Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining us right now to discuss that, among other things,
is my new best friend Eddie nun Yez, Vice president
in aclintche Athletics at the University of Houston, Eddie Howard.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Things going great, man, How about yourself?
Speaker 1 (00:11):
No, compliance is busy with this 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 hit your feet on the
ground for a little bit, what are some early observations
of your time running our campus.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
It's such a vibrant campus there really is. There is
a lot more than people actually see. I've enjoyed walking around,
getting through campus, getting to know many of the faculty,
to staff, the students, and then more than anything else,
getting around and watching our student athletes practice and compete.
So it's it's been fun. We've got a lot of
(00:53):
things to do here, but some great, great opportunities in
front of us.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
There really is.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
You're having a 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?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah, still an assessment. I'm learning as much as I
can learn. I'm trying to challenge certain certain groups of
certain people with with what I believe are 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
(01:33):
be able to give me some greaded thoughts and advice
about what we need to do for the Kougs, 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 our opportunities
(01:56):
for our fans to not just help build our brand,
but help build us the Haartment 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 that I would 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
(02:19):
two months. We've done some great things and we still
got a long, long way ahead.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
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 thirty dollars special. You've got Cougar
black T shirt and a ticket for the University of
Houston versus Kansas State. That'll be at two thirty And
if you want to get those tickets, you can go
to uachecougars dot com slash black.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
That's uachecougars dot com slash black the game day Experience.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Look, you were at LSU for a long time, you
were at 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.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
There is literally, Eddie, no two jobs that are just alike.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
So are you having to kind of go back in
the memory banks about what works at LSU work to
do 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 Albuquerque, it
can work in Houston.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
How do you how do you balance all that?
Speaker 2 (03:15):
It's taking all those experiences and trying to try to
trying them out something as simple as we know, we're
trying to 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 in Florida,
they all do great jobs. Sec as a whole has
(03:36):
has been known for that. And you know we are
in Texas where tailgating, where we're 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 supporters to come out
(03:57):
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, uh the ability to walk around, see things
(04:18):
through our marketing and our game to 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 as 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
(04:39):
other places are are going to help us understand what's possible,
what the maybe things that work there might not work here,
and vice versa. So we're going to continue to to
tweak things and then and try to put the best
foot forward.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
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. And 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 twelve, and I think their cougar's
added some misery. And this week would be a real
fun up opportunity. I know you are trying to spread
(05:13):
the message to get as many folks in for that
Kansas State game because that Waldcat team is very, very talented.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
The one thing that I hope our fans are proud
of is our guys keep competing. They at times, maybe
we don't have everything running the way perfectly that we
needed to run. And I think coach in his first
in his lesson first year, I mean his first year,
but of course he has only been here for about
six months or so, allowing him to really build the culture,
(05:43):
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 gonna 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
(06:04):
me about last week's game. We had some opportunities we
didn't take advantage of. They could have just 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
two thirty game on Fox, it's going to be a
great opportunity to showcase what we are where we can be,
and again another chance for us to compete in this
(06:28):
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 it's gonna
be a fun weekend. We got basketball and starting back
up next week women's basketball as well. So everything is
(06:51):
happening right now, and hopefully our fans could come out
this Saturday and start that process even further.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
And eve before I let you run and you don't
work or forty hour week, I don't think anybody's doing
that anytime soon on the campus or for that matter,
many jobs in your life, but if you were to
take a forty 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,
(07:23):
the talk among the kids.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Where where does that in terms of your daily to
do list? Where is that focused right now?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
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
these rosters, but more than anything else, retain our rosters
with the good kids, the ones I want to represent
this program. That's what's going to be most important for
(07:53):
NIL right now. Is part of my daily conversation, our
daily approach on how we look at things, working with
Lincoln Koog's, 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 to know my our department.
(08:16):
But really on the top of this is how do
we put Houston Cougar's to be successful and sustained success
in NIL and Resua are going to be critical. So
our fans right now understand, I know this is different.
I know it's not what they're a customed to, but
now that above and beyond money that they've always done
for Houston, for the for the athletics here, we need
(08:40):
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 twelve.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Last DA I'm gonna ask you to get your crystal
ball out.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Do you think we're going to get any sort of
regulation in the next twelve months, thirty six, five years.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
And who's going to be in charge of that?
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Do you think ultimately, because it sounds like to me, Eddie,
the NCAA wants no part of it.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
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 so it can have across all
the states, have something that binds us or gives us
the ability to work within the rules or whatever those
(09:27):
rules may look like. You ask a good question there,
who's going to manage this? I couldn't tell you because
there's so many different parts. People fill out everything from
should football be its own standing or should college sports
that are all continue as an NCAA. The fact is
right now, our coaches, everybody's looking for just direction and
(09:47):
we're working to give options. But until there's a federal
legislators get in the room and sit down and actually
finalize this and help us get to where and there's
people that want to work on this, we're gonna we're
gonna continue to struggle to get to the Finch line.
I really believe it.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Great conversation as always, Eddie, thank you for the visit
and we'll see you on Saturday. I don't know what
the weather's like back home today, but hopefully we'll have
a bright, sun storny day for a two thirty kickoff.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
I'm gonna let you. I'm gonna follow your lead and
say it's gonna be. We're gonna make it happen.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
All right, very good. Thanks Eddie for the time. We
really appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
We'll see That's Eddie utoniy As Vice president in a
college athletics athletic director at the University of Houston.
