Houston Cougars men’s basketball

The Houston Cougars men’s basketball team, sometimes referred to as “the Coogs”, is the NCAA Division I intercollegiate men’s basketball program of the University of Houston. The team currently competes in the American Athletic Conference and has played its home games at Hofheinz Pavilion since 1969.

Houston began its athletic program in 1946 when it joined what was then known as the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). In 1950, they joined their first conference – the Gulf Coast Conference (GCC) – which lasted until 1971. During this period, led by legendary coach Guy V. Lewis, also known as “The General” or “Coach Vee”, teams from UH competed for three consecutive Final Four appearances during a five-year span from 1967-71; however no national championship was won by any of these teams. From 1972 onwards Houston became part of several different conferences such as Southwest Conference (SWC), Metro Atlantic Athletic Association (MAAC), Great Midwest Conference and eventually CUSA before joining current league – AAC in 2013–14 season following realignment within college sports landscape due to Big East break up that same year .

Over past few decades under leadership of various head coaches including Rudy Tomjanovich Jr., Clyde Drexler , Alvin Brooks III and Kelvin Sampson , Cougar Basketball had great success with multiple NCAA Tournament berths including two Elite Eight runs: one in 1982 where they were eliminated by eventual National Champions North Carolina Tar Heels while other came more recently just 2 seasons ago when they made deep run all way upto Sweet Sixteen but ultimately fell short against Kentucky Wildcats . Notable alumni includes Otis Birdsong who went on to have Hall Of Fame caliber career after graduating from UH ; moreover James Dickey who served his tenure here between 1980-86 later moved onto become Georgia Tech’s head coach for many years leading them into tournament over dozen times culminating 1996 ACC regular season Championship most notably . Currently coached by former NBA player & assistant Isaiah Hartenstein , Cougars are looking forward towards further successes ahead both domestically & internationally alike .