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"Special Edition" Episode - a Chat w/ Chris Pezman, UH VP of Athletics
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Welcome to a "Special Edition" Episode of the No Conference for Old Men Podcast.
The 3 Old Men had the incredible opportunity to sit down w/ Chris Pezman (VP of Athletics at the University of Houston), to talk all things Houston Cougars Athletics. Questions submitted from fans went far and wide, including those related our recent move to the Big 12 & what it means to be part of a "big boy" conference now for our programs.
- No Conference for Old Men is available for free via Spotify / Apple Podcast / SoundCloud & the GoCoogs.com website; we're also available via the Republic of Football Podcast feed from the folks at Dave Campbell's Texas Football as their only basketball-centric offering
- Intro / Exit music: Ground Zero provided by FreeBeats.io
- Please follow us on https://gocoogs.com/old-men/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Guest Introduction
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome, folks, to a special edition of the No Conference for Old Men podcast today, where three old guys have a special guest in the University of Houston, Vice President of Athletics, Chris Pezman, joining us for a bit of Q&A. We've got some questions gathered up from fans that hopefully we'll have a bit of fun getting into.
Chris Pezman's Background and Achievements
00:00:22
Speaker
And actually, for fans that may not know, Chris is a Houston Cougar through and through. Former student athlete on the Houston Cougars football team during the great run and shoot era in the early 90s.
00:00:33
Speaker
when both Andre Ware and David Klingler were in school. He was a two-time Southwest Conference Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll member, receiving both his bachelor's and master's degrees from U of H, and has had an impressive run in sports administration at places like Energy Park, Cal Berkeley, and The Pack, and now back at Houston for his second stint in the athletics department, now heading things up as the VP of athletics.
00:00:59
Speaker
Welcome to the podcast, Chris.
Athletics Changes and Personal Anecdotes
00:01:01
Speaker
And thanks so much for taking the time out from your busy schedule. I know you and Bill actually have a connection. And that's how we were fortunate enough to get you on anything you want to cover off or say to kick things off before I turn it over to Bill to start the interview.
00:01:17
Speaker
Sure. First, thank you for having me. I appreciate being with three old dudes talking about athletics and basketball and all the things in between. This is a really it's a special time at the University of Houston. I mean, we we say that quite a bit. And, you know, I just finished my sixth year starting my seventh and the rate of change
00:01:41
Speaker
and locally at the university and in the city, but also in our landscape and intercollegiate athletics has been incredibly volatile over the last, you know, going into seven years. And it's, but at that same moment, you know, we're, we're doing some really remarkable things through all the volatility and it's, it's really, it's really special and an enjoyable moment, and especially as a alum in this role.
00:02:08
Speaker
It's incredibly gratifying to have the opportunity and privilege to be in this position during all these things that are happening. Let's get to it. I'm ready for questions from our man, Bill Walker. I'll give you guys a funny story. Bill and I are fraternity brothers. I interned at Lehman back when that used to be a brokerage firm.
00:02:32
Speaker
my junior and senior year and Bill doesn't know this. I think I maybe have told them this before but I used to cold call people and qualify leads and you kind of use like a pseudonym when you do that. I use Bill Walker because I could be Bill Walker, William Walker, we Willie Walker, all those things when I was trying to get to anybody to qualify leads.
Basketball Program and Facility Investments
00:02:53
Speaker
So there's probably people out there that have been
00:02:56
Speaker
um called by bill and they didn't even realize it and uh i i like to use that a lot that's my go-to name when i need to come up with something else that's awesome i didn't know that but what immediately pops to mind is that is there a statute of limitations on commissions you know that's a good question i i interpret how he lords so you know he's holding on to that bill i'm sure okay bill you want to kick things off
00:03:25
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. Virtually all these questions came from Goku's from the message boards. And so these are coming from probably the U of H alumni and people following the program. So yeah, we'll just kick it off. First one. We're in our greatest stretch of basketball with coach Sampson since the early eighties by slam a jam of the renovations to the Guy V Lewis center are now.
00:03:55
Speaker
it appears completed. What else do we need to focus on in basketball that will allow us to stay at our current elite level from your and maybe the coach's perspectives with probably an emphasis on NIL money and has anyone figured out a way to structure NIL giving as tax deductible?
