Forty Acres Insider: June 3

Chris Del Conte head shot 2025

Longhorn Nation,

Summer is upon us folks, Texas Fight is on full display, and we keep on keepin' on here on the Forty Acres. Coach White and Softball are stampeding through the Women's College World Series and headed to the Championship Series with a run that included Saturday's epic Red River Rivalry triumph (the WCWS edition to boot!). Rowing came oh-so-close to another title and was in the championship hunt until the final race, finishing third to make it — count 'em up my friends — SEVEN TOP-THREE NCAA Championship team finishes for our Horns this year! Track and Field had a solid weekend in College Station, too, advancing 20 Longhorns in a total of 16 events to the NCAA Championships in Eugene (June 11-14) in a couple of weeks. Baseball's season didn't end the way any of us hoped in last weekend's NCAA Regional at UFCU Disch-Falk Field, but Coach Schloss and our Horns left it all on the field and I couldn't be more grateful for y'all. You sure did show up and showed out like you've done all season long, and we are oh so thankful for your never-ending love & support of our team (and all our teams!). You are the absolute best!

For the third time in four seasons...

THE LONGHORNS WILL PLAY FOR A NATIONAL TITLE!@TexasSoftball x #WCWS pic.twitter.com/ER44VaeznQ
— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) June 2, 2025

Before we get too far in this week's Forty, I've got to give a huge shoutout to the team behind our teams! There is absolutely nothing greater than the POWER AND SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE THAT MAKE UP TEAM TEXAS! We had big-time storm charge through our great city last Wednesday night and it did a great deal of damage across our campus and notably at UFCU Disch-Falk Field which we were readying for NCAA Tourney play. But folks, there was no need to fear with our incredible athletics facilities and maintenance crews led by Jason Nellis, Brian Womack and Mike Rodriguez. A tip-of-the-cap to our Campus Construction shop and Metalink for assisting with rebuilding our outfield fence. Our team went into action immediately and did a yeoman's job working around the clock to get the fence repaired and the stadium game ready so our NCAA Baseball Austin Regional could go on as scheduled. Here's an emphatic THANK YOU and Hook 'Em to the crew that rolled up their sleeves and got the job done. We are so fortunate to have an incredible staff behind the scenes that epitomize our "we, not me" mantra, and that includes our colleagues across campus that jumped into action with campus cleanup efforts as well. TEAM TEXAS IS AWESOME MY FRIENDS!

oh, hey 👀

shoutout to our fantastic facilities team for their tireless work over the last couple of days! #HookEm | @TexasLonghorns pic.twitter.com/4jzPEg1W6S
— Texas Baseball (@TexasBaseball) May 30, 2025

As Softball prepares to play for the Championship, it's been another phenomenal year and we're taking dead aim on winning that closely-contested LEARFIELD Directors' Cup once again (for those keeping track at home we're seeking back-to-back titles and to claim that coveted trophy that recognizes the best overall athletics department in the land for a fourth time in the last five years)! As the kids say, FACTS, so let's CHECK OUT THE OL' SCOREBOARD. With Softball charging into the WCWS Championship Series, we've had four teams make it to the Final Four (and beyond) of their NCAA Championships. Our Longhorns are already guaranteed to be the ONLY school in the nation with its Football, either Men's or Women's Basketball and either Baseball or Softball programs reaching the Final 4 of their NCAA Tournaments this year. All totaled, we've got the seven TOP-THREE finishes we already talked about. But wait, there's more!! We've already posted TEN, yep double-digit TOP-FIVE finishes at NCAA Championships and a DOZEN of our teams have finished in the TOP-10. How about that for the pride and winning tradition of The University of Texas! Hey, and hopefully you saw the story from the folks at USA Today Network that generate a ratings system and proclaimed us the best all-sports athletic department in the SEC. What a great year one in our new league. We got that done and there's much more to come.

