On this weeks Around the Rim, womens basketball analyst LaChina Robinson breaks down the midway point of the season with espnW contributor Michelle Smith.The two discuss which teams have surprised them most at the halfway mark, why New York shouldnt be underestimated in spite of its losses against Los Angeles and if Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike is the favorite in the race for MVP.Plus, in this weeks Players Perspective segment, Robinson is joined by three-time WNBA champion and Liberty forward Swin Cash. Cash talks about her retirement at seasons end, her plans after basketball, the teams recent success and her views and opinions on athlete activism, specifically the WNBA players who have spoken out against gun violence and police brutality.Listen in for more. Jerseys NFL Wholesale . To the surprise of many, it isnt the Wolverines but their in-state rivals the Michigan State Spartans. Jerseys NFL Authentic China . 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When Houston strength and conditioning coach Yancy McKnight ventured down the long hallway that leads to the Cougars players and coaches locker rooms after a spring football practice last April, he noticed his boss, head coach Tom Herman, standing there with giant razorblade scrapers and a handful of brooms.It was around 7:30 that evening, close to the time McKnight planned to head home for the day. Upon surveying the scene, he went back to the Cougars weight room, summoned two of his assistants and said Hey, I think were going to stay a little later tonight. Were not going to leave if the head man is in the hallway ripping up the floor.Herman, who then was in his first spring as the Cougars head coach, had grown impatient with how long it took to replace the floor, which was peeling up like potato chips, and could leave visiting recruits with a bad impression. He asked the administration but at a program like Houstons, which has a $45 million athletics operating budget, upgrading facilities isnt as simple as asking and receiving. Tired of waiting, Herman and the strength coaches stayed until midnight ripping the entire floor out.When trying to build a Power 5-caliber program on a Group of 5 budget, sometimes you have to take matters into your own hands.I dont know how old the floors were but they were really old, Herman recalls. I didnt think it was safe ... but I shouldnt have done it ... Thats certainly not protocol around here and I understand that now.Better to ask for forgiveness than permission, right?That urgency and level of commitment from not just Herman, but the athletics and university administration has been the backbone of the schools efforts to dress up like one of college athletics big boys.With the Big 12 exploring expansion and Houston considered to be one of the top candidates to join the conference, now more than ever, the Cougars must prove that they deserve to be treated as a Power 5 program and that means outfitting their athletic department with all the trappings of schools that have double Houstons budget.I have always said from the very first day that we are here to build a nationally competitive program in academics and athletics and well do everything possible to showcase our university, Houston president and chancellor Renu Khator said. I have full faith and full confidence. [Herman] is our trump card. And I think we definitely have all the credentials to be looked at very seriously.The efforts to improve Houstons athletic facilities began well before Herman arrived, but the football-related projects have also sped up in the 19 months he has been on the job.From the moment TDECU Stadium -- Houstons football home since 2014 -- opened its doors, it kicked off a quarter billion dollars worth of athletic facilities projects, some of which are ongoing, others that have yet to begin and all of which are planned for completion by 2020. They include:The $128 million construction of TDECU Stadium.A $60 million renovation of Hofheinz Pavilion, home to the Cougars basketball programs (construction will begin in March 2017).A $25 million practice facility for the mens and womens basketball teams, which opened in late 2015.A $20 million indoor practice field for football, which is scheduled for groundbreaking later this year.A $5 million player development center and clubhouse for Houstons baseball team, which is should soon begin construction.A $2 million renovation to the track and field complex, which is already complete.A football operations building with a new weight room, team meeting space, locker room, coaches offices, etc. (Houston athletic director Hunter Yurachek says the hope is to have this project done by 2020).Yurachek estimated a total of roughly $275 million in athletics construction projects in that span. Theyre necessary if Houston is serious about joining a Power 5 conference because prior to this new wave of spending, most of the athletic facilities were old and outdated. Things like indoor practice fields and football operations buildings are standard amenities at programs in Power 5 conferences; the Cougars currently have neither. If inclement weather hits, UH must rent buses to take the team to the Houston Texans indoor facility if its available.Spending has also increased in other areas, particularly coaches salaries. Before Herman arrived, the most Houston ever paid a head football coach was $1.2 million, which it paid Kevin Sumlin in 2011, his final year there before he moved to Texas A&M. Hermans first contract paid him $1.4 million and in December bumped his salary to $2.8 million, the highest among Group of 5 conference head coaches. The school is paying mens basketball coach Kelvin Sampson nearly $1.4 million annually, a significant jump from what