00:04:17
Speaker
Yeah, well, I guess there's a couple of questions in there. First, we spent a little over $5 million renovating the Guy V. Lewis facility this last summer. That building was
00:04:36
Speaker
getting close to, I think, about seven years old, because we opened it before the Fertitta Center. That project was done before I got here, and I'm very grateful for the work that was done to provide that for our basketball programs. That started, that was the catalyst. I mean, when Kelvin got here, we all know the state of the facilities and what we had not done for a long time. And I'll reference old hall finds. I mean, you think about hall finds and
00:05:03
Speaker
how little we did to it. I mean, yeah, we added that center on scoreboard and the infamous upper level suites. But we really didn't do much to invest in our cap, in our capital around, frankly, all of our programs.
00:05:18
Speaker
And so the mindset that we have now is to do incremental projects frequently, rather than big massive projects, try to keep the facilities up to speed and current with what we're competing with, frankly, in college, but also in the NBA, because a lot of these kids, their aspirations are to go on and compete at the highest level. And there's moments like now with the stature of the team where they have choices, guys get to
00:05:46
Speaker
after their first year, they start entertaining, particularly with the caliber of players we have, whether they want to return to the university or try and get into the pros. So the ability for us to be able to give them first-class facilities is paramount, but we have to do that in incremental steps. So that way we don't get hit with $80 million bills to come in and renovate huge facilities.
NIL Challenges and Fundraising Strategies
00:06:10
Speaker
and try and keep them fresh and updated. Really, to answer your question, everything focuses for us around resources and principally money. We have to continue to grow our operation budget, our operating budgets, and that's just not with basketball, but across the spectrum.
00:06:28
Speaker
at the same time as we're growing into new league with institutions that have greater resources for decades. We've done a pretty good job particularly in basketball and football in closing that gap, but we're still in each of those probably 15 to 20% behind everybody else what they're spending in the same sport.
00:06:51
Speaker
But we've been pretty creative with ways to solve that. The next iteration of that, obviously, is NIL. That is, frankly, right now, that's probably about half my job is raising money for name image alikeness. We've been very fortunate to be in a major market like Houston, where we have the ability to have businesses that have been very aggressive with supporting us, particularly in basketball.
00:07:17
Speaker
where we have to continue to grow and close the gap is on persons that donate to basketball. Which leads us to your next point, is it tax deductible? There was a pathway there this last fall where we thought donors would be able to donate to the university to provide to NIL and then have that be tax deductible and still receive the benefits of it. We were literally in the meeting
00:07:43
Speaker
with our compliance staff, my business staff, and with the collective with Austin and those guys and Landon over at Lincoln Cougs. And right when we're in the meeting, we're getting ready to say, okay, here's the plan. Here we go forward. The NCAA, during that meeting, sent out a notice with the IRS that said those things are not tax deductible.
00:08:03
Speaker
So we've been trying to be creative with the way that we attack it. So we've kind of got two primary opportunities for people to give. The business solutions tend to be through Lincoln Cougs and the 501c3 solution is through Be A Champion.
00:08:21
Speaker
There's challenges with that though because with Be A Champion, that's a non-profit and there's limitations on higher earning athletes. You get to a point where right around the $50,000 range where Be A Champion, that vehicle doesn't work for athletes that earn six figures. That's why our solution with
00:08:44
Speaker
the collective with linking Cougs is so important to us. You'll see a very, very overt push over the next month with NIL specific to basketball and football because we're coming up on the next transfer portal window after the basketball season and frankly after our spring football season where we have to have a nest egg that gives our coaches the ability to go out and retain our players or recruit new players in.
00:09:12
Speaker
One thing I want to mention, and I think most people have heard this, our entire basketball team can come back. Malik Wilson is the only one that will graduate. So you think about guys like Jamal or Juwan Roberts. We have to find new money to increase the compensation that can come back to them from the market for doing name and likeness opportunities.
00:09:39
Speaker
And as a round number, we have to find probably about a million dollars of new money for this basketball program to give us the opportunity to bring everybody back.
Fertitta Center Revenue and Fan Experience
00:09:50
Speaker
But I mean, think about what we're talking about. We've got the number one team in the country right now. It's everything everybody's always wanted. And we have a chance to get the vast majority of that team back.
00:10:01
Speaker
And you'll see some real efforts here over the next couple of weeks of us attacking that. And I'm pretty sure that we'll be able to solve that in a real way and give our coaches what they need to get these kids back. Nice. Perfect. OK, next. The three of us here at No Conference for Old Men, we certainly believe that the Fertitta Center is perfect
00:10:28
Speaker
for us, both from a size and configuration perspective. Anyone that's listened to the podcast hears me constantly talk about how we're going to be blowing out everyone that we play at home because the Fertitta Center is the best home court advantage, I think, in the country.