.@TexasSoftball advancing to #WCWS semifinals makes it 4️⃣ Longhorn teams reaching the Final Four of their NCAA Tournaments this year (@TexasFootball, @TexasWBB, @TexasMTN)🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻🤘🏻

Our Horns have a total of 6️⃣ NCAA Championship top-3 finishes on the year (@TexasMSD🥇/@TexasWSD🥉) pic.twitter.com/mDCUHe6eUg
— John Bianco (@UT_Bianco) May 31, 2025

We've got a National Championship squad from Coach Bowman and Men's Swimming and Diving. Now starting on Wednesday night, Softball is LOOKING TO MAKE THAT TWO! What a run they've taken us on through the NCAA Tourney with plenty of thrilling grit, determination and Texas Fight. After wins over No. 3-seeded Florida (3-0), No. 2 Oklahoma (4-2) and No. 7 Tennessee (2-0), we're on to the WCWS National Championship series for the second-straight year (and third time in last four years) and have our eyes on the prize starting Wednesday against Texas Tech (7 p.m. CT/ESPN). Oh, and what an inspirational story it was that our All-American ace Teagan Kavan took the mound with a heavy heart on Saturday in the memorable win over the Sooners after the passing of her grandmother, Anna, who the team affectionately knew as "Miney." In a truly special example of our closeknit program, Teagan's teammates shared the love for their teammate in an emotional post-game press conference. Our Horns followed that with a game filled with clutch plays, big-time pitching & Teagan's game-sealing strikeout and a Katie Stewart bash that paved the way to a 2-0 semifinal victory over Tennessee on Monday. The job's not done though folks. If you're not in Oklahoma City to celebrate these amazing women with your Burnt Orange and White best on full display, join us at home and tune in to cheer on our Longhorns. It's been a sensational season and we're lookin' to cap it off with our first-ever Softball Natty!

can't get enough of y'all 🫶🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/UpkbCRtEbi
— Texas Softball (@TexasSoftball) June 3, 2025

With strong winds in the forecast for the final day of the NCAA Rowing Championships, Coach O'Neill and our squad were up and at it early on Sunday morning. It was quite the battle and an extremely tight race with our Longhorns BRINGING HOME A BRONZE MEDAL, finishing among the top four at the NCAA Championships for the eighth-straight year. Our 118 points were the fifth-most in program history while the final race was highlighted by the Texas I Eight earning a podium finish for the sixth time in the last seven national meets. Horns Up for another outstanding performance by our Longhorn rowers!

A podium finish 🏆🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/bZjp8rgurV
— Texas Rowing (@TexasRowing) June 1, 2025

It was a difficult and bitter conclusion to a season filled with so many successes for our Baseball program at the NCAA Austin Regional last weekend. Our squad battled until the very end but just couldn't get over the hump, and nobody's more disappointed than Coach Schloss and our team. When we take a deep breath and reflect, there's so much to be proud of — our best regular season in 15 years that included the SEC Championship in our very first year, we were the lone conference team to win eight series and posted a 22-8 mark in league play, so many weeks at No. 1 in the polls, a pair of regular season tournament titles, and a 44-14 record. Coach Schloss, the SEC Coach of the Year, is building something truly special here in a program filled with men that play for each other and represent Longhorn Nation incredibly well. That will continue under his leadership, and we will do great things for a long, long time. And I can't thank y'all — the best fans in the land — enough. UFCU Disch-Falk Field was en fuego all season long (including the third-largest crowd in our postseason history on Friday afternoon), and you were right there beside us every step of the way. I know you're disappointed, too, but we'll learn from this, grow as a program and use it as fuel in the years to come. Our Austin Regional All-Tournament Team third baseman Casey Borba said it all after the game, "We're gonna get through it, and we got next year." What an outstanding group of men there is on this team who have built a tremendous foundation of the Coach Schloss era. The future is bright my friends, KEEP THOSE HORNS UP!

third-largest postseason crowd at UFCU Disch-Falk Field 🤘#HookEm | @TexasLonghorns pic.twitter.com/JzcGpyHVNA
— Texas Baseball (@TexasBaseball) June 1, 2025

There is plenty to celebrate and here's to ONE MORE ROUND OF APPLAUSE for our Longhorn Golf programs on a tremendous year. Both Coach Fields and Coach Ianello led our squads to the NCAA Championship Match Play round, or the Elite Eight of their sport. We were one of only two programs with both teams advancing to the Elite Eight (joining Virginia), how cool is that?! And they both put up their best Texas Fight to get there and until the very end in hard-fought, close losses. They can hold their heads high for all they accomplished and with a lot of great players returning, the future is bright for Texas Golf!

