Quote:Aug. 17, 2004, 1:33AM


By RICHARD JUSTICE
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle

If he'd known then what he knows now, Dave Maggard might have come to the University of Houston anyway.

From the beginning, he looked at the place for what it could be instead of what it had become. If others didn't share his sense of optimism, so much the better.

His intrigue began when he toured the campus secretly one afternoon in early 2002 before even agreeing to an interview. He already knew about the losing records and empty seats, and one walk convinced him the facilities needed upgrading if UH had any hope of returning to national prominence.

What he hadn't known, what he probably couldn't have known, was the extent of the financial problems.

He didn't know the athletic department had a runaway budget deficit that eventually would approach $10 million a year. He didn't know the school's fund-raising machinery was so poor. He didn't know how many employees and alums had become convinced UH's best days were a distant memory.

He didn't know a debate had begun inside UH about the role of intercollegiate athletics at the school. As attendance continued to declined and financial losses increased, some faculty members and administrators wondered if it was all worth it.


Small victories
Yet even if Maggard had known all of that, he might have agreed to become the school's athletic director anyway.

He forced himself to think in terms of possibilities.

Some 2 1/2 years later, even with the budget deficit still high and attendance still low, he believes things are slowly and methodically getting better at UH. If you haven't yet been asked to help make them even better, you soon will be.

He has measured progress in baby steps.

For instance, graduation rates.

They're up significantly the last two years, from under 30 percent two years ago to almost 50 percent for the football team alone.

"That's 13 percent higher than the general student population," he said.

He did it the old-fashioned way. He ordered coaches to improve them.


Briles tops the list
He also has fund-raising machinery up and running. His staff is doing mass mailings and knocking on doors all over Houston.

"We had to change some attitudes," Maggard said. "We had to change some people, too."

Recently when one guy handed him a large check, he said: "Dave, I'm doing this because you haven't taken your eyes off me the entire time we've been talking."

"Well," Maggard told him, "you're looking at a desperate man."

Finally, there's the small matter of wins and losses.

No matter how long he stays at UH, his enduring legacy, the smartest thing he ever did, may be the hiring of Art Briles as football coach.

Maggard could have gotten a proven older coach hoping for a comeback, a hot young assistant or even a respected high school coach.

Instead, he hired someone so perfect that it's amazing none of his predecessors did it first.

Briles played at UH, so he understood the place, knew both its shortcomings and positives. He was already a Texas coaching legend after winning four state championships at Stephenville High School and had gotten a taste of the college game as an assistant at Texas Tech.

All Maggard asked of Briles was to turn around a program that had gone 5-18 the previous two seasons and was drawing in the low thousands for some home games.

Nothing less than UH's future in intercollegiate athletics was riding on the hire. That future is still being debated.

"The program is a huge drain on the financial resources of the university and the academic programs," said Giles Auchmuty, president of the UH Faculty Senate. "I know Mr. Maggard is trying to reduce the deficit.

"That's the big issue."

If such stories were perfect, this next sentence would be about packed stadiums and a conference championship.

What Briles did was build hope. His first team went 7-6 and was invited to a bowl game.

Attendance increased slightly, to 21,807 per game.

This season, he'll face the harsh reality of life at UH. The Cougars will host Miami at Reliant Stadium in one game and travel to Oklahoma for another. Both games will provide an infusion of cash, and Briles understands the deal.

Maggard is negotiating to bring Nebraska to Reliant Stadium next year, and if Big 12 schools add a 12th game, UH will be available.
Such is life.

Maggard believes new basketball coach Tom Penders will do for that program what Briles did for the football program.

If Briles and Penders do their jobs, then Maggard can do his. He's trying to get UH's NBA alums to pay for a new basketball court at Hofheinz Pavilion. He's asking NFL players with UH ties to buy lockers for the football team.

Down the road, he envisions a larger stadium, more success and maybe, just maybe, an invitation to join the Big 12.

He knows you're probably laughing at such a notion. He knows the debate about sports at UH will continue. If he was going to come in and set a bar, he wasn't going to set it low.

"Our expectations have been ridiculously low," he said. "We have to start thinking of playing for championships and being competitive every year. We have to think that way."

richard.justice@chron.com