00:10:45
Speaker
But there have been questions that have been asked about adding seats. Some of us have also heard of potentially building out some sealed off club seating on the concourse, around the corners with maybe exclusive bar areas. What's your perspective on the size and configuration of the Fertitta Center since we're basically at the five year anniversary? Sure.
00:11:13
Speaker
Yeah, I've said, a lot of people have asked that question, oh, we need to add seats, all that. The Fertitta Center is perfect. Absolutely not. Agreed. Yeah, agreed. The reality is, in today's sports world,
00:11:28
Speaker
premium seating, let me start over, less is more. The ability to have a tighter, more intimate environment where you can bring people closer to the court and experience something that they can't experience on TV, which we know we fight in this market, is getting people in the venue and feeling that energy.
00:11:49
Speaker
So, you know, adding seats, you know, same thing that comes up with TDCU. Oh, we got to add an upper deck. That's not happening anytime in the near future, especially in football until we know we're sold out and there's a wait list, frankly, like we have in the Petita Center. What we are exploring is ways to increase our revenue out of the Petita Center. One thing you got to kind of keep in mind and it's not a criticism and I'm not crime poor.
00:12:15
Speaker
But you think about the tech game last night where they're playing Texas, that's a 15,000 seat building. And so the scale of their revenue because of the number of seats they have, they have the opportunity to earn more. What we will continue to do is explore new premium opportunities like you mentioned, Bill. We're looking at some areas along the concourse where we can add seats.
00:12:37
Speaker
more create new premium offerings. There's still some dead space that's down under in the, if anybody remembers the old, you know, dead area, the old service level of, uh, hall fines. I mean, there used to be gun ranges in there, racquetball courts, uh, badminton or, uh, bow and arrow. There's old trophy storage rooms. So
00:13:00
Speaker
There's two or three of those spaces left. We're exploring whether we can convert those either into another kitchen to help provide additional, better service for our guests or another premium offering. We added 40 new floor seats this last year. Those were gone in a day and a half.
00:13:20
Speaker
That generated $800,000 of new annual revenue to us, plus the CapEx investment for those seats. The best part is we've got a captive audience with the best product in town and in the country.
00:13:35
Speaker
So, we're looking at ways to enhance that. The other thing I'll mention, when we came into the league, we were mindful of our pricing. We did not want to gouge our fans in football and our basketball, but with the elevation, with the quality of the product we have, we went up 50% across the board in the Fotita Center on average. If you took the building and blended all the seat prices, we went up about 50%.
00:13:59
Speaker
We're going to need to go up again this next year. We're working through what that is. It won't be 50% of me, certainly less than that. But we have to continue to monetize that facility so that we can help support our basketball team. I mean, if you guys like winning, we got to have some more money. We made a real investment in the staff again this last year with
00:14:22
Speaker
Redoing coaches contract as it needed to be done to reflect what he's done at a national level and for us here at the University of Houston But we still have to continue to ways to keep his his staff and those guys are going to be in demand So it's important for us to go out and find ways to drive new revenues so we can help support the growth that we're experiencing Perfect and I'll felt for the atmosphere for Tita. I actually went to the Iowa State game in Ames and
00:14:51
Speaker
Granted, the students weren't back from break, but I thought the Fertitta Center crowd, it's just more a little bit electric. I think Hilton seats like 14,000. And I've always heard how loud it gets in all this, but.
00:15:05
Speaker
I'd say Fertitta has a beat. Think about the last couple of games. Our students have been lined up for hours in advance to get in. I mean, everybody wants to think about Coach Cavell. They do a Duke where they camp out. I mean, we're not far away from that, guys. And that's what's really cool. And we're at a school that is a lot more diverse than those institutions. And a lot of these kids are experiencing their collegiate athletics at this level for the first time.
00:15:31
Speaker
and it's so rewarding. But all the credit goes to Coach Sampson and his staff and those kids and also Tillman and Renew for giving us the support for the vision and allowing us to get to this point. But to your point that we started this with, this is
00:15:53
Speaker
where we are is just, it's an incredible run. And I just want people to remember that this doesn't happen all the time. And so make sure you enjoy these moments. It's really special.
00:16:06
Speaker
Hey, Chris, just a follow-up question related to configuration. There's been some questions too around, as we've noticed the great student involvement in that whole fan area, any talk of reorienting the cameras so that it's actually pointed in that direction to really add to the feel on TV? Yeah, that's a great question. It's something that you didn't realize until we got that building open and operating.
