The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - UH's Eddie Nunez Talks Cougars Hosting Iowa State For 'College GameDay'

Episode Date: February 20, 2025

Eddie Nunez, Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics at the University of Houston, joined "The Matt Thomas Show with Ross" to preview the No. 5 Cougars hosting the No. 8 Iowa State Cyclones on Saturday for ESPN's "College GameDay."

The Pride of Miami, Florida. Eddie Nunez, the athletic director at the University of Houston, joining us here on the Matt Thomas Show with Ross. Eddie, I've dropped your name here in South Florida, and all I'm getting is a discount at Wawa. Can you help me out with something here? Yeah, it's your Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, or whatever. That's not South Florida.

You're going to go down there. You've got to go down to Miami, enjoy yourself some great Cuban food. I mean, I don't know what you're doing up there. I mean, enjoy the beach, maybe. Well, what are you coming? Wait a minute. You're telling me, you're telling me there's hate between Palm Beach and Miami, that doesn't seem very nice.

It's not eight, but if you want the real South Florida, you've got to go down to the real South Florida. That's where you get things. I'll be there next month with the Rockets. I better get some serious discounts on dropping your name. Hey, first of all, congratulations on getting college game day back to our campus. It'll be the second time. For those that just heard of this for the very first time in the last 24 hours, and this may be

a long-winded question for a long-winded answer, but what are some do's and don'ts? Where do you want people to be? Where do you want them to park? What time do you want them to get there? So first off, we're extremely excited. I mean, this is a testament to the program that Coach Samson has built. And, you know, just the season that we've had the last couple of years and this year as well. But we're asking everybody to come out.

Let's show America what U.H basketball with the University of Houston's about. We're asking everybody to come out there. We're going to start opening up the Holman Street Concourse. So on the Holman side at 7 a.m. And so first 500 students with tickets, we'll line everybody up. Those that don't have tickets will also let them in. But we're going to line up every student we can. Anybody that's a fan that wants to come out there,

we're going to have another line designated for them. We're going to have posters so they can make signs, hopefully, that are respectful. At the same time, we're going to have our football team there, passing out donuts and other items to the fans as they come in. And then we're going to have as many student athletes supporting the basketball team there as well. So it's going to be a fun event. We're going to make this want to remember hopefully here for Houston for a long time to come.

And I guess, Eddie, I don't even know if the answer to this, but who gets to take the $19,000 half-court shot? Somebody's going to want to do that. That's CSPN. I mean, I'll take it if I could, too. I've got a lot of ideas. I know. We can put that kind of money. I know.

Man, as I've told you many times on air and off air, you have just had to have such a huge responsibility with fundraising, not only for the scholarships, but the NIL has now been a huge play. Maybe when you and I talked about it, we didn't necessarily a percentage on it, but now that you've had your feet settled down on campus, and then you're not unlike any other athletic director, how are you balancing your? time right now on that besides facilities and compliance and winning and oh by the way you've got to fund

this nil you got to fund scholarships where where is the percentage of balance of your time on a on a week-to-week basis on that right now well i think i think week to week it changes quite a bit the one thing is every week's a little bit different i've got to focus on certain aspects probably more uh depending on what's happening just in our industry so the one thing that's that's constant is we've got to continue to right size our budget, and part of that is increasing fundraising, NIL. So I kind of group all that together. Yes, it has different pods within it,

but I tried to group it all as one because we have to elevate our fundraising. We have to elevate our budget. We've got to get it so that we're not just doing everything we can to compete at this level. We need to make it a little bit easier in some respects. But even this week, We've gotten two six-figure gifts from donors, and a lot of it is because they're seeing the vision, they're seeing what we're doing, we're executing it. So every day's a little bit different.

I'm trying to even take a little time during all this craziness and actually continue to take care of myself before I go crazy, running around from one side of the city or the state to the other. But it's been fun. It's been fun. Well, I'll say this. Game Day, when it's come to our campus for football and for basketball, it's literally an infomercial. And so your video staff's going to have a good time. Your marketing department's going to have a good time with this.

