soccer anyway? – and further erode the Tea Party’s chances of putting their man in the White House before it’s too late and they all die off.  So when all the illegals take a moment off from committing criminal acts and taking handlouts from the feds while watching the nefarious socialist sport of soccer, the jack-booted thugs will be getting busy rounding up our women, children and most importantly guns.  It’ll be easy for them to spot the true patriots because they will be the only ones not mesmerized by Messi’s magical moves con la pelota.  So take Red’s advice, suffer through 2 hours of futbol (as they call it).  It will be worth figuring out exactly what is “offsides” in order to keep the JBT’s away from your WCAMIG’s.  Sacrifices must be made lads.

Vigilantly yours,

Red

Abbott Wants Fed Money for Healthcare

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Gov. Greg Abbott has adamantly refused to expand Medicaid even though it would provide billions in federal dollars and provide health insurance for many of the millions of Texans who are still uninsured.  The negative economic impact on the Texas economy is estimated to be at least $66 billion in lost funding – money that would create jobs and keep workers and their families healthy.

Abbott, who must be seen doing everything he can to oppose “Obamacare”, hasn’t been shy about attempting to hang onto another source of critical funding for Texas hospitals.  The federal government provides a huge amount of money to Texas hospitals through the uncompensated care pool. For four years, the feds have reimbursed Texas’ safety-net hospitals for care they provide to people who cannot afford to pay because Texas refuses to embrace Medicaid expansion.  Now that the feds are threatening to cut off this funding, Abbott is up in arms and has his administration attacking those who are arguing for Medicaid expansion.  The Texas Tribune has the whole sordid story of Abbott’s duplicity, his attempt to smear his opponents and his refusal to turn over the emails that show his role.

Make up your mind, Gov. Abbott.  Either you are for or against the federal government funding health care in Texas.

DPS Issues Gang Update

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The Texas Department of Public Safety issued its latest “Gang Update” on Monday August 31.  According to the DPS’  Texas Gang Threat Assessment, several Texas based gangs remain a major problem.  The report ranks gangs in order to determine which ones are the most dangerous.  Under the ranking system, Tier One gangs pose the biggest threat.  These include Tango Blast with 15,000 members, Texas Mexican Mafia with over 4,700 members, and Texas Syndicate with more than 3,400.

Today in Texas History – September 1

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From the Annals of the Civil War –  In 1863,  Major Santos Benavides led 79 men in the Thirty-third Texas Cavalry across the Rio Grande in pursuit of the bandit Octaviano Zapata.  Zapata had been an associate of Juan Cortina.  During the Civil War he was recruited by Union forces to aid them in military action in south Texas seeking to prevent the Confederacy from exporting cotton to Matamoros.  Zapata’s raids also kept Rebel forces occupied in Texas.  Zapata’s force often flew the American flag during their raids – leading Texans to refer to the group as the “First Regiment of Union Troops.” The Cavalry caught up to Zapata near Mier, Tamaulipas the following day.  The confrontation ended with Zapata and 9 others were dead.  The remnants of the bandit gang dispersed.

Photo of Santos Benavides from http://www.forttours.com

Rick Perry for President – of Texas?

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The Texas Nationalist Movement is launching a petition drive to put a vote for secession on the primary ballot in March.  It requires 75,000 signatures to get such a question on the ballot and Red predicts that TNM will have no problem meeting that goal.  The question would be obviously non-binding and meaningless, but would be an early indicator of the actual level of fervor for Texas secession among the restless natives.

The only possible path to legal succession would be for the state to request Congress enact legislation authorizing secession and to have it approved by the U.S. and Texas.  That seems a long shot at best.  The illegal means would be to declare secession and essentially start a revolution.  That didn’t work out so well the first time.

Red has a couple of thoughts about what might actually happen if Texas secedes.

  1. Jeff Davis will be back on the south mall at UT.
  2. Illegal immigration to Texas will balloon.
  3. Texas’ economy will go in the tank for about 10 years.
  4. Within 50 years, Mexico will invade and reclaim Texas as its own.