Once nearly extinct, these Owls are thriving

Their nickname is the "Owls" and the last time the Rice University football team appeared in Aloha Stadium it seemed as much an endangered species as its Texas neighbor, the Mexican spotted owl.

That was 2003 when the school’s Board of Trustees commissioned a comprehensive study to help determine whether its lagging football program — whacked 41-21 by Hawaii — should be dropped and the entire red-ink athletic program reduced to Division III status.

By the Owls arrival here Friday for Wednesday’s nationally televised Hawaii Bowl against Fresno State, you know the answer.

It is testament to a remarkable rise by the Owls who are appearing in a bowl for a school-record third consecutive year.

Last year’s Conference USA champions, the Owls are 24-15 over those three seasons, the first time since 1948-1950 three winning campaigns have been strung together. Even in 2014, a rebuilding season, Rice went 7-5 and finished second in its division.

"People are pretty excited about another bowl (appearance)," said Josh Thiel, senior associate athletic director.

For all its accomplishments in baseball and other Olympic sports, football success hasn’t come easy to the small, oak tree-lined private school campus in Houston’s museum district. Most years the Owls compete for the title of the school with the smallest undergraduate enrollment (3,867) in the 126-member Football Bowl Subdivision. In addition, they have some of the toughest academic standards, accepting fewer than 17 percent of applicants, and potential walk-ons are often deterred by the $40,566 annual tuition.

Abandoned by its Southwest Conference peers who went to the Big 12 and miscast in the Western Athletic Conference, Rice hadn’t won a bowl game in 54 years or a conference crown in 56 years until recently, where it has thrived in C-USA.

And you thought UH was experiencing a drought.

Of course two things Rice does have are strong administrative and alumni support — and money. All of which were rallied to the task when Rice decided to give it the ol’ college try and remain on the Division I level.

Its endowment ranks 20th nationally, according to Forbes, putting it among Cornell, Virginia and USC.

"I have to credit the administration for a lot of this rejuvenation," said Rob Griffin, a professor of civil and environmental engineering and faculty athletic representative at Rice. "There is support from the university for both academics and athletics and other extracalicular activities, that’s what really makes life what it is. It is a special place."

Part of it is that former athletes have been successful and come back to contribute in money, funding coaching and scholarship endowments, and time.

It hasn’t hurt that David Bailiff has provided an unaccustomed stability on the field with eight seasons as head coach, two of them producing 10-victory campaigns.

As Rice made its way to Hawaii Friday, Griffin said, "I would definitely say (these) Owls are no longer an endangered species."

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@staradvertiser.com.