coogs house
University of Houston gets national treatment in roaring new TV commercial
Call it a chant, a rallying cry, or utter declaration: “Whose House? Coogs’ House!” has been a hallmark call and response at University of Houston sporting events for decades. Now, the battle cry is going national in a roaring new TV campaign.
UH will be the focus of a new national commercial, set to initially air Saturday, September 4, during the Houston Cougar football opener against Texas Tech kicking off at 6 pm on ESPN. The spot will air during each televised UH football game, as well as during regional and national telecasts featuring UH Athletics teams throughout the 2021-22 academic year, the school announced. (Watch the ad here.)
Sure to elicit goosebumps in Coogs everywhere, the commercial starts with UH alumnus Adrian Castillo (’16) yelling the question into the vast landscape of South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Castillo is greeted by a distant reply: “Coogs house!”
Next, more than 2,000 miles away, UH junior Bea Caroline Seitz, a member of the Spirit of Houston cheer team, walks through New York’s Times Square and pauses to bellow out the chant. The response: “Coogs’ house!” pops up on a Broadway billboard.
Finally, the spot ends with UH football players leading the traditional chant in the tunnel of TDECU Stadium prior to taking the field.
A little trivia for non-Coogs: The chant was started during a football game by former Houston cheerleader Paul Pettit in 1988. Fans spiritedly cry out, “Whose house?” which draws the passionate response, “Coogs’ house!” — three times in succession.
“Developing the idea for our institutional commercial is a point of self-examination and reflection,” said Lisa Holdeman, vice president of University marketing and communications. “We know the University of Houston is bold and resilient and fueled by an unrelenting will to achieve. Our job is to capture that in 30 seconds, deliver that feeling to our nearly 300,000 alumni who have great pride in their university and at the same time show the rest of the world what UH stands for.”
