The Matt Thomas Show with Ross - University of Houston AD Eddie Nunez Talks Working With NIL, Enhancing Gameday Experiences

Episode Date: October 31, 2024

joining us right now to discuss that, among other things, is my new best friend, Eddie Nunez, vice president at Interclidge Athletics at the University of Houston. Eddie, how are you, thanks? Going great, man. How about yourself? No complaints, just busy with these rockets travel and watching these cougars. First and foremost, you've been on the job a couple of months.

You've got the office, I think, set up at least the way you want to, at least, partially. Now that you've had your feet on the ground for a little bit, what are some early observations of your time running our campus? It's such a vibrant campus. It really is. It's a lot more than people actually see. I've enjoyed walking around, getting through campus, getting to know many of the faculty, the staff, the students, and then more than anything else, getting around and watching

our student athletes practice and compete. So it's been fun. We've got a lot of things to do here, but some great, great opportunities in front of us. There really is. You're having a balance, I'm going to assume, the, hey, I want to meet you, hey, I want to get to know you, then, hey, I know what you want, or hey, here's what I need from you. Are you still in that kind of phase right now? Yeah, it's still an assessment. I'm learning as much as I can learn. I'm trying to challenge certain groups or certain people with what I believe are things that we can do immediately, but that will have a long-term effect for the department. I think little things like, and our fans, they love through social media to be able to give me some great thoughts and advice about what we need to do for the Coogs and things like merchandising. I think they saw it last game.

We started opening up the store and providing more access to more apparel. This week, they'll see even more of that. So the more that I can hear that are opportunities for our fans to, not that's the way, us help build our brand, but help build this department the right way. And if it also helps generate new revenue for the department, it's truly a win-win. So we're trying to do a lot in a short amount of time because the reality is, if I was here a year ago, I would have told you we would be in a much better place. But for being here for two months, we've done some great things, and we've still got a long, long way ahead. And one of the things apparel-wise you guys can

take advantage of. I've been telling the audience about it this week is the $30 special. You've got Cougar, black t-shirt, and a ticket for the University of Houston versus Kansas State. That'll be at 2.30. And if you want to get those tickets, you can go to UHcougars.com slash black. That's UHcougars.com slash black. The game day experience, look, you were at LSU for a long time. You were to Mexico running your own shop there.

And the thing I've noticed about talking to a lot of athletic directors over my career is that there is literally, Eddie, no two jobs that are just alike. So are you having to kind of go back in the memory banks about what works at LSU, what worked at New Mexico, what could work in Houston, and how do you kind of balance all that to say, well, it worked in Baton Rouge, it didn't work in Aberkirky, it can work in Houston. How do you balance all that? It's taking all those experiences and trying to try them out. Something as simple as we know we're trying to really ramp up tailgating here. The Texans do a great job with tailgating at their football game.

Of course, places that I've been from LSU and Florida, they all do great jobs. The SEC as a whole has been known for that. And we are in Texas where tailgating, where we're getting together with friends to do something outside, especially at an athletic contest, is something that's been around for a long time. We need to go back and start finding ways to create that culture again to invite our, our supporters to come out, enjoy it with traffic and all the other nuances that at times people say Houston makes it difficult to attend games. The reality is come early.

Come enjoy yourself. There's with the new sports, the new gift shop and other things that we're opening up that are going to be available early, the tailgating, the ability to walk around, see things through our marketing and our game day experience, that's what we have to do. We have to create a better atmosphere. We have to get people here early. We have to let them enjoy themselves truly. So I'm going around as much I can listening to our fans that are tailgating,

trying to listen and find ways to continue to make it better. But all those experiences that I've had at other places are going to help us understand what's possible. And maybe things that work there might not work here and vice versa. So we're going to continue to tweak things and try to put the best foot forward. The football program is in transition, obviously. with Willie, and I'm so impressed with what he's been able to do just in the short time on the job. I thought

