ElViento: I’ve been writing this blog for 14 years* now, and so far I have avoided writing an article centered around the site that is CoogFans.com. I’m finally caving.
*This number was not fact-checked, but it feels right.
Writing about CoogFans, or any fan forum really, is inherently pointless. It is filled with people who are content to post in anonymity, spewing vitriol they would never have the testicular fortitude to say to anybody in person. ‘Knee-jerk reaction’ is the name of the game. After every Cougar loss, it’s time to fire a coach. After every Cougar win, ESPN/the Houston Chronicle/the NCAA/the Pope/whoever doesn’t give enough credit to our unstoppable dynasty.
Don’t get me wrong, there are good aspects to CoogFans as well, or I wouldn’t hang around there. A lot of posters there are level-headed, a lot make good points, and a lot have inside information that you can’t find anywhere else.
Nevertheless, the basketball forum on CoogFans has been dang-near unreadable for 2-3 years. Virtually every thread turns into a knockdown dragout between the anti-Tom Penders crowd – which generally ignores the good things Penders has done and the problems with the program that aren’t Penders’ fault (poor attendance, lousy facilities, etc.), and the pro-Penders crowd, which generally disregards any of the flaws of Penders-coached teams, and would probably blame facilities for every loss if Penders coached the Cougars to an 0-30 season next year.
Ever since Houston’s improbable run in the Conference USA tournament, a funny thing has happened. The board has lightened up. Posters openly admitted their “bandwagon status” in one thread. When a handful of Maryland troublemakers came along talking trash, the citizens of CoogFans stuck up for their team, and forecasted Cougar victory.
Then there was this New York Times article.
It’s hard to know exactly what Penders said, because the meat of the article is written through non-direct quotation. The gist of the article, however, is Penders complaining about the facilities available to the basketball program. The article also mentions some of Penders’ previous jobs, talks about his contract situation, and features a glowing quote from Aubrey Coleman: “[Penders is] a great person. He just wants the best out of the kids. That’s all…He does everything the right way.”
But it was Penders’ comments on the facilities that drew the most attention on CoogFans. Largely ignored were Coleman’s input on the matter (“Everything’s just old around here. I would think for Division I it would look way better than this. When we go to Memphis or Central Florida, it’s like, ‘Oh.’”) and the article’s commentary on UH raising money under athletics director Mack Rhoades to fix the facilities.
Don’t get me wrong. I knew that the board would eventually return to its all-out Penders-bashing. That was predictable. It was the manner in which it happened, and the speed with which it happened (over 24 hours before tip-off of UH’s tournament game) that were so unbelievable.
A sampling:
“I hate it when he keeps bringing this **** up. Enough is enough man. The public and us alumni have heard and read about this.”
“Tom’s priorities seem to be stoking the legend of Tom Penders and justifying a contract extension…Is the AD going to want to extend a guy who goes that far out of his way to badmouth the institution?”
“I am starting to turn on Tom with all the crap he is talking.”
“I can’t imagine keeping a coach who would give an interview like this to the NYT. He made UH look like a failing inner-city high school — just the image our detractors try to promote. And he did it for the purpose of making himself look better”
And that’s just the first two pages. It mostly gets worse from there.
So, let’s get this straight. We are talking about a coach who took over a program in utter disarray. A coach who immediately made the program competitive. (In each of Penders’ first six seasons, the Cougars won 18+ games, the first such six-year stretch in school history.) A coach who all did this despite a fan base that has been eager to write his teams off and stop showing up to games at the first sign of something wrong every year – a fan base that has been calling for his firing (and yes, I include myself in that statement) all year long. We are talking about a coach who has done all of this despite facilities that are undeniably among the worst in a mediocre conference.
And we’re mad because…he answered questions about the facilities when asked by a reporter?
Now, in fairness to the whiny brats in question, many of said brats doubt the factual accuracy of some of the things Penders said in the article. On the other hand, a lot of other posters stuck up for some of the things he said.
But let me make this clear: I could not possibly give less of a crap whether or not he’s telling the truth. He has endured six years of being spit on by his own “fans” for doing a fantastic job. His players have whole-heartedly embraced the “mission: impossible”, “dead-man walking”, “us against the world” mantra. The results have been fantastic as of late. If what Penders says keeps his team in that mindset, great!
And frankly, he has kept a stiff upper lip about facilities that everybody knew were lousy up until now. Things have not been fixed. Why not try something different? Why not complain when the world is watching, and see if the school and its alumni are forced to make some changes? As one poster astutely put it, “Step one for recovering is admitting that you have a problem.”
My biggest error in writing Penders’ obituary earlier this year wasn’t claiming that the Coogs would never reach the NCAA tournament with him. It was calling him exactly the coach that the fans have deserved.
For all of his faults, Tom Penders is ten times the coach that the University of Houston fan base has deserved.
In following this team for a few years now, I have come to two inescapable conclusions:
-Penders would cut off his own finger if he thought it would help the program.
-CoogFans would complain it was only a pinky.
Scott & Holman: Houston, Sports and All Things In Between 