00:16:34
Speaker
It's about a million dollars for us to run the cable feeds and to flip it. It's on our list. It's something that we want to do. It's just wants versus needs. Right now, we have greater needs. And that's more of a want. It works. It looks good. The other part that I mean, that's kind of fun is like the last couple of games, those seats are filled. And particularly early in the season when it's non-conference season, a lot of people have conflicts.
00:17:04
Speaker
The other part is a lot of people stand back in that bar area and that's one of the things that you struggle with, with club seating like that, with bar areas behind it because you get about half and half, half like to go up and social and drink beers. We've had people say we should have seat fillers. Problem with that is you got to get
00:17:21
Speaker
people in and out of their seats and inconvenience those that are in their seats. So we're exploring all
Enhancing Football Game Day and Attendance
00:17:28
Speaker
options. I mean, you know, we're going back to the COVID cardboard cutouts. I mean, there's a lot of things that we've talked about, but right now it is on our list. It's just kind of further down.
00:17:41
Speaker
you fall asleep there or what man? No, no, I didn't. I wanted to. I wasn't sure if if Steve might have a a follow up. I just wanted to give him a a second but no, we're good. Okay, Chris, this is obviously the first year in the big twelve. The athletic department, I'm I'm sure
00:18:02
Speaker
clearly had to step up its game to match our peers, not only in terms of performance, but in terms of game day experience. What are your thoughts on the athletic department, what it's doing since the transition? Are there any maybe key points, key strategies that you picked up from, from any of your peers that you tend to implement as we progress throughout the big 12? Sure.
00:18:32
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, you know, I'll be going to Oklahoma this weekend, you know, Baylor at last weekend, and obviously, you know, the road games with football. Our game day experience is, well, let me ask you this. You go to Fortita Center at Rocks, right? And that's driven by butts and seats and the energy that's created from the fans that are in the venue. We have to do a better job, particularly with football, of filling the stadium. We hired Garrett Classy this last,
00:19:01
Speaker
I guess it was this last spring, it's closing in on a year now. Gary came to us from Nebraska and has a vast, he'd been everywhere from Alabama to Nebraska and all points in between. We've charged him with, as well as myself and everybody else, making sure that we do everything we can to
00:19:24
Speaker
We don't have an issue with that, obviously, with the Fertita Center. But TDSU, for us, game day football has to get better. For those that came to home games this last year in football, we made an overt push to improve the tailgating section that's out on Cullen.
00:19:41
Speaker
I think that was a real hit. We saw really active student engagement as well as others. We focused a lot on points of entry, on getting into the stadium. If you notice at TDSU and now at Fertita Center, we've pushed the entry process out. We went and bought new scanners, metal detectors that allow you to pass through. It's more of a rapid system.
00:20:05
Speaker
We can get, the throughput of that is about, gosh, it's about 10X of what the old style system used to be. So getting people in is not the issue. Where we continue to need to improve is butts and seats.
00:20:21
Speaker
but also food service, concessions in particular. That's a real lost revenue opportunity for us, but it's also an amenity that we have to continue to prove for our fans. We started adding a lot more of the pass-through markets where you can go up grab and goes as we call them. You'll see a lot more of those in football stadium as well as for Tita Center for next season. But to invest in those, I need money and capital to continue to grow.
00:20:48
Speaker
And we've been pushing hard on our partners as well as our donors to help us find creative ways to fund those things. Campus helps us at times where we know there's a definite payback period where we could take short-term bridge loans to get those projects done and then pay it back. But for us, it's really focusing on getting fans in the stands. And I'm really excited, frankly, with Coach Fritz. It's been interesting with
00:21:17
Speaker
With him coming on board and just his personality and the way he reacts with fans, I think that we're going to see a real uptick, particularly around football. My whole goal is to take what we do in Fotita Center, bottle it, do it in TDCU, do it out of Trader Park, do it out of softball, because those are the
00:21:38
Speaker
I mean, when you're in for Tita Center on game day, it rocks. I mean, it feels right. And that's what we have to continue to replicate. But at the same time, we can't just rest on our laurels. We have to find new ways to improve our game day experience. Lauren Sampson does a great job of helping us orchestrate in-game experience from things that she picks up out of the places or we pick up. So short answer is, butts in seats and figure out a way to replicate for Tita Center and TDCU.
