Texas Athletics Director Chris Del Conte addressed a number of topics at his annual town hall at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on Wednesday night.
After highlighting his department’s achievements, including a second consecutive college football playoff appearance and the 16 medals current and former Longhorn athletes took home at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Del Conte turned to his plans for his department’s present and future.
In the short term, Del Conte announced that a “Texas Football Fan Day” will be held on April 26 at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium instead of a spring game. The event will feature a team shop fire sale and chances to take pictures with and get signed autographs from players, according to the program’s X, formerly known as Twitter, account.
Del Conte said he opted for an alternative to a spring game because of a conversation he had in November with Texas football head coach Steve Sarkisian. Sarkisian told Del Conte he wanted his players to be as healthy as possible after playing a program-record 16 games last season.
Another short term decision for Del Conte will be whether to retain men’s basketball head coach Rodney Terry, who signed a five-year, $15.3 million contract with a buyout of $7.2 million in March 2023.
After its lopsided 83–67 loss at home against Georgia on Saturday night, Terry’s squad is projected to be outside the field for the NCAA Tournament field with just two regular season games and the Southeastern Conference Tournament remaining.
When asked by a fan about the program, Del Conte conceded the team’s 5–11 conference record didn’t meet expectations, but was noncommittal about Terry’s future.
“The direction of basketball ebbs and flows,” Del Conte said. “Two years ago, we were in the Elite Eight. Last year, we were in the Round of 32. Not having the year we all expect and I understand that. Some of our programs are at the top of the heap, and they work their way through it. … At the end of the day, as we look at every one of our programs, I have those discussions at the end of the year.”
Del Conte also outlined how his department will adjust to the landmark House vs. NCAA settlement expected to be finalized in April. According to Front Office Sports, the House settlement would provide $2.8 billion in back-damages to athletes who couldn’t profit off name, image and likeness deals before 2021 and allow revenue-sharing between schools and players.
However, the settlement is not exclusively retroactive as it also imposes a roster limit on every NCAA program, greatly exceeding the current scholarship limits of most programs. Del Conte announced a three-year plan to gradually give more full scholarships to Texas athletes at an estimated cost of $9.2 million.
If Del Conte stays true to his commitment, 466 more athletes across 15 of the University’s 19 sanctioned programs will receive full scholarships.
“This is the University of Texas, we’re good at everything,” Del Conte said. “When you look at this list and it says, you can go from beach volleyball from six to 19 (scholarships) by God, we’re going to 19. … (In) every single one of those sports, our obligation, my obligation, is the funding of the highest level.”
