March 8, 2004

Houston, Texas- - University of Houston Director of Athletics Dave Maggard announced today that Cougar head basketball coach Ray McCallum will be reassigned and serve in development as a fund-raiser for the Athletics Department.

"We appreciate what Ray has contributed to our program during the last four years, but the results have not been strong enough," Maggard said. "We have a market in which you have to have strong results in order to be successful.

"After four years, my expectation was that we would be farther along. We can't afford to be near the bottom of Conference USA. My view is we should be much more competitive."

McCallum served as Houston's head coach for the past four seasons and had a 44-73 record at the school. He replaced Clyde Drexler on April 20, 2000 after producing a 126-76 record in seven seasons at his alma mater, Ball State. He also led the Cardinals to two NCAA Tournaments and one NIT berth.

His best season at Houston came in 2001-02, when he led the Cougars to a berth into the NIT and an 18-15 overall record. That year, Houston also advanced to the semifinals of the Conference USA Tournament.

This season, Houston finished with a 9-18 overall record and was 3-13 in Conference USA. The Cougars had non-conference wins over LSU, Washington and Texas A&M during a five-game winning streak in December, but was one of two schools that didn't qualify for the C-USA Tournament.