Looking back at UH athletics’ recent successes

By Armando Yanez

WithHouston’s sights set on joining and competing in the Big 12 in the near future, UH has at least one year remaining in the American Athletic Conference.

Until then, there is much to look forward to in UH athletics for the 2022-23 academic calendar.

Here is an outlook on what’s to come heading into next year:

The UH football team completed it’s best season under head coach Dana Holgerson with an 11-2 overall record, an appearance in the AAC title game and a Birmingham Bowl victory over Auburn.

The Cougars are poised to make a leap forward from last season with the power duo of junior quarterback Clayton Tune and sophomore wide receiver Nathaniel Dell entering next season with another year of experience and training together.

Despite star running back Alton McCaskill suffering a torn ACL in offseason training, the Cougars will still have key players return on both sides of the ball, including defensive linemen D’Anthony Jones and Derek Parish, as well as linebacker Donavan Mutin.

Coming off its fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament with two-straight Elite Eight appearances and a Final Four appearance in 2020, the UH men’s basketball team are favorites to once again win the AAC regularseason and tournament titles heading into next season.

With several key players returning from last season’s team, the men’s basketball team is entering next season with two ESPN Top 100 recruits in Jarace Walker (10) and Terrance Arceneaux (66) in addition to Emanuel Sharp, who joined the program early last season and will be eligible to play next season.

For women’s basketball, the Cougars will look to ride on its AAC Tournament and NIT momentum from last season and compete for a conference title.

Heading into her junior season, guard Laila Blair sits 296 points shy of 1,000 for her career as she strives to become the 27th member in the UH women’s basketball 1,000-point club.

Under head coach Ronald Hughey entering his ninth season, the Cougars will look to finally get over the hump reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010-11.

The men’s track & field team have been a force in the last decade with seven-straight AAC Indoor titles while the women’s team has won its AAC Indoor competition two of the last four seasons.

With the World Athletics Championships on the horizon, four Cougar athletes have been the opportunity to represent their nations in the competition.

Sophomore runner Shaun Maswanganyi (South Africa) and graduate Brianne Bethel (Bahamas) represented their respective countries at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and could do so once again at the WAC.

Sprinter Cecilia Tamayo-Garza and pole vaulter Antonio Ruiz could represent Mexico at the in their respective events.

The volleyball team will look to compete in the AAC once again after just missing out on the NCAA Tournament last season.

As head coach David Rehr prepares for his fourth season with the Cougars, key returning players are senior middle blocker Rachel Tullos, junior setter Annie Cooke, as well as the reigning AAC libero of the year in junior Kate Georgiades.

Georgiades was selected to train with the collegiate U.S. volleyball team as she will aim to lead the Cougars back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since

The women’s soccer team are coming off a 13-5-2 overall record last season, its best season since 2010 when it finished 12-5- on the year.

With the retirement of former head coach Diego Bocanegra after five years at UH, the team will look to continue its recent success with new head coach Jaime Frias, who was hired Feb. 16.

Frias served as an assistant coach at Virginia since 2019, helping win four ACC titles in the process and will now return to his hometown to carry on his success with the Cougars.

As for the UH swimming and dive team, the Cougars have been dominant for the better part of the last decade, having been crowned AAC champions in each of the last six years.

With junior Chase Farris coming off a her second-straight performance at the NCAA Championships in as many years, along with second-year head coach Tamica Jamison at the helm, the swimming and dive team will look to compete for a seventh-straight conference title.