00:22:07
Speaker
Nice. And just to let you know, in case you haven't monitored all the message boards and things like that, a big thank you for the change for the football program. And your selection was by far the most popular choice of the fans leading up to that point. So a lot of support out there. I just went straight to the message board, said who she's hiring, and they gave it to us.
00:22:33
Speaker
I'll tell you a funny story. I don't know if this is really out there much. I called Kelvin Sunday morning when we let Dana go and I was like, hey, coaches, we're making a change. And he stopped me and goes, well, he was very polite, but he goes, if you don't go to New Orleans, go talk to that guy. Unfortunately, he was already at the top of our list.
00:22:54
Speaker
As they say, every athletic director, we keep lists, and you're always prepared for the inevitable of some type of change if and when it happens.
Engaging Students and Alumni Support
00:23:03
Speaker
Coach Fritz, I've been following him since his days. When I played here a long time ago, he was at Blinn and different points in between, but Sam Houston, I remember Sam Houston runs in particular.
00:23:15
Speaker
And what people don't realize, he was an old spread option guy. And his evolution, one of the things that I appreciate most about him is he fits whatever he does to the talent that he has. And that's why they turned into a more multiple pro team at Tulane.
00:23:33
Speaker
Guys, I've had one of the great privileges of my job is I get to go to practice, whether it's Coach Sanchez or Coach Fritz or Coach Whitting or anybody else, but being out of football practice, there's a different vibe. There's a lot of teaching going on. There's a lot of energy, a lot of communication, a lot of attention to detail.
00:23:53
Speaker
Those things that kind of tripped us up in the past that we all got frustrated with, we're not going to beat ourselves. And I know coaches said that, but you can see that. And here's what's crazy. We start spring practice next week. I mean, it's honest. Yeah, exciting. And so it's an exciting time. And I don't want to say the wins that are back, but certainly it feels like we're getting a little nudged from the behind because everybody's the excitement between basketball and all our spring sports.
00:24:18
Speaker
with Coach Fritz being here in football. It's very refreshing. It makes my job a lot easier when I go out and talk to donors. Nice. Coach Fritz being hired is I have not come across anyone who hasn't just completely lauded that move, that decision. So I've got to imagine that that will translate into more support.
00:24:43
Speaker
Okay. From an overall campus experience perspective, our school has changed dramatically from the days that we were in school and it was primarily a commuter school. You know, now with all the housing on near campus, school's profile has certainly changed for the better. As we're now part of the big 12, what can athletics do to help foster a generation of
00:25:10
Speaker
engaged students that transition into engaged alumni that will remain connected to the university over the next several decades or more. It's kind of similar to an extent to what goes on at A&M or UT. First win. It was a long way. A&M hasn't had to win.
00:25:37
Speaker
Yeah, you said that I didn't. I don't want to get hot-miked on that one. Jim Nance came on campus and he was speaking to a group this last spring and somebody asked a very similar question. He goes, same answer. He was like, when?
00:25:56
Speaker
having the ability to reach across campus and the relationship with our students is paramount. That's our next generation period, whether it's donors, leaders, business leaders, whatever that is in the community, that our students
00:26:12
Speaker
are that next generation. And you think about where we started before we had TDCU or the Fertitta Center. I mean, for the longest time, we were playing our games at the Astronome and so there wasn't any affinity that was linked back to the university. Now we're at the point where we're drawing
00:26:31
Speaker
five thousand students a game in football and we're over a thousand students a game in basketball and that's how we start creating that culture of hey I want to go to those events I want to be there that person then turns into a single game buyer when maybe they don't have the money to buy season tickets then they buy season tickets and they turn into donors.
00:26:50
Speaker
But we have to continue to be very mindful and very proactive with reaching across campus and engaging the students any and every way possible that
NIL Fundraising Needs and Recruiting
00:27:00
Speaker
we can. We have to meet them where they want to be met, because that market changes with young people so quickly. I'm in a positive way, I guess. Unfortunately, I've still got my kids are still at home 18 to 22, so they're the same age as kids at college.
00:27:17
Speaker
the way we communicate with them, the way we outreach to them. It used to be you went and banged on doors and handed out flyers and now it's predominantly through social media or technology. We have to find ways to make it easier for our kids to get tickets. We have a ticketing system that
00:27:36
Speaker
everybody agreed upon but we still have moments where our kids get confused and we're reaching a certain population but we want to broaden that. I think we have to continue to do that. The other part is I think we need to figure out because we do have a pretty broad
00:27:52
Speaker
demographic of students, those that are following intercollegiate athletics or not, we have to find a way to maybe initiate them into what college athletics is. Because when you show up and you feel that energy in the building, that's what gets you so excited. It's that communal experience and the energy of that shared moment of excitement that happens in play. We have to figure out a way to initiate or introduce that to some of our students that haven't had the opportunity to experience that.
