rebuild

Building an AAC, national contender ‘doesn’t happen overnight,’ Dana Holgorsen says

UH head coach Dana Holgorsen encourages his team pregame before its game against UCF at TDECU Stadium during the 2020 season. Despite suffering three defeats during the campaign, Houston has lost to two ranked opponents and to UCF, which is one of the best teams in the AAC. Houston is looking to reach that level of success with Holgorsen at the helm. | Courtesy of UH athletics

ANDY YANEZ

SPORTS EDITOR @AYANEZ_5

Inside of UH head coach Dana Holgorsen’s offi ce is a board that tells him the number of spots that the team needs to focus on during the recruitment class for the upcoming season.

So far this season, he has 25 spots on his board and only 10 names that will join UH in either January or June.

“Nobody wants to hear this because everyone wants quick fi xes and they want to be great now,” Holgorsen told reporters during his weekly Zoom news conference after Houston’s loss to Cincinnati. “I’m here to build it the right way for over the course of as much time that they allow me to be able to do it.”

After suff ering the beating at the hands of No. 6 Cincinnati, the head coach acknowledged that Houston still had ways to go before it could compete with the top teams in the American Athletic Conference. UH had just lost its second straight game against a well-established AAC team.

Holgorsen listed off the three opponents that Houston has lost to this season in BYU, Cincinnati and UCF, and he said that those programs all had one thing in common: their respective head coaches are multiple years into being at the helm.

Head coach Luke Fickell with the Bearcats and Kalani Sitake with BYU both took over their programs in 2016. Josh Heupel with the Knights gained control in 2018.

For Holgorsen, who joined Houston in January 2019, having that time is what is needed to build a program into one of the few contenders in the NCAA, and it is what he hopes he can do at the University.

“Getting things the right way doesn’t happen overnight,” the UH coach said. “I apologize for that, our fans deserve wins. Our administration demands wins, and that’s going to happen.”

Despite the emphasis on the future, Holgorsen is not abandoning the 2020 season either. Houston’s players are still invested in getting as many wins as it can, and they showed it to the coaching staff during their practices leading up to USF.

“I liked our energy,” Holgorsen said. “Our guys understand where we are at. Th ey know that we didn’t meet the challenge of a top 10 football team and went out there and practiced hard.”

While the Cougars appear to have been snake-bit for the second year in a row with injuries to players like senior receiver Marquez Stevenson, senior defensive lineman Payton Turner and junior linebacker Donavan Mutin, who are all going through diff erent things.

Although their inability to suit up has left voids for UH, it has also provided an opportunity to see what the team has in the younger talent.

“Th ere are some areas where I see future and I see hope,” said Holgorsen, who kept a group of 30-40 developing players after practice leading up to the South Florida game. “Th ere are areas where I don’t, and you address that with recruiting.”

Some of the positions that Holgorsen has said in the past he is emphasizing are on the off ensive line, which has had its struggles in 2020, both in terms of production and depth.

During his weekly radio show the Th ursday before the game against the Bearcats, Holgorsen said he had set aside 18 diff erent scholarships for that position.

Despite the sobering reminder against Cincinnati, Holgorsen is confi dent that he has seen improvement from his fi rst season at UH, and he expects that continue.

“We’re better now than we were a year ago, and a year from now we will be a lot better than we are right now,” Holgorsen said.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

How Fabian White, despite season-ending injury, continues to make impact for UH

ANDY YANEZ

SPORTS EDITOR @AYANEZ_5

At the end of last season when the NCAA and American Athletic Conference tournaments were canceled due to the infamous coronavirus pandemic, the last thing that forward Fabian White Jr. envisioned he would be in 2020-21 is an unoffi cial coach.

White, who suff ered a torn ACL in late May, was forced to redshirt his true senior season. He has been unable to physically practice with the rest of his teammates as he recovers.

But it has not stopped him from continuing to play an active role. White has provided guidance to the rest of UH’s forwards and centers on the roster, or as both seniors Brison Gresham and Justin Gorham said, has become a player-coach that can give specifi c feedback.

“I think it is almost like boxing, you have that person in the corner telling you stuff ,” Gresham told reporters via Zoom.

With White’s footwork and post moves, he can go into detail with his teammates and tell them what they’re doing wrong, which has been benefi cial for UH.

“(Fabian White) is still at practice every day,” Gorham said. “He’ll come talk to us when we’re on the court and give us little tips. It’s good to still have Fabian around. It’s good to see him work out and stuff .”

Rebound game

Houston’s frontcourt, which will have big shoes to fi ll following last season’s team that was No. 3 in rebounds per game in the nation, will look a bit diff erent in 2020-21.

