'My mom can't keep a secret, she would have told everybody and got all nervous' – Cooper Manning drops great Matthew McConaughey story
It didn't take long for Cooper Manning, the father of Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning, to form a friendship with Longhorns superfan and Texas alum Matthew McConaughey. McConaughey is a fixture on the sideline at Texas football games, so it's not a surprise that he's friendly with the Mannings. Earlier this year, Cooper joined the […]
It didn't take long for Cooper Manning, the father of Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning, to form a friendship with Longhorns superfan and Texas alum Matthew McConaughey.
McConaughey is a fixture on the sideline at Texas football games, so it's not a surprise that he's friendly with the Mannings.
Earlier this year, Cooper joined the Retire Southern podcast and he dropped a classic story about McConaughey joining the Manning family for New Year's Eve in New Orleans the day before Texas played the Washington Huskies in the Sugar Bowl in the 2023 College Football Playoff.
"I've met Matthew McConaughey a couple of times in town, and then, actually, he came over for New Year’s Eve last year," said Cooper. "Texas was playing in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day, and he called and said, ‘Coop, I’m looking for a spot in New Orleans. I’ve got three kiddos, and we want to do something for New Year’s Eve.’ I said, ‘Why don’t you just come over? My mom’s cooking Italian, we’ll have some wine and Heid's (Cooper's younger son) got a bunch of pals that'll be in the back yard. It'll be loose goose.’ And he said, 'We're in.'
"He was great. He brought over some of his tequila, which is excellent, and we drank the heck out of that Pantalones. I didn’t tell anybody he was coming, because my mom can’t keep a secret — she would’ve told everyone and got all nervous. And so, Matthew came over with his beautiful wife and the kiddos, and we had fun. They ended up throwing the football in the front yard at midnight. It was great. He couldn’t be nicer."
That sounds like a heck of a get together on New Year's Eve — I’m sure even the Manning family was surprised to see McConaughey walk through the door.
Unfortunately for McConaughey, Texas lost to Washington in the Sugar Bowl the next day. I'm sure some Pantalones, though, helped ease the pain of that loss.