With @TexasMGolf advancing to the 8-team Match Play portion of the NCAA Championships and @TexasWGolf also doing that last week, that makes the Longhorns Golf programs 1 of only 2 (joining Virginia) to advance to Elite 8 in both this season🤘🏻🤘🏻 pic.twitter.com/cAtiatq23j
— John Bianco (@UT_Bianco) May 27, 2025

Speaking of Golf, how about our guy Scottie Scheffler?! ALL HE DOES IS WIN y'all and he got another one last weekend (that's his 16th PGA TOUR Title if you're counting!) with a victory at The Memorial Tournament (a historic back-to-back victory there to boot). And he sealed the deal with this putt on Sunday and got the handshake from the legend, Jack Nicklaus. Way to go Scottie!!

Back-to-back at Jack's Place 🏆🏆

Scottie Scheffler joins @TigerWoods as the only consecutive winners @MemorialGolf. pic.twitter.com/YE1plAMl4O
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 1, 2025

And before we get to all the notes, with our home event schedule completed for this season, I've got to give an emphatic THANK YOU AND HOOK 'EM, HORNS to all of you. Y'all are the absolute best, your passion, pride and spirit does not go unnoticed and is so appreciated by all of us in Texas Athletics. Here's to an incredible summer and we can't wait to see you in August when we rev up our home events once again!

Hook 'Em Horns,

Chris Del Conte

P.S. — Summer session is underway for our Football squad!

Summer is in session 🤘 pic.twitter.com/hZoITZ79Zv
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) June 2, 2025

P.S. — Mark those calendars folks with Football game times announced!

Mark your calendars!

Kickoff times and networks have been announced 🤘 pic.twitter.com/aFN4pxxFdF
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) May 29, 2025

P.S. — Kudos to our guy Myles Turner, let's go get the title!

our guy Myles will become the 1️⃣1️⃣th former Longhorn player to compete in the @NBA Finals 🤘

📸 courtesy Gregory Shamus/@GettySport) @Original_Turner | #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/UTUsVcoI3U
— Texas Men's Basketball (@TexasMBB) June 2, 2025

P.S. — Enjoyed connecting with all our colleagues and talking Texas Sports at the annual SEC Spring Meetings

.@CoachVic_UT & @_delconte talkin' @TexasLonghorns at SEC Spring Meetings Wednesday 🤘🏻 pic.twitter.com/25P7x40stM
— John Bianco (@UT_Bianco) May 28, 2025

Coach Sark, Coach Miller & CDC talkin' @TexasLonghorns at SEC Spring Meetings Tuesday🤘🏻 pic.twitter.com/tNORH7p2hg
— John Bianco (@UT_Bianco) May 28, 2025

P.S. — Kudos to our FAB FRESHMAN, Daniel Bennett!

National Freshman of the Year 🤘

Congrats to our guy Daniel Bennett !!!#TakeDeadAim | @GolfCoachesAssn pic.twitter.com/bZSMZCeYrU
— Texas Men's Golf (@TexasMGolf) May 28, 2025

P.S. — Well-deserved national recognition for the sensational Reese Atwood

what a catch for the Longhorns 🤘#HookEm | @NFCAorg pic.twitter.com/IFeW1c1mHr
— Texas Softball (@TexasSoftball) May 28, 2025

P.S. — Never gets old, here's to our SEC Baseball Champions!

light the tower for the 2025 @SEC champs 🏆#HookEm | @TexasLonghorns pic.twitter.com/Lve6IsmDgD
— Texas Baseball (@TexasBaseball) May 29, 2025

P.S. — This is definitely an impactful trio

3️⃣ Longhorns named to the Lott Impact Trophy watch list 🤘 @TheLottTrophy @thegoatanthony1 @ColinSimmons__@MichaelTaaffe4 pic.twitter.com/funjMR3IKz
— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) May 29, 2025

P.S. — Love This! Teagan's Why!!