Believed to be the first of its kind, HOUNIL.com has signed NIL deals with each of UH men’s basketball 11 student managers. HOUNIL is Houston’s unique name, image, and likeness (NIL) model that benefits both Cougar student-athletes and fans. Current athletes partner with us to create original content, in their own words, giving fans insight into their lives on and off the court.
After a recent practice, the student managers were invited to the players’ lounge to sign their NIL contracts while being cheered by the players from #1 Houston:
Players were genuinely happy for the managers and were glad to take part. The “NIL” deals for the managers are not technically NIL deals because they are not governed by NCAA rules and regulations. But HOUNIL wanted to do something creative to show appreciation for everything they do.
Student managers are responsible for quite a lot in Kelvin Sampson’s program: opening up the gym early or staying late, rebounding balls, laundry, mail delivery, helping players with any needs, setting up for recruiting visits, practice, pre- and post-practice sessions, pre-games, games, post-games, and any time a player wants to get extra work.
Managers set up and take down the locker rooms before and after games, get water, stools, and the whiteboard for timeouts, and do it all without being noticed or paid. The head manager gets a small stipend for the endless hours of coordination of all of these events he must administer flawlessly.
Having observed managers in almost all of the situations above, we were floored that they are not paid. They do it out of a passion for the University of Houston, to learn from a coach like Kelvin Sampson, and out of a love of basketball.
GoCoogs featured managers in two feature stories recently, both by Starns Leland:
Student Managers Are An Integral Part Of Houston Hoops | On Gameday, Student Managers Keep Everyone Else Focused On Basketball
The program’s student managers are now HOUNIL ambassadors and will help spread the message about our subscriber-based model to help student-athletes receive Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) opportunities based on the content they help create.
UH’s current student managers:
Jonathan Loredo
Eddie Lopez
Matthew Criswell
Carson Calhoun
Blaise Dupre
Ben Still
Ciarra Merchant
Laith Akhras
Cameron Simmons
Miles Lester
Daniela Perdomo
A few UH student managers have received NIL deals, most famously Hawk</a from Cougar Football. Please note: HOUNIL raised the money for student manager deals independently. No HOUNIL.com subscriber monies were used to pay for the manager NIL deals.
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