In addition to losing White to injury, Houston also lost Chris Harris Jr. He graduated in May and was the team’s third-leading rebounder a season ago. On top of that, UH also lost its leading rebounder in guard Nate Hinton, who declared for the NBA Draft.

Houston, which has become one of the top-tier college basketball programs in the nation, is expected to overcome those losses, which will not be easy, and will have to be done as an entire team, head coach Kelvin Sampson said.

Th e main responsibility will fall on Gresham and Gorham, who enter as the seniors in the frontcourt. Both players are looking to showcase big improvements from last season.

Senior leap

When it comes to Gorham specifi cally, his biggest focus entering 2020-21 has been consistency.

A year ago, Gorham’s minutes were spotty and he struggled shooting from the fi eld, which aff ected the Columbia, Maryland, native’s mindset.

“I was down on myself some games,” said Gorham, who despite the struggles, credited the coaching staff in helping him maintain trust in himself. “Coach Sampson would always be in my ear (saying) that you can’t lose confi dence.”

UH forward Fabian White battles with a Cincinnati player to secure a rebound in a regular season game during the 201920 season at Fertitta Center. | Mikol Kindle Jr./The Cougar

Now with a new season around the corner, his teammates and coaches have seen a change in Gorham.

Th ey believe this newfound confi dence will lead to a bigger role on the court for him, especially with the hole that White leaves on the roster.

“I feel like coach has given (Gorham) a lot of more trust,” junior guard Quentin Grimes said. “I feel like Justin has a lot more trust in

JAMES MUELLER

ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR @JDM2186

Houston’s Caleb Mills made his name known as one of the top freshmen in the country during the 2019-20 season.

As a redshirt freshman, the 6-foot 3-inch guard from Arden, North Carolina, led the Cougars in scoring with 13.2 points per game, joining Rob Williams (1979-80) as only the second freshman in school history to lead the team in scoring.

Along with being Houston’s top scorer, Mills was twice named the American Athletic Conference Freshman of the Week, was unanimously voted to the AAC’s all-freshman team and himself. He can go out there and if he has the open shot, coach wants him to shoot it.

“He is a big-time bruiser. He can get any rebound that goes around and falls in his area. I feel like he’s gotten more comfortable with what coach wants him to do out there. I feel like he can be a big-time contributor for us.”

Along with Gresham and the new additions like freshmen Kiyron Powell, J’Wan Roberts and also earned a spot on the secondteam all-conference.

Senior forward Brison Gresham had a unique way of describing what it is like to play with a special talent like Mills.

“It’s like being at Benihana,” Gresham said. “You’re waiting on your food, and you’re sitting there and the person’s doing all the tricks with the food. I just love watching him play.”

Now as a sophomore, the expectations placed on Mills have risen to extreme heights as he was named the AAC’s 2020 Preseason Player of the Year.

But Mills does not give much attention to all the recognition and accolades he receives nor does he put much value into it. Arkansas transfer Reggie Chaney, UH hopes it can fi ll the roles in the frontcourt and secure the boards.

After all, Houston is motivated to make up for what the players feel was an opportunity that was taken away. Th is season UH hopes it can showcase its talent in the big tournament.

“It’s unfi nished business,” Gorham said.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Kelvin Sampson, teammates praise Caleb Mills ahead of season

sports@thedailycougar.com

“Not much really,” Mills said when asked about what it meant to be named the AAC’s Preseason Player of the Year. “I’m just looking forward to getting better and going to war with my teammates.”

And this is the exact type of answer one would expect to hear when asking Mills about how he views his personal achievements because he has a team-fi rst mentality.

Head coach Kelvin Sampson said Mills is one of the best team players he has ever coached.

“(Caleb Mills) has no ego,” Sampson said. “When I say no

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Setting the example: How Dymond Gladney was thrust into a leadership position for UH

JAMES MUELLER

ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR @JDM2186

Th e jump from the 2018-19 season to 2019-20 was nothing less than a drastic shift for UH guard Dymond Gladney.

As a freshman, Gladney played just over eight minutes per game on average. But as a sophomore, the 5-foot 5-inch guard from Los Angeles’ role increased massively as she became UH’s primary point guard.

As the starting point guard and with Houston’s lack of depth on the bench, Gladney played over 37 minutes per game during the 2019-20 season, which led to a team-high total of 1,402 minutes on the season.

As a result of playing such heavy minutes, Gladney was also asked to be one of Houston’s primary scorers and fi nished the season second on the team in scoring with 11.7 points per game.