Joining us right now to discuss that, among other things,
is my new best friend Eddie nun Yez, Vice president
in aclintche Athletics at the University of Houston, Eddie Howard.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Things going great, man, How about yourself?
Speaker 1 (00:11):
No, compliance is busy with this 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 hit your feet on the
ground for a little bit, what are some early observations
of your time running our campus.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
It's such a vibrant campus there really is. There is
a lot more than people actually see. I've enjoyed walking around,
getting through campus, getting to know many of the faculty,
to staff, the students, and then more than anything else,
getting around and watching our student athletes practice and compete.
So it's it's been fun. We've got a lot of
(00:53):
things to do here, but some great, great opportunities in
front of us.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
There really is.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
You're having a 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?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Yeah, still an assessment. I'm learning as much as I
can learn. I'm trying to challenge certain certain groups of
certain people with with what I believe are 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
(01:33):
be able to give me some greaded thoughts and advice
about what we need to do for the Kougs, 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 our opportunities
(01:56):
for our fans to not just help build our brand,
but help build us the Haartment 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 that I would 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
(02:19):
two months. We've done some great things and we still
got a long, long way ahead.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
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 thirty dollars special. You've got Cougar
black T shirt and a ticket for the University of
Houston versus Kansas State. That'll be at two thirty And
if you want to get those tickets, you can go
to uachecougars dot com slash black.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
That's uachecougars dot com slash black the game day Experience.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Look, you were at LSU for a long time, you
were at 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.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
There is literally, Eddie, no two jobs that are just alike.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
So are you having to kind of go back in
the memory banks about what works at LSU work to
do 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 Albuquerque, it
can work in Houston.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
How do you how do you balance all that?
Speaker 2 (03:15):
It's taking all those experiences and trying to try to
trying them out something as simple as we know, we're
trying to 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 in Florida,
they all do great jobs. Sec as a whole has
(03:36):
has been known for that. And you know we are
in Texas where tailgating, where we're 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 supporters to come out
(03:57):
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, uh the ability to walk around, see things
(04:18):
through our marketing and our game to 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 as 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
(04:39):
other places are are going to help us understand what's possible,
what the maybe things that work there might not work here,
and vice versa. So we're going to continue to to
tweak things and then and try to put the best
foot forward.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
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. And 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 twelve, and I think their cougar's
added some misery. And this week would be a real
fun up opportunity. I know you are trying to spread
(05:13):
the message to get as many folks in for that
Kansas State game because that Waldcat team is very, very talented.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
The one thing that I hope our fans are proud
of is our guys keep competing. They at times, maybe
we don't have everything running the way perfectly that we
needed to run. And I think coach in his first
in his lesson first year, I mean his first year,
but of course he has only been here for about
six months or so, allowing him to really build the culture,
(05:43):
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 gonna 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
(06:04):
me about last week's game. We had some opportunities we
didn't take advantage of. They could have just 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
two thirty game on Fox, it's going to be a
great opportunity to showcase what we are where we can be,
and again another chance for us to compete in this
(06:28):
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 it's gonna
be a fun weekend. We got basketball and starting back
up next week women's basketball as well. So everything is
(06:51):
happening right now, and hopefully our fans could come out
this Saturday and start that process even further.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
And eve before I let you run and you don't
work or forty hour week, I don't think anybody's doing
that anytime soon on the campus or for that matter,
many jobs in your life, but if you were to
take a forty 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,
(07:23):
the talk among the kids.
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Where where does that in terms of your daily to
do list? Where is that focused right now?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
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
these rosters, but more than anything else, retain our rosters
with the good kids, the ones I want to represent
this program. That's what's going to be most important for
(07:53):
NIL right now. Is part of my daily conversation, our
daily approach on how we look at things, working with
Lincoln Koog's, 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 to know my our department.
(08:16):
But really on the top of this is how do
we put Houston Cougar's to be successful and sustained success
in NIL and Resua are going to be critical. So
our fans right now understand, I know this is different.
I know it's not what they're a customed to, but
now that above and beyond money that they've always done
for Houston, for the for the athletics here, we need
(08:40):
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 twelve.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Last DA I'm gonna ask you to get your crystal
ball out.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Do you think we're going to get any sort of
regulation in the next twelve months, thirty six, five years.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
And who's going to be in charge of that?
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Do you think ultimately, because it sounds like to me, Eddie,
the NCAA wants no part of it.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
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 so it can have across all
the states, have something that binds us or gives us
the ability to work within the rules or whatever those
(09:27):
rules may look like. You ask a good question there,
who's going to manage this? I couldn't tell you because
there's so many different parts. People fill out everything from
should football be its own standing or should college sports
that are all continue as an NCAA. The fact is
right now, our coaches, everybody's looking for just direction and
(09:47):
we're working to give options. But until there's a federal
legislators get in the room and sit down and actually
finalize this and help us get to where and there's
people that want to work on this, we're gonna we're
gonna continue to struggle to get to the Finch line.
I really believe it.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Great conversation as always, Eddie, thank you for the visit
and we'll see you on Saturday. I don't know what
the weather's like back home today, but hopefully we'll have
a bright, sun storny day for a two thirty kickoff.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
I'm gonna let you. I'm gonna follow your lead and
say it's gonna be. We're gonna make it happen.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
All right, very good. Thanks Eddie for the time. We
really appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
We'll see That's Eddie utoniy As Vice president in a
college athletics athletic director at the University of Houston.
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