Bohls: The good news for Houston is it's in the Big 12, but that's the bad news, too

Ever since getting passed over when the Southwest Conference dissolved before the 1996 season in favor of the Big 12, the Houston Cougars have been knocking on the door.

The Big 12 finally answered.

The caveat is this: The Cougars should have been careful what they wished for.

At least for one year.

“The University of Houston has been looking forward to this for a long, long time,” fifth-year head coach Dana Holgorsen said at Big 12 media days in July. “This is the deepest conference in the country. This team is different from last year’s team.”

That’s not necessarily a good thing.

Even though the Cougars went 12-2 just two years ago, reaching the 12-win plateau for just the third time in school history, Houston won’t be initiated into the league in 2023 from a position of strength.

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Holgorsen’s offensive-minded crew slipped to a disappointing 8-5 last season after two losses in overtime, returns only 12 starters and will break in a new passing tandem to replace one of the best in school history. The defense was in full retreat as the 112th-ranked unit, giving up 32 points a game. And Houston is picked to finish 12th in the newly configured 14-team Big 12 and must contend with preseason favorite Texas and last year’s Big 12 title game qualifiers Kansas State and TCU as well as dark horse Texas Tech.

But that doesn’t mean the Cougars won’t have success over the long haul. Here’s betting they will.

∙ There are few recruiting hotbeds hotter than the fourth-largest city in America, with 2.3 million people in Houston proper.

“It certainly can’t hurt,” the former West Virginia head coach said of the location. “It’s the most centrally located city in the United States. The bad news is every other school in the country is coming to Houston as well.”

He lost stud running back Alton McCaskill to Colorado in the offseason.

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∙ Houston has excelled in sports including men’s golf — 16 national titles and famous alumni such as Fred Couples, Fuzzy Zoeller, Steve Elkington and Bruce Lietzke — and men’s basketball, where Kelvin Sampson is a top-10 coach with one of the school’s six Final Four appearances in 2021, an Elite Eight run in 2022 and a Sweet 16 appearance last March. The Cougars have turned out national champion track stars such as Carl Lewis and Leroy Burrell. Baseball has a solid program as well.

∙ Tillman Fertitta, the Cougars’ version of Phil Knight, owns the Houston Rockets, chairs the school’s Board of Regents and doesn’t like losing. Can you say NIL boost?

∙ Football has resurrected itself since the days of Bill Yeomen under a train of outstanding coaches such as Art Briles (until he left for Baylor and became involved in a self-inflicted scandal), Kevin Sumlin (until he left for Texas A&M) and Tom Herman (until he left for Texas).

So the message to Holgorsen is don’t leave. He won’t want to and has no need to, but that decision won’t be up to him, even though he signed an extension through 2027.

∙ Elite quarterbacks including Heisman winner Andre Ware, David Klingler, Case Keenum, Kevin Kolb, D’Eriq King and Clayton Tune have put up huge offensive numbers for Houston, and Texas Tech transfer Donovan Smith figures to do the same.

That said, the departures of Tune, Houston’s No. 3 all-time passer, and explosive wideout Nathaniel “Tank” Dell to the NFL will deprive the Cougars of an electric pair in the short term.

Holgorsen just tabbed the 6-foot-5, 240-pound Smith as his “clear-cut starter,” preferring a quarterback with experience from 21 games with the Red Raiders. He’ll have some ample targets in Matthew Golden, Joseph Manjack IV and Samuel Brown, along with transfers Joshua Cobbs from Wyoming and Stephon Johnson from Oklahoma State. He added a pair of four-star wideout recruits, too.

“The expectations are high for Donovan,” Holgorsen said. “I felt like it was important to bring a guy in with experience, with Big 12 experience.  Donovan has impressed me. I think his best days are ahead of him.”

The same could be said for this program if it can keep some momentum with another bowl appearance and establish some instant credibility in its new league.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: The Houston Cougars are eager to make an impression on the Big 12