The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Dodds pleased with accomplishments, energized for what's to come
01.01.2008 | Texas Athletics
If you were looking for University of Texas Athletics Director DeLoss Dodds at any given time during the past few months, there was a place where you could count on finding him.
UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
"Yes, I go there every week," Dodds said, with a dash of excitement in his voice when speaking about the newly renovated baseball facility that will be unveiled next month.
"It's going to be wonderful," he said. "New training rooms, weight rooms, box seats, suites, more concessions, new bathrooms, an expanded concourse..."
He pauses for a moment and then continues. "There won't be an on-campus facility in the country that will be better than this one. I'm not saying that there won't be any as good, but I am saying there will be none better."
Which is the only way Dodds would have it.
Of course, UFCU (University Federal Credit Union) Disch-Falk Field is just one of many construction projects involving the athletic facilities at UT.
"We had a football stadium that had been built in 1924," Dodds said. "We had to do something to it. Now, I think our facilities are second to none nationally."
The success of suite sales, club seating and chair-back seating in DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium has been the catalyst for the building and renovating, which includes work on the Erwin Center, the Cooley Pavilion and UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
"The money to do these projects comes from fundraising," Dodds stated. "The Memorial Stadium project is $176 million. We'll raise $35 million and then bond the rest, using money from suites, club seating and chair-back seats (to pay off the bonds). All suites are sold out and club seating and chair-back seats are nearly sold out.
"The money from the suites also paid for the renovations -- and additions -- of seats, concession stands and bathroom facilities. Those monies benefit the general public. The monies are intended to enhance the game-day experience for everyone."
The DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium project, which will be completed for next football season, will expand the facility's seating capacity to more than 93,000. It will feature an academic center and a new student center that will be open year-round. It will also house the Todd-McLean Physical Culture Collection, believed to be the largest archival collection of historical fitness and training equipment and research materials related to physical sulture and sport. There also will be a veterans memorial plaza.
"The athletics academic center is going to be 18,000 square feet," Dodds said. "The student center is for all students, all year round. We're only talking about six to seven weekends a year for football. These new facilities paid by those who buy the suites for football will benefit The University community all year."
Enter the Longhorn Foundation.
The Longhorn Foundation, the principal fundraising arm of UT men's and women's athletics, is made up of loyal patrons of The University. The Longhorn Foundation is the fundraising base for UT Athletics.
"When I came to Texas in 1981, there were about six different fundraising groups across the state," Dodds recalled. "We talked internally about setting up a foundation to coordinate fundraising. We have very spirited fans who are all about helping this university."
Dodds said the Foundation began in 1984. Its success is apparent.
"We've gone from raising $500,000 a year to $26 million annually," he said, proudly.
Today the Longhorn Foundation boasts a membership of more than 12,000. That's about double what the membership was in 1993.
Those figures are even more impressive when you consider that UT got into this game later than some other schools.
Certain institutions in the Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference already had fundraising groups assisting their athletics departments nearly 20 years before UT started.
The Foundation's funds assist the operating budget of the 20 sports that comprise the UT Athletics programs. The Foundation's contributions go to scholarships, sports medicine operations, academic services and student-athlete facilities that are used for study, nutrition, and strength and conditioning.
Members of the Longhorn Foundation receive season ticket and seat location priorities for all season-ticket sports. They also have access to hospitality areas and parking privileges at home games.
The Longhorn Legacy exists to coordinate and administer major gifts to athletics. These gifts provide funding for several aspects of the men's and women's programs from endowing student-athlete scholarships to helping fund the facility improvements.
Dodds hastens to add that the fundraising by the athletics department doesn't take away from The University.
"At most places, the athletics fundraising is 18 percent of the fundraising of the school," he said. "At Texas, we're 10 to 13 percent. Our fundraising doesn't detract from The University overall. Our profile enhances what donors may give The University.
"There are people who started only giving to athletics and who now give significant gifts to The University."
When Dodds took over as AD a little more than a quarter century ago, not even he could have predicted the state of UT Athletics as the first decade of the new millennium moves toward the finish.
"I don't think anybody could have imagined then where we would be today," Dodds admitted. "We were working off a $4 to $5 million budget (for the entire department). We were just trying to get organized."
Receiving no public funding from taxpayers and taking no money from the budget that is used to fund all of UT's academic departments, Dodds' efforts have made the athletics department at The University of Texas a model for others to emulate.
After all, this is a department that has used its revenues to create one of the nation's most dynamic athletics programs for women, increasing their budget from $750,000 in 1981 to $20 million for 2007-08.
Dodds also noted how UT Athletics aids not only all on the Forty Acres, but all in the Austin and the entire Central Texas region.
Such as:
- The athletics department contributed nearly $5 million to The University through tuition and housing of the student-athletes in the 2006-07 school year. And that figure rises between seven and 10 percent annually.
- In 2006, the athletics department gave University of Texas President Bill Powers $2.65 million of its trademark licensing revenue to use on campus at his discretion. In 2007, the athletics department paid the school $1.6 million in auxiliary overhead fees and paid $700,000 to remove and relocate 16 majestic oaks to other parts of the campus because of the football stadium project.
- The Erwin Center, the only multi-purpose arena of its kind in Austin and Travis County, hosts high school graduations, major speeches (presidents, the Dalai Lama, Nobel Prize winner Al Gore and more) and state high school championship events. It also hosted the memorial service for former Texas Gov. Ann Richards.
"The $50 million in recent renovations to the Erwin Center were also paid for by suite revenues," Dodds said. "The building was in need of repair and refurbishing. We also worked a new food service contract (for the building) through our concessionaire."
Always looking forward, Dodds said that about $6.5 million of the $8.5 million for an indoor tennis center has been raised. He also is looking at a 50-meter outdoor pool, which will cost in the $11-12 million range.
"We're a little behind on that," he said.
Dodds admits that what has been done at Texas could not have been done at most places.
"But we've gotten it done because we are in Austin," he began. "We've gotten it done because we are The University of Texas.
"We have wonderful coaches and staff. We have successful programs because of those people and the quality student-athletes they bring to this university. And, we have great donors and great fans who support this university.
"Simply, we have a combination that works here."