00:28:22
Speaker
And that's that's a nonstop evolving task. You know, it's just one of those things that will never be. It'll never be good enough and will never be satisfied. Makes perfect sense. The next question you've actually addressed this. I don't know if you want to add any more to it, but it was any updates on players taking advantage of the COVID year and you said that everyone but but my leak is available. Obviously shed Roberts Cryer,
00:28:52
Speaker
what it'll take to get them back. And again, you've addressed it, but if you want to reiterate that point and hammer it home, I'm sure everyone is interested in listening.
00:29:04
Speaker
Yeah, again, the entire basketball team other than Malik has the opportunity to come back. They all have additional eligibility. And so some of these kids may have the option of being drafted or two-way contracts. And so as we think about what NIL, the opportunity that name, image, and likeness presents now, particularly in basketball and baseball, were those sports where you have minor league systems
00:29:29
Speaker
You have the opportunity now of holding on to those kids and retaining them because they have the opportunity to earn the same amount or more in college versus going into the pros. And so for us, particularly with basketball, we need to find about a million dollars of new money.
00:29:45
Speaker
whether it's corporate or individuals, please call me. We'll find a way to make it work. And in football, we need about $2 million of new money for an IOL for the football team. If we do that, we will have a top 25 recruiting class in football.
Business Model Shift in College Athletics
00:30:05
Speaker
I know that coach has got
00:30:08
Speaker
a really significant list of kids that are coming in for the Kansas game here in a week and a half for football recruiting. But with the caliber and the level of kids that he's talking about, we're talking four and five star kids almost exclusively that are coming in on this visit, those conversations and name image likeness comes up and we have to be able to have answers for that. And so that's why you're gonna see us pushing very, very hard in that space.
00:30:35
Speaker
I think it's something that if you're my age, it just feels so foreign to you, compensating kids, but the reality is our business, our endeavor has changed. With name, image and likeness and the other things that are coming in our space, and when I say coming, I'm talking in the next
00:30:58
Speaker
30 days to three months, you're going to see some very significant changes in intercollegiate space. We will be compensating kids in some level through the athletic department. Composition will be an opportunity for our kids. We have to stop thinking about this. I don't want to say this the right way.
00:31:19
Speaker
The educational component of intercollegiate athletics is becoming less important i hate it saying that it feels very wrong to me but that's just reality this is becoming a business and we have to start thinking about it as a business.
00:31:38
Speaker
And so as we solve what athletics is going to be, we have to think about setting aside the infrastructure, the bureaucracy of what intercollegiate has been with some of the NCAA rules and think about it about how you run a business and how you deal with student athletes.
00:32:00
Speaker
If you call them student athletes, if they're employees or not, I mean, we're getting ready to get into, we're already in it, a very seismic change of what intercollegiate athletics is and will look like. Hey, Chris, I got a question for you. It's probably way out there, but do you think we'll ever see a point where a player will play like they do in the NBA or NFL, where they play for a school like 10 to 12 years?
00:32:25
Speaker
Uh, you know, that's a fair question. That's a really good, there's a, there's a lawsuit that just went down with a basketball player where he's like on your seven or eight because of COVID and multiple injuries. And he had timed out.
00:32:40
Speaker
I don't know the answer to that, but we have to start thinking about this differently because think about, okay, if we're going to compensate student athletes, but this is where it gets really complicated. We could be here for days, but there isn't the ability to have collective bargaining with the student athletes because they're not employees. Without some level of bargaining, we're doing it almost in a vacuum and they're all being bargained through litigation.
00:33:07
Speaker
And when you settle or you get some outcome through litigation, that's binding, right? And so we don't have the ability to talk about length of eligibility.
00:33:18
Speaker
Another one that should probably start coming up is number of contests. We're capped at 12 football games outside of a championship game. But the revenue that's derived through each home contest is significant. And if we're going to start compensating athletes, and right now, the way the system is, for us, if we're able to start compensating athletes, we don't have any budget for that. So it's unfunded.
00:33:42
Speaker
So we have to find new ways of creating money to be able to solve that. That means we're going to have to find more home events, more football games, more basketball games, things that we can help use to drive revenue, as well as all the other opportunities we already chase in our traditional lines of business, whether it's sponsorship or philanthropic efforts. So the question is great. I think all that's on the table. Those are things that we're going to have to get answered.
