UIL football championship games to be in Houston
Houston trumped San Antonio on Monday for the right to play host to the UIL state football championship games in December.
NRG Stadium, home of the NFL’s Texans, will be the site for all 11-man title games, UIL officials announced at the Texas High School Coaches Association’s annual convention and coaching school.
The UIL chose NRG over the Alamodome in San Antonio. The games will be played Dec. 17-19.
“At the end of the day, the best experience we could offer this year would be at NRG Park,” UIL Deputy Director Jamey Harrison said.
It might be for just one year, however. UIL officials said it’s too early to determine where the games will be played in 2016.
The UIL had a four-year run at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, but the NFL scheduled the Cowboys to play a home game against the New York Jets on Dec. 19, a move that surprised UIL officials.
The 12 games played at AT&T Stadium last fall drew an average of 21,722 per game.
Arlington, Houston and San Antonio appear to be the only sites the UIL will consider for future championship games. Royal-Memorial Stadium in Austin would be an ideal site, too, but without a retractable roof, weather could be an issue.
“We’ve not been able to calculate a way to play 10 games in one location in three days without being able to control the climate,” Harrison said. “You can’t have any weather delays and expect to get that many games played in that time.”
UIL’s new AD: Susan Elza has become the first female athletic director in UIL history.
Elza, 45, will replace Mark Cousin, who has shifted to the UIL’s compliance department. She previously was the executive athletic director of Justin Northwest school district.
“I didn’t hire her because she’s a female,” UIL Executive Director Charles Breithaupt said. “I hired her because she was the best person we had available for the position.”
Said Elza: “We’ve been careful about riding the female card. Am I proud to present a first in the history of the UIL? Absolutely. But I do want to represent good leadership for schools across the state.”
Hoops back in San Antonio: The state basketball tournament, held at the Alamodome last year after being in Austin for 93 years, will return to San Antonio next season. But UIL officials are not making promises for future tournaments.
Breithaupt and Harrison addressed seating complaints from fans whose teams played in the tournament in March. Most of those fans were behind the baseline at the four corners of the court.
Breithaupt said fans who purchase tickets early are given priority. He noted that fans of teams were placed at “arena level” instead of higher in the bleachers.
“I thought we gave them the best seating we could give them,” he said.
Harrison added that the UIL is working on different configurations that might improve sight lines.
Loved Bowlsby’s announcement on the Big 12 adopting a new rule that will limit the amount of times a team can have live contact to twice per week during the season, including game day. Now, there are surely some old-school coaches out there who would just as soon go full pads three-plus times a week, but one need only look at cases like Ryan Swope, David Ash, Clint Trickett and Tre Newton to understand the league made a great call here.