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Volume 70, Issue 98,
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Sports Wins, promotions improve Cougar home attendance Improvements to basketball program, Athletics Department efforts raise attendance average By Cole Gardner
Students all across UH have opened their inboxes recently to find e-mails from Athletics Director Dave Maggard urging them to attend UH basketball games. Other students are tuning into the new radio show Cougar Talk with men's basketball head coach Tom Penders airing 8 p.m. Monday evenings. No doubt even more students are noticing the strategically placed billboards along their daily commute to school advertising men's basketball. "I'd put our students right in the middle of the floor, if I could, and the band right in front," Maggard said Monday about an extensive marketing initiative to attract more student interest and fan attendance for an improving Houston basketball team.
Attendance at the Cougar men's basketball games has improved by an average of 1,100 people from last year according to the Athletics Department. Attendance has risen as the 2004-05 season progresses with a 3,897 fans in the Jan. 26 game against Tulane compared to Saturday's game against Texas Christian (above), where 6,229 were in the stands, shown in this photo. Coby James/The Daily Cougar No one in the Athletics Department discredits the idea that more wins account for greater interest, and the biggest change made to that end has been the success story of Penders, nicknamed "Turn-Around Tom" and "Mr. Fix It" for his unique ability to take a struggling program and win. Penders, having taken three different schools to the NCAA tournament in his career, is now pursuing a fourth. Maggard was also quick to credit the acquisition of Penders and his aggressive style of play for the growing success of UH's basketball team. "Penders' philosophy is that if you have an open shot, take it," Maggard said. "This hustle style of basketball and pressure defense is meant to get the team scoring quickly through fast-breaks, forcing turnovers and hustling after every loose ball... ‘March Madness' begins in February." "Tom is bringing back the Guy Lewis era," Willie Burns, an alumnus from the class of 1958, said. "We need for these Cougars to get off their hump and come see Tom Penders." Mr. Fix It's Cougars are now (17-10) overall and (8-5) in Conference USA, and are close to finishing with first the winning season in three. Assistant Athletics Director Devin Crosby said that partnerships through Viacom, KPRC and Time Warner have helped cut the high costs typically associated with marketing the UH basketball product. "It would normally cost $400,000 to advertise, but through these companies, we were able to cut that figure below $90,000," Crosby said. Other efforts have been directly aimed at the student body such as a change in policy allowing students admission to any UH sporting event when they present their CougarOne card at the gate, eliminating the process of obtaining tickets in advance. According to Crosby and various alumni, their efforts have helped boost attendance to an average increase of over 1,100 persons per game in comparison to last season with Saturday's game against Texas Christian seeing 6,229 screaming fans at Hofheinz Pavilion, the highest attendance of the season. "Last year was as bad as I've ever seen it," alumnus Ray Keller said about the attendance. But no matter how many billboards are put up or how
many towels are given out, Maggard's main focus and hope is to put a winning
team on the floor, and any outside effort to draw fans is meant to support
the team in that effort, which should facilitate bringing more students
back to Hofheinz. Houston will play its final home game at 7 p.m. March
5 against Alabama-Birmingham.
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