The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
01.14.2020 | 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,
After a break for the Holidays, and as we prepare to kickoff the spring semester on our extraordinary campus, welcome back to the Forty Acres Insider, Longhorn faithful! We trust that everyone closed out 2019 with a terrific Holiday season and is off to a fabulous 2020!
One thing I absolutely want to take a moment to celebrate that came up during the break is the outstanding accomplishments of our student-athletes in the classroom. Our teams combined to register a 3.1 grade point average and nearly every program posted at least a 3.0 during the fall semester. That is definitely worthy of a round of applause! Congratulations to all of our student-athletes, and a big thank you to the academic staff, coaches, staff and all who support them in their efforts in the classroom.
As you all know, and so many of you participated in, we also cheered loudly and rang in the New Year in spectacular fashion with Coach Herman and our Football team leading the celebration with an impressive Valero Alamo Bowl victory. Thank you to all of you who joined us and raised the roof at the Alamodome, as you truly helped electrify our team and rattle our opponent. It was so great to see our Longhorns come together and dominate No. 11 Utah from the opening gun to the Eyes of Texas in a spirited 38-10 triumph. How about that Offensive MVP effort from Sam Ehlinger, and Defensive MVP Joseph Ossai wreaking havoc in the Utes backfield all night?! It's exciting to know we have both of those guys back among so many talented young players, but the locker room was filled with such joy and excitement because they left it all on the field for an amazing group of 16 seniors. We are so grateful for that impressive collection of student-athletes who gave so much to our program.
It was a third-straight bowl win under Coach Herman for those seniors, the second-longest consecutive season bowl winning streak we've had at Texas since the Longhorns won five in a row from 2004-08. It's also is the nation's third-longest active consecutive season bowl victory string and tied with LSU for the longest among Power 5 programs. We also finished in the Top 25 for the second straight year – our first back to back Top 25 final rankings in over a decade (since 2008-09) - so it's another building block, solid step and great way to launch into 2020.
Speaking of 2020, as we head into the off-season and Spring Football, we want to welcome aboard our new defensive coordinator Chris Ash and offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich. They both are proven winners with great track records as coaches and coordinators. I really enjoyed my time visiting with them and look forward to what they'll bring to Longhorn Nation. Coach Herman still has some positions to fill, but we were excited to recently announce that Andre Coleman will stay with the staff and take on a full-time assistant coaching position as our receivers coach, while Jay Valai (cornerbacks) and Coleman Hutzler (co-defensive coordinator/linebackers) will be coming on board to work with our defensive staff.
After dropping our first two Big 12 contests of the season, Coach Smart and our Men's Basketball squad got a much-needed 64-50 conference victory over Kansas State last Saturday. It was a historic one, at that, as it was the 1,800th win in our program's history. That's the 18th-most in NCAA history, and combined with our 916 wins in Football (t-3rd/NCAA history), Texas joins Notre Dame as the only two schools with at least 1,800 Men's Basketball and 900 Football victories all-time! As we continue to grow and seek consistent performances game in and game out, our Longhorns travel to Oklahoma State on Wednesday (7 p.m./ESPN+) before returning home to face a Top-10 Kansas Jayhawk squad on Saturday (1 p.m./ESPN). We know you all always enjoy revving up the Erwin Center for the Jayhawks, and our team truly benefits from your support, so we're looking forward to seeing everyone there!
Coach Aston and our Women's Basketball team got a huge 69-64 win over No. 1 Stanford over the holidays and, like the men, continue to look to play consistently at that level. We've opened Big 12 play with some up and down performances, but our 81-75 victory at Iowa State showed what we can do. Road wins in the Big 12 are always tough to come by, but Wednesday is a night we need to protect our house against Texas Tech (7 p.m.). Come on out to the Erwin Center and let's help our Longhorns get that W!
Our Tennis programs were fortunate to compete in some exotic locations last weekend, and both came away with a great deal of success. Facing some of the nation's premier teams, Coach Berque's second-ranked Men's squad garnered 31 victories in 42 matches at the Miami Invitational, while Coach Joffe's No. 7 Women's team posted 16 wins in the three-day Pink Flamingo Invitational in the Bahamas. It was a great tune-up for our defending National Championship Men's team as they head to No. 1 Florida on Wednesday for a bigtime early season dual match!
ESPN has done an remarkable job with its coverage of the 150-year anniversary of College Football and it all has been a joy to watch, learn, reminisce and celebrate the rich tradition and history of the game. They capped off their list of the 150 greatest college football players ever with the final 25 on Monday, and it was awesome to see one of our all-time greats – Earl Campbell – at number seven on that list. We undoubtedly can debate the actual rankings, but we're extremely proud to have five players selected among ESPN's Top 150 players ever with Tommy Nobis (54), Ricky Williams (57), Bobby Layne (75) and Vince Young (81) joining Earl. As a matter of fact, all five were in the top 85 and only Texas, Ohio State and Pitt had that many among that group. When you say the pride and winning tradition of the Texas Longhorns will not be entrusted to the weak nor the timid, this group of Longhorn Legends absolutely represents that slogan to a T!
Kudos are also in order for our very own exceptional Texas Ex and football great Cory Redding who was recently selected to the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame. Cory was certainly a phenomenal student-athlete at Texas, played 13 years in the NFL and continues to proudly represent his Longhorns. He's a Hall of Famer in every way!
Also sending a shoutout to our Women's Basketball legend Clarissa Davis (now Davis Wrightsil) and Baseball great Huston Street who we recently announced will have their numbers retired. Davis' No. 24 jersey will be officially retired in a pre-game ceremony at our March 8 game with Oklahoma State. Clarissa is the second Longhorn Women's Basketball player to have her number retired, joining Kamie Ethridge, whose No. 33 was retired last fall. Street's No. 25 will receive dual recognition with Scott Bryant, who previously was honored with the retiring of that number in 2008. He is the seventh Longhorn Baseball player to have their number retired, joining Bryant (25), Roger Clemens (21), Burt Hooton (20), Brooks Kieschnick (23), Keith Moreland (3) and Greg Swindell (21). It's a well-deserved honor for two outstanding Longhorns and we look forward to celebrating with them very soon!
While we've got you, during the Football offseason, the South End Zone construction will steadily progress and we're thrilled about the experience we will be able to provide once construction is completed for the 2021 season. Our student-athletes, coaches and staff will benefit greatly from one of the finest facilities in the country, while our seat-holders in the South End Zone will enjoy one of the most advanced and unique seating experiences in all of college athletics. To learn more about our field-level Bevo Club or other premium options, you can visit our SEZ landing page. I encourage you to contact the Longhorn Foundation to hear even more from a member of our staff.
In closing, speaking of construction, please bear with us, and we truly appreciate your patience with all of the challenges of the many projects we have on-going at this time. We're in the midst of managing it ourselves as our entire Football staff and student-athletes have relocated to the North End of the DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium for the next 18 months. It's all in the name of progress and will absolutely be worth it when we open the doors on our magnificent new facilities!
So, in the spirit of the New Year and progress, cheers to 2020 and thank you for your continued support, passion, pride and love for your Texas Longhorns. Look forward to seeing you on The Forty!
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Hook 'em, Horns!