00:34:09
Speaker
Hey Chris, in terms of raising the million dollars to bring back some or hopefully all the players, there are a couple of alumni that asked me to let you know that you can reach out to them anytime and they'd be willing to
00:34:25
Speaker
pick up the majority of that tab. One would be Rob James, the other would be Adrian Pipery. So it's just to help you out as much as I can. That's great. Robby's due for a big donation, and Pipery's cheap. So we just got to work on them. Actually, it's the other way around. Rob's cheap and Pips do for a big donation. But no, I'll definitely hit them up. I'll work
Houston Basketball Team's Future and Big 12 Expectations
00:34:52
Speaker
them hard. I'll tell them you said that, Bill.
00:34:54
Speaker
Please do. Okay. I think we're at our final question. And this comes from, uh, another big, uh, U of H fan and a big fan of yours, young Ronnie Bradshaw, who said that I imagined it's too early to know this, you know, with any level certainty. And I'm paraphrasing a little bit. Assuming that we finish out the regular season undefeated, we're the one seed.
00:35:24
Speaker
presumably in the South. Are we headed to Memphis for the first two rounds or is Omaha a possibility?
00:35:32
Speaker
Any insight? You know, it's interesting. I get asked that quite a bit, particularly this time of year. Frankly, there isn't any insight. The only thing that helps us is with us being with the level of success that we're having on the court, the opportunity to be a one seed helps drive where we go, obviously. And what they do at that point is it becomes regionalized. Jamie Pollard is our representative for the Big 12 on the basketball selection committee.
00:36:01
Speaker
And he's been an incredible resource for us as I talk to him about certain aspects of what we're trying to do as a program, but also understand some of the things that go into slotting where people go. Dan Gavitt is somebody because of the success we've had that I've had the opportunity to talk to about these things. The short answer is no, I don't get any insight. It just doesn't work like that. What they do is they'll go into a room
00:36:29
Speaker
They'll rank, it's a series set of rankings, so they obviously start at the top, then they'll go one through four, and depending upon who's in that top group, whether it's somebody else that has some regional tie, and if they're a higher one seed, then they get the benefit of the region that's closest to them as they try to protect those seeds.
00:36:52
Speaker
So I don't have a lot of insight, but I would say if things stand the way they are, I think that that's a fair assumption. But I try not to even get into that because it's so up in the air because so many things could change. Somebody could lose a player and they could get hurt and go in the tank the last two weeks, which completely flipped this thing.
00:37:16
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. Well, that's it for the questions that came in from the board. So do you guys have anything else, Steve, Tom? Yeah. If you wouldn't mind if I could pose a question here.
00:37:31
Speaker
And you kind of highlighted that is college athletics has become more of a business. Obviously with the business and performance comes to the forefront, especially for revenue sports like football, men's women's basketball, baseball, women's volleyball, things of that nature.
00:37:48
Speaker
What's your expectation moving forward as part of the Big 12, right, as you assess performance for the other revenue sports? Obviously, men's basketball has been elite, and you've made the change on football. You know, women's volleyball has been fantastic as well. But how about some of these other sports? What's your expectation and kind of horizon for performance?
00:38:09
Speaker
As a general rule right now, as we're transitioning to Big 12, every sport's different. Where we progress certainly with basketball is not where we are with something else. For me, and what we've talked to our coaches about, is get to the postseason. Competing for a Big 12 championship right now,
00:38:27
Speaker
is probably ambitious in most of our sports, but figure out a way to get to the postseason. To do that, particularly, and I'll use baseball as an example, you got to win your non-conference games, and then you got to hold your own league. Everything that we've done with our analysis, we've got outside entities that help assist us with scheduling and understanding what it takes to make the tournament.
00:38:48
Speaker
That's the model that fits. Schedule smartly in non-conference games, win those non-conference games, and then hold your own and lead play. And if you do that, because of the halo effect of being in a P4 conference, that helps elevate you to get into the postseason.
Athletics Budget and Revenue Prioritization
00:39:04
Speaker
Once we get into the postseason, then we can build off of that, because obviously all the things that come with that, additional resources, recruiting, those things that help build into becoming championship caliber programs.
00:39:16
Speaker
By and large, we're in pretty good shape with facilities. And I say pretty good, I should say we're in good shape with facilities. Fertita Center is excellent. Our training facility is excellent. Football, the stadium is excellent. The IPF is excellent. The new building that's going to come on board will be excellent. Where we have to continue, and baseball is in great shape, we have to help out everybody else.