last week's win against Utah was very gritty. This is a team that was expected the youths were to contend for the Big 12, and I think their cougars added some misery. This week would be a real fun up opportunity. I know you are trying to spread the message to get as many folks in for that Kansas State game because that Walcat team is

very, very talented. Yeah, the one thing that I hope our fans are proud of is our guys keep competing. At times, maybe we don't have everything running the way perfectly that we needed to run. And I think coach in his lesson first year, I mean, it's his first year, but of course he has only been here for about six months or so. Allowing him to really build the culture, build the program, the way that he has done everywhere else,

it's no different than what we've seen with the basketball program and doing it the right way. He's going to build this. But the one thing that's evident is the guys, are going to fight. They're going to keep fighting. They're going to keep fighting. And we can't hurt ourselves out there. And when we do, that's what it really impressed me about last week's game. We had some opportunities we didn't take advantage of. They could have just said, forget it, and just tanked it, and they kept fighting. And they found ways. And so to be able to get Kansas State here, the blackout game, to be able to a 230 game on Fox, it's going to be a great opportunity

to showcase what we are and what we can be. And again, another chance for, us to compete in this league for a win. And so I'm encouraging our fans, our students, everybody, come out. We need you now more than ever. Help us continue to build this program the right way that they're going to be proud of. Our kids need your support now. And so it's going to be a fun weekend. We got basketball starting back up next week, women's basketball as well. So everything is happening right now. And hopefully our fans could come out this Saturday. day and start that process even further. Eddie, before I let you run, and you don't work a 40-hour week, I don't think anybody's

doing that anytime soon on the campus or for that matter many jobs in life. But if you were to take a 40-hour week of yours, how much are you spending on NIL? The dynamic constantly changes, the constant need for additional funds, the legislation, the talk among administrators, the talk among the kids. Where does that in terms of your daily to-do list? Where is that focused right now? It's in my daily to-do list. Some days it's a little higher than others.

I would tell you, though, NIL is as important today as ever. You know, when you look at what's going to help us build these rosters, but more than anything else, retain our rosters with the good kids, the ones that want to represent this program, that's what's going to be most important. So NIL right now is part of my daily conversation, our daily approach on how we look at things, working with Lincoln Coogs, working with others who help really elevate this area. Don't get me wrong. You know, you said it very, very well.

And there's so many things happening, revenue sharing, you know, understanding the culture, getting getting to know my department. But really on the top of this is how do we put Houston Cougars to be successful? and sustained success. And NIL and RESTRO are going to be critical. So our fans right now understand. I know this is different. I know it's not what they're accustomed to. But now that above and beyond money that they've always done for Houston,

for the athletics here, we need them to continue to do what they can because that's going to be a big, big part of what we're trying to do and how we try to succeed in the Big 12th. Last day, I'm going to ask you to get your crystal ball out. do you think we're going to get any sort of regulation in the next 12 months, 36, 5 years, and who's going to be in charge of that, you think, ultimately?

Because it sounds like to me, Eddie, the NCAA wants no part of it. I don't know if anybody wants a part of it. Everybody knows there has to be something done. And the problem with that is it's going to have to be done at the highest level, and that's legislature and federal. and to be able to so it can have across all the states and have something that binds us or gives us the ability to work within the rules

or whatever those rules may look like. You ask the good question there. Who's going to manage this? I couldn't tell you because there's so many different parts. People throwing out everything from should football be its own standing or should college sports or all continue as NNTWA. The fact is right now our coaches, everybody's looking for just direction. and we're working to give options, but until there's a federal legislators get in the room and sit down and actually finalize it and help us get to where.

And there's people that want to work on this. We're going to continue to struggle to get to the finish line. I really believe it. Great conversation as always, Eddie. Thank you for the visit, and we'll see you on Saturday. I don't know what the weather is like back home today, but hopefully we'll have a bright suns sunny day for a 2.30 kickoff. I'm going to follow your lead and say, it's going to be, we're going to make it happen. Very good.

Thanks, Eddie, for the time. We really appreciate it. We'll see you. That's Eddie Nunez, Vice President in a college athletics, athletic director at the University of Houston.