11-19-25 - Mo Egger with John Cunningham

Big Noon Kickoff is coming to UC's campus. Director of Athletics John Cunningham joined us to discuss Saturday's festivities, on ESPN1530. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sure have. It's five minutes after four. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty. I'm Olegar. Thank you for listening today. Hopefully
you're having wonderful Wednesday afternoon. We'll be really busy on
UC's campus on Saturday. Big Noon Kickoff is going to
broadcast from UC's campus the Fox pregame Show, and that

(00:24):
is going to set the stage for the Bearcats versus
BYU on Saturday night, finally a Nipet night, and all
of this the day after west Miller's team upsets Louisville.
There I set it. So a lot going on here
to talk about everything happening around UC athletics with a
specific focus on Saturday. The director of Athletics at the

(00:46):
University of Cincinnati, John Cunningham, It's awesome to have you
as always.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
How are you good, mo? How are you doing?

Speaker 1 (00:52):
I'm doing well. This is gonna be fun on Saturday.
How does something like Big Noon Kickoff showing up at UC?
How does this happen?

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Well, I mean we've said all your Saturday with us,
Saturday is gonna be a long day. It's gonna be
a lot of fun. Obviously, I think the first thing
that happened was we got selected to be the big
Fox eight pm game, So that's that's always a huge deal.
We got that night game, Nip at Night that we
always talk about. Haven't had one of those in a while,
So I think our fans are gonna be excited. You know,

(01:22):
we're black, go out, sold out. You know, one of
those moments at Knippert that we all we all talk
about love and so that's gonna be fun. But then
along with that, you know, it's announce that we're gonna
get big news kickoff. Last time we had that is
when we played Oklahoma a few years ago. And then
you know, just to have that whole crew come in,
Matt Lioner, Brady Quinn, mark Ingram and of course Urban

(01:45):
Meyer gave portnoy. I mean, it's just it's just such
a good, cool group of guys to come in and
have us on that national stage. You know, you just
can't buy publicity like that. So we need people to
show up, show out and make it a great atmosphere
and make it a great day.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
Yeah, should look awesome. Does does Fox just call you
late on Saturday or first thing Sunday? Are you giving
a heads up that look, this may be a possibility.
How does this work?

Speaker 2 (02:11):
It was a seven am Sunday morning call from Brett
or Mark, So that's what it was. And you know,
Brett's great for our conference, and so he was working
with Fox to try to figure it out. And so
so he called and said, hey, is it going to
be great at Cincinnati. I said absolutely, we'll We'll show
up and make it special. And so that was my

(02:32):
promise to him. So we need people to be on
our campus in the morning. Start at ten am, you know, arrivally,
get there ten to noon is the show. It's gonna be.
It's gonna be a great day.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
All right. So how will it work? Early on Saturday morning?
Line up, get a ticket, first come, first serve, First come,
first serve. How does it work?

Speaker 2 (02:53):
It's first comfort sort of. It opened. They opened up
the gates into the area at six am, so that's
when the well that's when the interest entrance line opens up.
So you know, get there, get there as soon as
you can if you want to be in the in
the front. But if you want to sleep in a
little bit because it's gonna be a long day. You know,
certainly you arrive at nine thirty, you'll still be in

(03:13):
and around the program and get to see the show.
You'll just be a little bit further back. But it's
all about you know that energy level that you're always
looking for on national television. You know that that show
kicks off and we want to make sure people see
the Bearcats represent for that type of environment.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
All right, So enterance line opens up at six. The
pregame party starts today thirty. They go on the air
at ten am. The game is at eight o'clock. What
happens between twelve o'clock and eight o'clock, that's.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
The fun part. You can do whatever you want to do,
you know, we you know we we've been saying, like
I said, we've been saying Saturday with us, you can
stay or all day. If you have a parking pass,
you can use your parking pass with Big Noon if
you want to leave. We we've figured it out. So
if you want to go park Big Noon, leave, go home,
take a nap, come back. You can do that. You
can stay around, stay around here and obviously restaurants and

(04:05):
and things going on, and and just have fun all day.
Make it a full day tailgating. So it's up to you.
But we really need people to be there in the
morning and then obviously be there for the game and
and just make it a Bearcat day.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
A big part of anything like that are the signs.
Are you giving away a prize for some of the
better signs.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
There's a there's a five hundred dollars prize that we're
giving away for the best sign that we that we see,
so that will be certainly a possibility. And then we
have a lot of fun giveaways throughout the throughout the
morning as well. So we've got sponsors that are giving
away a couple of electric bites. I mean, we're doing
some big thing. We're gonna give away some Jordan gears.

(04:47):
So we're doing some things just to have some fun
and really obviously for the student population, but also for
anybody that shows up and wants to be a part
of it.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
And this is right there on the Bearcat Commons, so
it's it's a stone's throw from different stadium. It's a huge,
wide open area. So space in and of itself is
not going to be an issue.