00:39:40
Speaker
Fortunately, volleyball gets the benefit of playing in the Petita center. I would actually say probably viable of our sports has the best setup because they've got pre practice court, three practice courts over in the athletics alumni center and their locker rooms over in Petita center and then they play in Petita center. I mean, they've got a great set up, but it also helps having an incredible coach with coach rear. I mean, he's the real deal. But short answer your question is get to the postseason and then let's build off of that.
00:40:10
Speaker
We've got some room to improve in some areas and we'll address those. One thing I just, you know, that it feels important to say is, you know, we've been operating. When I first got here, I just finished my sixth year starting my seventh year. Our operating budget was about $48 million when I got here. As we sit here today, we're about $95 million.
00:40:32
Speaker
The average of the big 12 is between 115 and 125. We've got a growth schedule to grow into that over the next five years. The vast majority of that has to come from self-generated revenue to give us a chance. We've put a huge emphasis on our revenue sports and to correct you, Steve, football and basketball make the vast majority of
00:40:58
Speaker
all the revenue. Outside of probably the SEC and baseball, that's just the way it is. Football and basketball drive everything financially. So for us, we're mindful of where our coaches are compensated, where their operating budgets are, because sometimes making a change, particularly in this first year of the Big 12, the Reese's versus aren't there for us to invest the right way to support
00:41:24
Speaker
a new coach coming in or where we need to be in some of those sports. And so we've been very clear with our coaches about what we have and how we're growing it. But our primary focus has been focus on football and basketball financially and growing those opportunities from a revenue standpoint. Our front facing units, development and
00:41:48
Speaker
ticketing and MMR, all those areas that touch revenue, make sure we're capitalizing on this opportunity and then student athlete help and welfare. Those are our three priorities over the first two years until we get to the full share. And once we get to that full share in year three, it gives us a lot more maneuverability and flexibility to address areas of need that we know exist.
00:42:14
Speaker
Awesome. Thanks. All right. Anything else? Well, I think that that pretty well covers the questions. I don't know, Chris, did you have any maybe closing comments, any type of state of the union address to conclude everything? I didn't prepare a state of the union, but I'll see if I can shoot from the head.
00:42:40
Speaker
But we are in an incredible period right now for athletics and the university. This is very, very special. What Kelvin and the basketball team continue to do
00:42:55
Speaker
And the pride that people have is something I wish I could bottle and sell. It's special. Absolutely. And to see how that energy transcends and affects the rest of the department. And then also with Willie coming in and how refreshed everybody is and how a cloud has been lifted off of all of us, it feels like.
00:43:19
Speaker
you know, we're setting ourselves up for, you know, extending this run. And, you know, I'm really excited about where the vast majority of our spring sports are. We still have a room to improve in some spots, but, you know, tracks, the top 10, the indoor track rankings just came out today. Indoor track for the men is top 10 program in the country.
00:43:42
Speaker
And we, I think we finished fourth or fifth and indoors at big 12 championships this last weekend. So that kind of put some things into context as we feel maybe frustrations with competitive success. You know, you can have a top 10 team that finishes fifth in the league and it's just, you know, but I know what my job is and what the expectations are is to give our coaches and our kids the resources to win and compete at the highest level, the big 12.
Closing Remarks and Future Outlook
00:44:09
Speaker
And we're a lot closer to being really good than we are the other.
00:44:12
Speaker
And I couldn't be more thankful for our fans and the opportunity to be with you guys today to help tell this story. Happy to come on any other time as you guys have questions. I think this level of dialogue is important because so often I get hit with questions maybe on a concourse and I want to be able to give them the context for the answer as opposed to just a yes or no, because without understanding what's going on around it, it can be misconstrued.
00:44:41
Speaker
And so anytime guys, but I'm so thankful and pleased to be in this role at this moment and the opportunity to experience what we're experiencing, it's incredible. That's awesome. Thanks so much, Chris. Really appreciate the time that you spent with us.
00:44:58
Speaker
especially during off hours. So thank you so much. My pleasure fellows. Have a good night and I'll hit Robbie and Pippa for a donation bill and I'll make sure you get 10% of the commission, right? Perfect. Oh, well, if that's the case, please don't forget Ted party as well. Oh, he's definitely on the list and he's, he's definitely do. All right guys, go. Hey, thanks. Go Cougs. Go Cougs.