But to have Kelvin and how well-spoken he is and how he's beloved by the national folks. And look, Willie's going to feel that too. I mean, if there's anybody that could be a charmer for a national network like ESPN, your two top coaches, not disrespecting anybody else you got on your staff, but your two main guys that are the faces of your athletic department couldn't be any more media affable than Calvin Samson and Willie Fritz. Absolutely. I mean, Willie was the first one that raises in and said,

what do you need me to do when he heard about this? He said, I'll get the whole team there. We want to support Kelvin and the men's basketball team. So when you have that support from your football coach in understanding how we can really elevate UH, the brand, not just in the Big 12, but nationally, no, we've got two unbelievable ambassadors and many more in our department. But we're starting to those two, it's, it's, It's exactly what hopefully our Cougar fan base is really proud of. I'm going to throw a crazy idea at you. We're visiting with Eddie Nunez, I thought a director at the University of Houston.

The Vegas event to me, when the basketball team went and played, it was basically to fund their NIL. Let me ask you if we added an extra football game and added one or two extra basketball games and just said, let's make those revenue games for the NIL. movement. Is there any legs to that? Is that sound preposterous or would it be too much of a financial disadvantage to the schools

because you have to put these games on, you got to turn the electricity on, you got to pay the employees, you got to pay the expenses? Is there any part of that that says we can take separate games and make those games where we can take the revenues from that and give it directly

to the athletes? Yeah, I would tell you that those conversations are being had, not just here, but everywhere. What that basketball tournament in Vegas showed was that those are possible. Now, you've got to get a lot of sponsorships. You've got to get a lot of things to help generate the revenue that you were able to get from there. But if your hope is to generate something, those are all possibilities. And it does. We have to make sure that it goes outside the normal scheduled games that we already have that help us for our budget and make sure that we can do

things. But no, everything right now is on the table, and we are aggressively looking at ways to do more of those, but also trying to make sure that we don't push it or, you know, go to other parts of the world or the country because we want our fan base to be able to see it and experience it. So you've got to balance that out. For let you run, this Cougar basketball team, I am beyond proud, because it's not only my good friend Calvin Samson, but it's my school to win at Arizona and Kansas in the same year. I think no one's done that probably. I think I saw it was like the late 80s of the last time it happened.

The schedule is awesome. The tournament's going to be fun. Hopefully we're at least a minimum of a top two seed. If people want to just get on a plane and go, because there is nothing more electric than being in a tournament atmosphere, whether it's the first round, the Sweet 16, or hopefully the final four, what's the easiest way to get on that waiting list and let's hang out. I want to make sure I get tickets for these events coming up. Reach out to our department.

Just go online. And he just, heck, you can call my office. I'll get you to the right person. But biggest thing right now is reach out if you're interested in any way to go on the ride with us. We're going to have packages. If now we're going to find ways to make sure that we get you all the information of how to get there.

But it all starts this weekend. we've got a great opportunity here at home for everybody to come out. We need that place full of Coogs, and so let's start that craziness here this weekend. Well, Eddie, I wish I was there. I'm going to be in Salt Lake City with the Rockets, but man, I'm so excited. It's, again, a great opportunity. And look, the guys at ESPN love our program, and I cannot wait for them to see it firsthand. And if any of you are going to the game and you can't get there or can't get there,

give your seat to somebody. I want every single seat at Furtina Center sold. They better not be an empty spot because we owe Iowa State for last year, and I look forward to getting that revenge coming up on Saturday. Eddie, thank you for the time. Don't give them to Iowa State fans. Don't give them to Iowa State fans. Oh, hell no.

Yeah, no cyclones are invited under any circumstance. Thanks, Eddie. We'll talk to you. Safe, Matt. All right, we'll see. All right, that's Eddie Nunez joining us here, the Vice President Intercollegiate Athletics. Again, if you're an Iowa State fan, I'm sure you're a lovely person.

You're not invited.