Speaker 2 (05:04):
Correct, that's correct, Yep, yep. Space isn't going to be
an issue. It's a great look for our campus because
it's right there. You know, next to tuc and just
that backdrop that we've used for college game Day in
the past, and then of course Big Nuon previously. So
that's where it's at. And you know, parking again available
in and around campus if you have a parking pass,

(05:25):
you can park in the garage if you have a
parking pass for there's also day day parking as well available.
So get down here, spend some time, have some fun,
have a little breakfast and watch Big Neon.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
How much fun is it going to be? I know
you're asked about this and you come on and talk
about this with me all the time. How much fun
is it going to be to have a Nippett night
game on Saturday.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
It's it's the best thing that we do and we
do it so well, and that's why it's frustrating for
me and fans when we don't get those night games.
So we're getting on. It's it's a great opponent. Obviously
by us had a heck of a year, but we
still have a lot to play for and a chance
to get to Dallas and compete for Big twelve championship,

(06:07):
and so it's just you know, let's let's win with
our environment and show up and just make sure we
make it tough on the Coopers.

Speaker 1 (06:14):
John Cunningham is with us, the director of Athletics set
the University of Cincinnati. The pregame party for Fox Big
Noon Kickoff starts at eight thirty entrance line. Entrance line
opens at six am. The show itself airs from ten
o'clock in the morning until noon, and then Saturday with
us where you could tailgate, hang out, enjoy concessions before
the game at eight o'clock. That is going to be

(06:35):
happening all afternoon. It would be awesome if all of
this unfolds amid the afterglow of a of a UC
win at the Heritage Bank Center over Louisville. The Cardinals
are terrific. West Miller's team is off to a four
to zero start. Walk me through how a game like
that comes about.

Speaker 2 (06:54):
Yeah, I mean it really goes back to you know,
these early these early games you'll see them all over
the country are largely played neutral site, and and it's
almost replacing you know those tournaments that you had where
you went to Maui and played three neutral site games,
or you went to the Bahamas and played three neutral
site games. A lot of those are going away, and
so this year we have essentially we have our three

(07:16):
neutral site games. You know, obviously downtown Cincinnati. We'll go
back to Louisville, but play a neutral site in Louisville
next year at their neutral site, and then we'll go
to We'll go to South Carolina and play a neutral
site game, and then we'll go to Land and play
neutral site game versus versus Georgia. So it's just kind
of the way it works. A lot of it has

(07:36):
to do with your net rating, a lot of it
has to do with you know, it's it's hard. These
games have to be a two way street. It's hard
to get it lined up to where you can get
home and homes. We got a home and home versus
Dayton this year. We always have the home and home
versus Xavier. So we're always gonna have some really good
home and homes, but we're also gonna play some neutral
site games. Just kind of the way of the world.
And so that's how that's how it got going. And

(07:58):
you know, we've played dating down there a couple of times.
Now we have Louisville. It'll be a great game, great
atmosphere in big time college basketball.

Speaker 1 (08:06):
No question about that. Friday night into Saturday gonna be
a loaded weekend. It should look awesome on National TV.
Bearcat Commons on Saturday afternoon or Saturday morning, rolling through
Saturday afternoon all the way until nip at Night is
the Bearcat's host BYU on Saturday evening. I know you're
going to be busy. I know you are busy, so
we appreciate the time and we'll see you this weekend. John,

(08:28):
thanks so much.

Speaker 2 (08:29):
Always good to talk to you, though. Take care.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
You're the best. John Cunningham, the director of Athletics at
the University of Cincinnati. Again, the entrance line opens at
six thirty and the pregame pre show party starts. I'm sorry,
I screwed that up. The entrance line opens at six,
the pre show party starts at eight thirty. The show
goes on the air at ten o'clock. Concessions, giveaways, they'll

(08:51):
have a sign contest, and then Saturday with us starting
at noon all the way till six o'clock. The Bearcat's
football team. It's going to be like a version of
Homecoming on Saturday at UC. Wes Miller is going to
join us in the five o'clock hour, and I'm told
we are going to hear from the former world's heavyweight
champion Mike Tyson, who's going to be in town this

(09:11):
weekend as well. There's a lot going on. It is
fourteen fifteen minutes after five o'clock, Rick Browing. We have
tracked down Rick Broing, and so Rick is going to
join us from somewhere on the road between here and
Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Also, I need to mention this, So
you heard our guy Mike before the top of the
hour called in and wanted to talk about Ken Anderson,

(09:31):
who's been named a semi finalist for the Pro Football
Hall of Fame. And I said, as we were talking
about Ken's Hall of Fame resume Hall of Fame candidacy,
I said, look, there's a there's a good chance that
Ken is listening to this conversation. And lo and behold,
at exactly four o'clock a text from the great Ken Anderson.

(09:53):
Yes we're listening. Thank you for the kudos. How cool
is that? Uh? Rick Boring on x U and n
KU plus Amy Wagner on Sports and Money. In about
twenty minutes on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 2 (10:09):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic from.

Speaker 3 (10:14):
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(10:35):
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Speaker 2 (10:45):
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