Program to be sold to wider audience
Holgorsen to recruit Metroplex, Louisiana to supplement area
Dana Holgorsen stood in front of a packed crowd in the general assembly auditorium at the George R. Brown Convention Center to deliver a presentation on one of the staples of the Air Raid offense.
For 60 minutes, Holgorsen had the attention of coaches from across Texas in what amounted to an infomercial for the University of Houston football program.
“Honestly, one of the reasons I took the job was to come back to coaching school and be surrounded by the quality of coaches we have, not only here in the city of Houston but the state of Texas,” Holgorsen told the group attending the annual Texas High School Coaches Association convention and coaching school.
With one of the most fertile recruiting areas in the nation in his backyard, Holgorsen and his coaching staff can scout some of the top football prospects without using a full tank of gas. The challenge is when to be selective in recruiting elsewhere — and how to sell a UH brand to other parts of the state already heavily saturated by major conference programs Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, TCU and Baylor.
Of the roughly 111 high school players UH has recruited since 2014, 53 percent (59) have come from the Houston area. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex has produced the second-most signees (17), followed by Louisiana (14) and Central Texas (11). UH has five known commitments for the class of 2020, with three coming from the Houston area and two from Louisiana.
“We’re going to focus on Houston and then get out there for the rest of the state of Texas,” Holgorsen said. “But we’re not going to forget about Louisiana. They are a wonderful neighbor that we are going to recruit hard.”
after taking the job in January, Holgorsen and his coaching staff blanketed Houston-area high schools. It was a way, Holgorsen said, “to rekindle relationships and build relationships with the ones I don’t know.”
That approach also was a factor as Holgorsen assembled his staff, which included 32 hires in his first three months on the job. Holgorsen brought a few staffers with him from West Virginia (Marquel Blackwell, Tyron Carrier and Doug Belk) but said he had to take into consideration those familiar with the Texas recruiting landscape.
“I couldn’t take just a whole lot of West Virginia guys down here, because there just wasn’t any familiarity with Texas,” Holgorsen said. “We have to have guys that understand what the culture is like here, the importance of getting out and recruiting as many guys as we can.”
With about 1,000 high schools in Texas, it’s impossible for Houston, or any other school for that matter, to recruit the entire state. The state’s powerhouse programs, particularly those at the Class 4A, 5A and 6A levels, are must stops for any staff. One UH staffer estimated the Cougars foShortly
cus on about 500 high schools, with about 200 coming from within an hour or so of campus.
“It’s important to cover home base,” Holgorsen said.
When Holgorsen and his staff leave home, two areas that have been frequent stops are the Metroplex and East Texas. At Tyler John Tyler alone, the Cougars have established a recent pipeline with Greg Ward, Tyus Bowser, Braylon Jones, Bryson Smith and Dekalen Goodson.
“It comes down to what I preach to my kids: Don’t fall in love with the coach; fall in love with the school,” said Tyler John Tyler coach Ricklan Holmes. “The University of Houston is doing a great job, not only with the athletic program but with the academics. I know when my kids go there, they are going to be taken care of and graduate.”
Holmes said Houston does a “great job” of getting to know his John Tyler players and being among the first schools to offer scholarships.
“Even when the Power Five schools come in, (UH) still holds them off,” Holmes said. “They get to know our kids, recruit them early, and stay on them from sophomore year all the way through senior year.”
DeSoto coach Claude Mathis said Holgorsen does not have to “sell, sell, sell the brand” because
of UH’s recent success, which began with an American Athletic Conference title and Peach Bowl win under Tom Herman in 2015.
“Everybody knows the University of Houston,” Mathis said. “If they were losing, it would be a different story. How can you not come up and recruit the Metroplex? Just like schools have to go out and recruit Houston. Those are two big powerhouse (areas) in the state. I don’t care where you are in the state of Texas, you have to recruit Houston and have to recruit the Metroplex.”