Forty Acres Insider: Aug. 5 - University of Texas Athletics

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Chris Del Conte head shot

Greetings Longhorn Nation,

After a great deal of discussion and careful and thoughtful consideration, the Big 12 Board of Directors announced on Monday night that our league will be going to a 10-game schedule for the 2020 Football season. That aligns with what the other Power Five Conferences have moved to and means we will play nine conference games, as well as one home non-conference game. There still are details to be worked out and those conversations are ongoing, but once we decided the best scenario for our league going forward was to push the season back, this was a model we became most comfortable with. Fortunately, we'll be able to keep five of our six home games. As the rest of the particulars are settled upon, we will be sharing those with you as soon as we possibly can.

I do want to echo the sentiments of Commissioner Bowlsby in saluting the efforts of all of the university presidents, chancellors, athletics directors, coaches, and of course our medical leaders and advisors across the Big 12. We have a lot of great people in our conference and the conversations were critical, insightful and thorough. In the end, this decision was a collaborative resolution and one that we all support and feel very good about. In every conversation and through the entire process, our commitment to the health and safety of everyone involved was our priority and will remain paramount as we continue forward and into the season.

Now that we have the plan in place to adjust the season, we will continue to steadily and judiciously navigate the management of all of our rigorous safety protocols and procedures for student-athletes, coaches, staff and fans as we prepare to host games and compete on the road. We will be testing our student-athletes twice a week and remain keenly focused on their health, safety and well-being. There will be league protocols and directives, as well, that we will adhere to and closely monitor along with what we already are doing under the guidance of our medical professionals. On Monday, we also shared an extensive list of what we have planned at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium. We will continue to monitor, evaluate and review those now that we know the season will kickoff a little later.

I also want to thank Longhorn Nation for their patience and understanding. This has been a year filled with new challenges, one that required we adapt to a whole lot of change with the ultimate goal and primary focus being safety. It has been a difficult time, and we certainly understand the constant changing of plans is not easy. Through it all, you have been resilient, flexible, supportive and just truly awesome. Sports can provide so much joy and much-needed optimism in these difficult times and your passion for that fuels all of us. You are the absolute best!

Return to the 40 Update
Everything going on for our teams on campus is headed in a positive direction as preseason training continues and we approach our fall seasons. The number of student-athletes testing positive or being identified in contact tracing has dropped dramatically, and I'm so impressed by how they are becoming even more aware of taking care of themselves and those around them, while following all of the critical things that help slow the spread of COVID-19. Thanks to a total team effort from our entire staff, our student-athletes are adapting and getting used to the new normal of their training routines, as well. It's such a great step forward, I'm so proud of all of them and really appreciative of our coaches and staff, and it certainly has us excited about where we are and the future ahead.

This Friday, after more than a month of off-season strength and conditioning work and eventually meetings and walk-throughs, Coach Herman and our Football program begin the next phase of their preparations for the 2020 season with the official opening of preseason training camp. All workouts will continue to be held outside at Frank Denius Fields, and as always, we remain sharply focused on the health, safety and well-being of our student-athletes, coaches and staff. Each of our protocols and procedures are being closely monitored under the guidance of our medical professionals.

With Soccer being the latest program to return to campus and joining Men's & Women's Basketball and Volleyball, we now have five of our teams on-boarded and taking part in some form of summer workouts. Soccer began its preseason training camp on Tuesday, and Volleyball starts on Friday. All activity is going well under the watchful eyes of our Sports Medicine and Strength & Conditioning staffs and being evaluated by the Student-Athlete Return to Campus task force.

As for COVID-19 testing, we continue to see really encouraging results. Among our on-boarded student-athletes in the five sports involved in on-campus team activities, currently there are zero active infections and no one is in self-isolation or quarantine. In regard to Football in particular, we did another round of COVID-19 surveillance testing of our student-athletes and some selected coaches/staff members and had zero positive tests. That is such a tremendous reflection of our student-athletes and all of their efforts to manage this challenging situation.