it paid his predecessor, James Dickey.Its one of our strategic priorities, Yurachek said. We want to hire and retain our coaches. In the past, Houston has never been able to retain those great coaches that have come through here ... you have to pay them a comparable amount to what they can go elsewhere and get.For a program that previously never spent that type of money on athletics and doesnt have the resources to make a significant jump in its operating budget, funding must come from elsewhere.Private donations have increased significantly in rrecent years.ddddddddddddDonations accounted for roughly half of TDECU Stadiums cost, they obtained $15 million in naming rights and a student referendum voted in 2012 to approve a $45-per-semester increase in student service fees that would be used to help cover stadium costs.Yurachek, who succeeded Mack Rhoades as Houstons athletic director in 2015, proudly says that since then, athletics hasnt had to go back to the students for subsequent projects. Donations accounted for majority of the recent non-football projects (the basketball practice facility, upgrades to the Cougars baseball stadium and track). So far, $7.35 million of the $20 million for the indoor football practice facility has already been pledged. On Thursday, the school announced the largest donation ever to UH athletics. It is $20 million for the renovation of Hofheinz Pavilion, which will be renamed the Fertitta Center.Like most universities with a football program, the athletic department takes an annual subsidy from the university. Houston is on the higher end of that scale. The university transferred $25.9 million to athletics in the 2014-15 school year, the seventh-highest subsidy in Division I according to USA Todays NCAA finances database.While Houstons budget hovers at $45 million, thats still more than $20 million short of Kansas State, which was the lowest-spending public school athletic department in the Big 12 in 2014-15, according to USA Today. Iowa State ($75 million) and Texas Tech ($76 million) check in at $30 million more and every other such program in the conference spent more than $80 million.One of the big differences comes from conference revenue distribution. Houston received $3 million as its part of the American Athletic Conferences revenue pie last year. Big 12 schools received a whopping $30.4 million each.Since his arrival, Herman took a proactive role in improving fundraising for his program. Last summer, he announced he would match up to $25,000 in new donations by the 46ers, one of Houstons football fundraising arms. In the two weeks following that announcement, $35,300 in new donations were made.The decision was made to raise the minimum donation for The Huddle, the programs top-level fundraising arm, from $6,000 annually to $10,000 annually. According to Houston director of football operations Fernando Lovo, the only two of the 46 members of the group didnt renew their membership after the increase.The additional wave of money coming into the programs restricted fund has allowed Herman to make significant cosmetic improvements to areas the team uses, updating graphics and installing new video equipment in the team meeting room, and installing new graphics in the hallway leading to position meeting rooms. They purchased iPads for the players, something thats not common among Group of 5 programs.They also recently unveiled a new locker room for the players, which cost close to $1 million.Its part of Hermans effort to improve anything and everything that touches his current players or that would appeal to recruits. Anywhere a player or recruit will potentially walk, Herman wants to ensure that area feels first class.Every penny that has been spent has been spent for one of two things -- our current players and our recruits, Lovo said.Said Herman: We didnt touch the coaches locker room. ... Coaches make good money. They can change on an egg crate and a freaking chicken wire. If it had to do with recruiting or it had to do with treating the student-athlete first class, that was tops on my list.Asked what a conversation is like when Herman comes to him asking for something for his program that will cost money, Yurachek laughs.He has a phrase he loves to tell me, just Charge it to winning, Yurachek said. When he comes to me its something he genuinely identified that he needs to make his program successful.Winning has certainly helped. After the Cougars went 13-1 and beat Florida State in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl last season, season ticket sales for 2016 are at a record of more than 22,000. The previous high was around 15,000, the first year TDECU Stadium was open. Five years ago, the Cougars were celebrating 11,000 season ticket sales in their previous home, Robertson Stadium. Cougar Pride, the athletic departments primary fundraising arm, has increased from around 3,000 members to roughly 4,200.Still, Hermans to-do list of improvements is long. Lovo acknowledges theyve made a good dent in it, but work remains.Herman praises his administration, from Khator and Yurachek on down, for supporting his programs efforts and Starting with the premise of Yes, rather than No, rather than Weve never done that before, rather than We cant afford that.The university placed an expensive wager on the fact that all these facilities will net membership in the Big 12 or another Power 5 conference and thus increase revenue by virtue of that membership.I think weve positioned ourselves as well as possible, Yurachek said. The facilities piece, hiring and retaining great coaches and youve got to win.Three or four years ago, Houston may not be at the top of the list. It may be someone else. Timing is everything, theres no doubt about it. ' ' '