Houston Cougars Will Be One of The Top Spending Teams in Transfer Portal
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The Houston Cougars are widely known as one of the premier college basketball programs these days. Houston is known for its toughness and consistency. No other program has won more games than UH during the past nine seasons.
What Houston is not known for is its budget. Coach Kelvin Sampson was quite upfront about it earlier on the year about how the Cougars have one of the lowest, if not the lowest budget in all of Power Four athletics. Houston joined the Big 12 in 2023 with the lowest athletics budget among power conferences.
While it has increased over recent years, Houston Athletics still is in the $90 million range and at the bottom. Houston had $93 million in revenues, but remained in the red for the second straight fiscal year with close to $99 million in expenses. It was a deficit of $6.1 million in 2025, but that was an improvement from 2024, where UH athletics lost more than $9 million.
There was also a 43 percent drop in football tickets this year. UH reportedly sold $6.64 million in football tickets last season, but went down to $3.76 million in ticket sales in 2025. The growth will continue in the Big 12 as the years go on with revenue sharing, but the current impact remains.
Sampson and Houston still managed to bring in the best recruiting class in program history with three five-star prospects in No. 1 center Chris Cenac Jr., plus guards Kingston Flemings and Isiah Harwell.
Sampson explained how they have a limit on NIL and funding before they just have to stop. It requires more thought than other programs about how many top players they can afford. However, all the disadvantages will not stop Houston this offseason in the transfer portal.
Houston Aggressive in The Portal?
According to a report from On3 reporter Pete Nakos, Houston is expected to be one of the highest spending programs in the transfer portal this offseason. Nakos expects Houston to spent more than $10 million this time around in upgrades after falling short in the Sweet 16.
That's a big statement, especially for a program like Houston that doesn't necessarily have the spending capability of some of its top competitors in college basketball. The Cougars also focus on home-grown talent to develop throughout the years.
The big difference this time around is the fact that Houston is likely to lose four starters and Isiah Harwell will also head into the portal. The Cougars will just have one starting senior in Joseph Tugler, and the rest of the team lacks a lot of playing experience.
Houston will have to be more aggressive in the portal this time around. That's the way it ended up playing out for them. The Cougars have the No. 1 center in the class of 2026 as well in Arafan Diane and will make sure the championship window stays open.
There are quite a few targets for Houston such as guard Isaiah Johnson from Colorado, or an experienced forward in Keanu Dawes from Utah, whose home town is Houston. Expect the Cougars to go all out in the portal for much needed improvements.
Maanav Gupta is a staff writer for Houston Cougars on SI. He graduated from the University of Houston in the summer of 2025 with his bachelor’s in journalism and a minor in Spanish. Gupta spent three years at the student newspaper, The Daily Cougar, and also covered the 2025 Final Four and National Championship as Houston beat writer for College Basketball Review. He also has his own YouTube channel, Maanav’s Sports Talk, where he has interviewed professional athletes and broadcasters like Jim Nantz, Jose Altuve, J.J. Watt, Rich Eisen, and Alperen Sengun. Gupta was also a contributor to the Houston athletic program as a student. You can find Gupta on X, Instagram and TikTok @MGSportsTalk.