Longhorn Nation, We Need Your Help
Earlier this week I shared an email directed to many of you — our loyal and unbelievably dedicated Longhorn Foundation members and season ticket holders — regarding the 2020 Football season, emphasizing how important your support is during this difficult time. I know you have heard me say it many times, but that's because I sincerely believe it – a United Texas is a reckoning. This is a great opportunity for us to pull together, and when we do, we are a powerful force capable of accomplishing anything. When we galvanize as one, we personify pride, passion and spirit unparalleled by any other university. If there's one thing I am confident of, it's that Longhorn Nation's collective Texas Fight will lead us through this difficult time.

That's where your help comes in. To work through the financial position COVID-19 has put us in, we will be operating on a budget during the upcoming 2020-21 athletics year that is far below previous years' standards of excellence. As always, your continued financial support is vital to our overall operation. I know it's difficult in these challenging times, and I do realize none of us can predict what the next month or day or sometimes hour may bring. But I am asking you to stay with us so that we can move forward while providing our nearly 600 student-athletes with the opportunities, experiences and resources that we pride ourselves in delivering. We need you to help Texas Athletics with the support we provide our coaches, student-athletes, staff and teams that allows us to compete on a championship level in each and every sport. You are the wind beneath our wings, and we appreciate you so much!

If you received our recent email, I hope you'll take some time to read through it as it lays out some important ways you can help as it relates to your 2020 donations and football ticket purchases. We also will have Texas Athletics staff members reaching out to follow up and answer any of your questions in the coming days. I need to ask you openly, humbly and very honestly to strongly consider the options we are presenting. Longhorn Nation, we love and appreciate you so much and are beyond thankful for your pride, passion and support. We are grateful for the faith you have shown in us during this unprecedented and ever-changing time. Now, more than ever, is a critical juncture for us to unify and rally as one big family. Like any successful team, we can do this together, and I hope we can count you in!

Safety Protocols for Athletics Events
Our Facilities & Game Day Logistics Committee has been hard at work for months developing policies and procedures for hosting Football and other sports this fall pursuant to CDC, state, local and Big 12 Conference health and safety guidelines. For those attending our sporting events in the fall, we want you to feel secure, and our goal is to continue to reassure you that our number one priority remains the health and safety of our student-athletes, staff and fans. We've been working closely with our medical team and health care professionals to prepare an extensive list of guidelines we will be implementing to establish the safest environment possible at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium and all of our sporting events this fall. On Monday, we posted a story, a video featuring our very own Drew Martin (Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director for External Affairs) and a link to our website that features all of our 2020 gameday plans. It lays out how we will be coordinating everything, including social distancing practices for fans upon arrival, getting to your seat, contactless transactions, frequently washing hands, the use and availability of hand sanitizers and wearing facial coverings to protect yourself and those around you. We will continue to build out and enhance these plans in the coming days and weeks, and the link below includes a detailed list of best practices, policies, procedures and gameday/game week preparations focused on the health and well-being of everyone in attendance. Stay tuned to all of our platforms as we will be following up and providing continuous updates as we get closer to the start of our fall sports seasons. We thank you for your patience, understanding and the trust you place in us. Game days are a thrill for all of us, and we're doing everything in our power to be equipped and ready to make them enjoyable for our loyal and dedicated fans.

Football Capacity Discussions
Last week our Chair of the UT System Board of Regents, Kevin Eltife, asked that we explore models for 25% capacity at football games this fall. Fortunately, over the last several months, our team has been exploring and preparing for multiple possible attendance models at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium. We look forward to working closely with President Hartzell and Chair Eltife and sharing the measures we will have in place for the 25% capacity model. This continues to be an evolving, fluid conversation, but I am confident that we will be adequately prepared for whatever capacity requirements are in place at the time of our first football game this fall. Throughout the process, we have and will continue to engage with university, state and health officials to ensure the measures we are considering are among the safest possible to allow for fan attendance at athletics events. Longhorn Nation, rest assured that we will be ready and keep you posted on this ever-changing conversation and look forward to getting back together as soon as possible.

