Longhorn Foundation student members lined up outside Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Tuesday, waiting to be let into the Myers-Dodds Legacy Club for a free dinner and the chance to meet Chris Del Conte, the vice president and Lois and Richard Folger athletics director.
The Texas mascot, Hook’Em, engaged with the line as each student was checked in and let up to the third floor, taking a membership kit full of stickers and other memorabilia with them.
Two students waiting in line with their friends, business analytics juniors Rohan Kalani and Raahil Dhingra, had two reasons for attending the event.
“First off, it’s a great opportunity to meet our great sports director and also the free food,” Kalani said.
Dhingra on the other hand was there as a Del Conte fan, wanting “to ask some very important questions about next year.”
Students ate from a buffet before Del Conte arrived and opened the floor for questions.
“I can answer any question,” Del Conte said. “We want to hear from you, about everything that you have. It’s important for me to hear from you all so you can ask any questions and we’ll go from there.”
As expected, students asked about the plans for student tickets next season.
Del Conte explained that the seating situation used to alternate between a donor section and a student section based on the class. However, they ran into problems with a lack of student attendance at games and students wanting to sit in a different section.
So, the athletic department collectivized the student section. Because of this, the “rest of the stadium has been sold out for years in the season ticket hold,” Del Conte said.
“The reality is, the student section is a number that we have … I can’t expand the section,” Del Conte said. “It is what it is, but the week I’m going to meet with Student Government at the end of the year and (I’ll) say ‘How do you want to do it differently?’”
Some Longhorn Foundation student members also had questions about how Del Conte hires his coaches.
“We’ll start with character,” Del Conte said. “We’ll start with success. Then we’ll look at who can handle this job; who can recruit.”
In terms of being able to handle the job, Del Conte explained that coaching at Texas as opposed to other schools is the difference between an aircraft carrier and a small fishing boat. Although they both can float, the similarities end there.
Del Conte told a story about interviewing a coach for a position at Texas, who had already been successful at his previous program. He would’ve hired the coach, but the coach said no to the job.
“I’ve never been just so demoralized leaving that interview, yet I respected that individual more than he knows because he knew who he was,” Del Conte said. “Coming here isn’t for everybody.”
After the event ended, Del Conte let students go onto the football field while he stuck around to meet students and answer more questions.
“This unique opportunity where you get to come into a pretty boxed off area to people who don’t have a lot of money and get to sit down, eat food and listen to Chris Del Conte speak,” sophomore corporate communications Colin Flickinger said. “It (was) a pretty cool experience.”
