The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
12.03.2019 | Forty Acres Insider
Important news, interesting tidbits and exciting stories happening in and around Texas Athletics compiled by Vice President and Athletics Director Chris Del Conte. [<a href="http://texassports.com/archives.aspx?path=forty_acres_insider">Forty Acres Insider archives</a>]
Greetings Longhorn Nation,
We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving week shared with friends, family and loved ones. It's such an awesome time of the year and another opportunity to give thanks for all of the blessings in our lives. Once again, from our families to yours, a big Longhorn thank you to all of you and your devotion to Texas Athletics. We couldn't do it without you!
That pride and passion was on full display at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium the day after Thanksgiving. Despite some challenging weather, you all showed out, brought that Longhorn spirit and helped lead our football team to a 49-24 victory over Texas Tech. It was an extra special triumph because it culminated a celebration of 16 outstanding Longhorn senior student-athletes on Senior Day. You could feel the energy on the sideline as our team gave their all to send their comrades out of their final home game with a win, and the victory celebration in the locker room after the game was electric. It's a group that's been through a lot, and we're so grateful for who they are, what they've given to our program, how they represent us and all they've accomplished. Congratulations to them and our entire program on a job well done!
As for our Football future, I'll echo the statements of Coach Herman after the game that 7-5 is not our standard and far from the goals and hopes we had for this season. To that point, Coach Herman has taken a good hard look at the year, evaluated where we are and made some hard decisions on Sunday. He elected to make staff changes to address his concerns so we can improve and move forward as we head into the bowl game and 2020.
Personally, I also want to clarify some comments I made to the media after the game. Please don't let the big picture message get misconstrued -- this year didn't match our expectations and no one is satisfied with simply having winning seasons. But considering where we had been for several years before Coach Herman took over, I'm seeing progress. That is just a part of the bigger picture. As I've said before, we've been through some tumultuous times as an Athletics Department this decade. There have been four Athletics Directors, two presidents, three chancellors, three head football coaches, as well transitions with long-time coaches stepping aside in our Men's Basketball and Baseball programs. Our organization has gone through a great deal of change and disruption in a short period of time, and it came on the heels of being a bastion of stability for so long with legends like DeLoss Dodds, Mack Brown, Augie Garrido and Rick Barnes leading the way. We're working diligently while learning, growing and evolving every day. The building blocks are being put in place across the board, and obviously football is a part of that. We have a lot of work ahead, but with everything that is going on -- the facilities we're building, young talent, recruiting classes, some fresh new ideas combined with your passion and support -- the future is definitely bright.
After an exciting Football win on Friday and a victory for our Men's Basketball squad on Saturday, Sunday was a special day. Right after we lit the Tower Orange to celebrate our third-straight (seven of last eight) Big 12 Volleyball Championship, the NCAA announced that we earned the No. 2 overall seed in this year's tournament. That means, we'll be hosting more volleyball at Gregory Gym, and this time, it's in the tourney that is for all the marbles. It's win or go home, so come on out, fill the Greg, and let's cheer our Longhorns to victory!
Tuesday is going to be a monumental one on the Forty Acres. A few weeks ago, we celebrated a transformational $130 million gift from the Moody family and Moody Foundation, and now the stage is literally being set for what will be a festive event to celebrate the ground breaking for the Moody Center on Tuesday afternoon and into the Men's Basketball game against UAB that evening. It's gonna be a fantastic party, so we look forward to seeing you at what will be a one of a kind, spectacular event for our entire campus, the City of Austin and everyone involved!
Since my shoulder surgery shortened my note last week, and now, I'm on the mend, there were a couple of items we're extremely proud of that I missed out on sharing, but do want to look back and celebrate now.
The National Letters of Intent were coming in fast and furious during the November signing period for our Longhorns as 88 bright, talented and amazing young men and women will be joining our teams. We are thrilled to welcome them all, looking forward to Football's signing day in December and know the future is bright at Texas! Here's a breakdown by sport of the November signees: Baseball (14), Women's Basketball (5), Men's Golf (2), Women's Golf (3), Rowing (13), Soccer (7), Softball (6), Men's Swimming & Diving (11), Women's Swimming & Diving (8), Men's Tennis (3), Women's Tennis (1), Track & Field (11) and Volleyball (4).
Once again, we are so proud to celebrate our student-athletes' achievements in the classroom, as well. We had 60 individuals earn Academic All-Big 12 honors during the fall semester. Football led the way garnering 21 honorees with the most first-team Academic All-Big selections (16) in a decade! Soccer registered a program-best 17 selections (11 first-teamers), nine of the 10 Volleyball selections made the first team, and Cross Country added 18 (11 women/7 men) honorees (14 first-teamers).
Lastly, I'd like to invite y'all to check out the latest version of our Texas Athletics Donor and Fan Guide from our very own compliance team. This guide provides some helpful information for all Texas donors and fans to help ensure we are operating within NCAA guidelines and with integrity in everything we do. Any questions or comments can be directed to our compliance team at compliance@athletics.utexas.edu.
We are so grateful for all of your Longhorn passion, pride and support. It means the world to us, and let's keep getting together and celebrating. Our Longhorn Family is an awesome and powerful force. We're so grateful for each and every one of you!
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Hook 'em, Horns!