While Gladney embraced this role and always gave her best eff ort, it was physically draining and exhausting on her body over the course of a long season.

But this year’s Houston team is full of depth, and with the addition of many freshman and transfers, Gladney is relieved that she does not have to be relied on to play such heavy minutes.

“Oh I’m so excited,” Gladney said with a laugh when asked about not having to play the amount of minutes per game. “It’s just a good feeling to know that someone else is going to come in and help the team tremendously when I’m tired.”

It is not that Gladney hated playing big minutes and being relied on to score a bunch, but the fact that the Cougars have much more roster depth this year will allow Gladney to be the player she envisioned being

MILLS

Continued from page 8 ego, if you were to look at his Twitter page the only thing he ever retweets is when something good happens to his teammates. And that’s a refl ection of that kid’s character and what a great teammate he is. Caleb (Mills) is an unbelievable teammate. He’s a team-fi rst guy.”

Th e reason Mills exhibits a team-fi rst mentality and is always

Houston guard Dymond Gladney drives through the lane against Houston Baptist during the 2019-20 season. In that campaign Gladney averaged 37.1 minutes per contest, and she put up 11.7 points and three assists per game for the Cougars. | Lino Sandil/The Cougar

when she became a college athlete.

“Th e thing with (Dymond Gladney) this year is she was like, ‘Coach Hughey, I get to go back and be the player that I want to be,’” head coach Ronald Hughey told reporters via Zoom. “‘I want to lead the country in assists. Now we have enough people around us to score. Now I don’t have to score as much. ‘”

But being the point guard and setting big goals for herself, like being the country’s leader in assists, will require commitment to leadership since she will have to have the trust of her fellow teammates to make the right decisions with the ball.

And leadership is something making sacrifi ces for the good of the team is because he is hungry to win. Mills views winning a championship as a far greater achievement than any individual award he receives.

He has come to understand that winning requires a full team eff ort and each individual player must cast their selfi sh desires aside in order to better the team as a whole. “Well growing up, most everybody on this team was the best player on their team, Gladney has shown great growth in as she has become more mature.

“Th e growth that I’ve noticed the most is (Gladney’s) maturity,” Hughey said. “She has a calm demeanor about her on the court that says, ‘follow me. I’m going to lead you to the right place.’”

Not only has Gladney shown leadership on the court, but also off the court as she’s setting an example for her teammates by doing anything she can to help them get better.

“(Gladney) had tremendous growth and everybody’s already following her right now,” Hughey said. “She’s even having individual fi lm sessions with players to help them get it. Th at’s whether it was high school or any time leading up to this,” Mills said. “So in some aspects, you’re going to be selfi sh. But when you really want to win, you understand you have to (make sacrifi ces) … It’s a team eff ort. It’s not individual.”

In order for the Cougars to be successful this season, Mills knows he must step up as a leader since Houston lost its two primary leaders on the court from last year in Nate Hinton, who is currently entered into the how much they think of her.”

By spending extra time with her teammates, Gladney has been able to better gel with her teammates and to learn their preferences like where they like to catch the ball so that she can be a better facilitator.

“Learning my personnel with what everybody on the team can do,” said Gladney on what she has focused on to be a better point guard. “Like learning how Daphane (White) would want the ball to be thrown to her … So really focusing on making more opportunities for other people to score knowing that I don’t have to be the scorer on the team helps out a lot.”

While she has taken lots NBA Draft, and Fabian White Jr., who suff ered a torn ACL in May.

“Just being a better leader,” Mills said when talking about his primary goals for the 202021 season. “I was kind of in the rearview just letting Nate lead the group, letting Fab. So that’s really the biggest adjustment me and Marcus (Sasser) specifi cally made this year.”

Mills worked on improving his leadership skills over the long off eason and continues to strive to be a better leader every day of time to build chemistry, Gladney’s ultimate inspiration for spending extra time on her teammates, especially the younger ones, stems from the fact that she did not have a person reach out to her during her freshman season and take her under their wings.

“My freshman year I wish I had somebody to tell me that it’s OK to mess up,” Gladney said. “So I think it’s very important for me to be that type of person in their corner to let them know ‘yeah, I’m here for you. I’m going to help you out every step of the way no matter what. We’re here together.”

sports@thedailycougar.com because he knows that it will not only help him improve on the court, but will also give him the skills to overcome any potential challenges the world may throw at him in everyday life.

“I feel like it is important just to be a regular person,” Mills said. “Th at is something you should try to better yourself in every day. I feel like that’s one of the things I need to take my game to another level. Being a better leader.”