Longhorn Nation, Let's Mask Up
We all want to do our part to protect ourselves and those around us so we can slow the spread of COVID-19. Wearing facial coverings is such an important part of that, and it's something we all need to do so we can get back together as a family and cheer on our Longhorns as soon as possible. Check out the fun video our creative services and communications staff collaborated on with the Volleyball team to get that message across. I also think Coach Schaefer is looking great masked-up, as well!

Takeaways from NBA Restart's Opening Weekend
Congrats to the NBA on its successful return to action that began last Thursday night. This is just another example of when everyone is on the same page and working toward a common goal, great things can happen. There has been a true commitment and buy-in from everyone inside the 'bubble' to the protocols that were agreed to by the league and its players, and the results speak for themselves – no positive tests since the players arrived in Orlando, a unified message from players, coaches, and team and league management to continue to use their platform to push for positive change in the fight against social injustice, and some really entertaining basketball at a high-level. According to TNT, the Restart's doubleheader on Thursday night averaged 3.4 million total viewers, more than doubling the network's average viewership for a regular-season telecast. I want to personally give a shout-out to our SEVEN former Longhorns who continue to represent our great university at a high level, both on and off the court, while in Orlando: Jarrett Allen, D.J. Augustin, Mo Bamba, Jaxson Hayes, Cory Joseph, P.J. Tucker and Myles Turner.

Emmanuel Acho Joins Forces with Oprah
Speaking for everyone in Texas Athletics, we are extremely proud of our former Football standout, outstanding student-athlete and NFL veteran Emmanuel Acho. Emmanuel's voice during our nation's social justice movement has been so powerful, insightful and inspirational. His actions, messages, and meaningful conversations are unbelievably impactful and so important in our country right now. We've always known how special he is, but it's so cool that the world is seeing that, too. How about our big-time television personality and activist taking center stage with Oprah now?! Emmanuel, keep up the great work, and we're so grateful that you are such an amazing member of our Longhorn Family!

Congrats to Pierceson Coody on winning Western Amateur Title
A big ole Hook 'Em and round of applause for Men's Golf standout Pierceson Coody's victory at the Western Amateur over the weekend. Pierceson became the seventh Longhorn to win the title at that prestigious event that has 118 years of proud history, as he brought home the George R. Thorne Trophy from Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Ind. In the match-play finale, Pierceson took down Oklahoma State's Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen with a par on No. 17 for a 2-and-1 victory. The 16th-ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, Pierceson said the win is the biggest of his individual career. The other Longhorn greats who claimed the Western Amateur are a virtual Who's Who in UT golfing lore as he joined previous winners Rik Massengale (1968), Ben Crenshaw (1973), Justin Leonard (1992 & 1993), John Klauk (2002), Beau Hossler (2014), and Cole Hammer (2018).

As we continue to move forward and adapt to a new football schedule, we thank you so much for your steadfast support, pride and passion. Our student-athletes are hard at work preparing for their fall seasons, and there still are discussions and decisions to come as we are finalizing the latest plans, but we do know there are bright days ahead. We will be sure to constantly keep you abreast of any new information along the way. Together, let's stay positive, remain united and keep that ever-present Texas Fight going strong!

Stay safe, be healthy and Hook 'Em Horns,

Chris del Conte signature

P.S. — If you haven't seen it, what a powerful video from our friends at Nike. "You can't stop sport" .. "We will always come back stronger" … "Nothing can stop what we can do together." I've watched it a bunch now and get chills each and every time!

P.S. II — And check out the latest on our campus preparations for the fall semester from President Hartzell.

HEADLINES

Texas Athletics announces safety measures for 2020 Texas Football home games
Protect Texas Together at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium all season long.

COVID-19 Testing for Fall Semester
A message from The University of Texas.

Ehlinger selected to Manning Award watch list
Senior QB Sam Ehlinger added to his list of preseason honors with recognition from the Manning Award.

Softball welcomes Courtney Gettins as a volunteer assistant coach
Gettins played collegiately at Alabama and internationally for Team New Zealand.

The University of Texas at Austin Athletics

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