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Texas AD Chris Del Conte


Machinator

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I like what OU did with theirs. I hope we do something like that.

I’m really hoping they introduce another club to match the Touchdown Club in the NEZ, but the survey made it sound like they were skipping that and going even more premium.

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12 minutes ago, Patricio Swayze said:

What a world we live in where the Sister fucking sooners get it right and we get a rendering of something that looks like we asked an aggy with tinkertoys to design. 

Too symmetrical to have been influenced by Aggy.

There’s gotta be a happy medium where the bowl is fully enclosed but it doesn’t looks like 50 segmented sections of seating, and still room for luxury seating or boxes without impeding a view of the skyline.

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21 hours ago, Assman said:

We are one of very few P5 schools that is in a city with not only a skyline, but a beautiful one at that.  Sure, less than 50% of the fans can see that skyline in the current stadium configuration, but I'd hate to lose one of the things that makes our campus and stadium special.  If you put upper decks on all four sides, you might as well be in Collie Station or Tuscaloosa.

 

So in a loud stadium? 

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https://sportsday.dallasnews.com/college-sports/collegesports/2018/04/30/longhorns-ad-chris-del-conte-excited-future-texas-football-basketball-programs

Q&A with CDC

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Chris Del Conte left TCU to become Texas' athletic director in early December and is approaching his five-month anniversary. 

While attending Big 12 spring meetings Monday in Scottsdale, Del Conte sat down for a question-and-answer session:

What have you learned about Texas since taking the AD job? 

Del Conte: I was familiar with the league. To me, the thing I didn't really realize was just the gravitas of the school and what it means to the entire state of Texas. It is the flagship school. You have 600,000 living alumni. It's a completely different concept than TCU which has 58,000 living alumni. Both great institutions but just completely different on how they're set up.

Where do you stand on the fund-raising for facilities currently, including the south-end zone expansion of Royal-Memorial Stadium (projected at $140 million)? 

Del Conte: We've already raised all the money for baseball. That's fantastic. Baseball is done. Swimming we should have completed in short order and then golf is done. Then we'll work on the big football project. We're well on our way to making a significant dent in that project. In the next couple of weeks, we should have things continue to unfold.

What's your favorite stadium fund-raising story? 

Del Conte: No one has said no yet.

 

How do you feel about Tom Herman and the football program? 

Del Conte: Fantastic. I've known Tom since our days at Rice. Phenomenal coach. Look at his recruiting class. Won a bowl game this year. Building upon another phenomenal recruiting class. I'm excited for what he has in store for the University of Texas.

Even Herman has acknowledged that he has to do better than 6-6 in the regular season. 

Del Conte: Anytime you look at improvement, how you improve your football program is through recruiting and that's what he's doing. He had a great recruiting class. The offseason has been awesome. When Mack Brown built those great teams, he had back-to-back-to-back recruiting classes to put them in position to compete for national championships. That's our firm belief that Tom has done an awesome job.

Shaka Smart faced a difficult season with injuries and Andrew Jones' leukemia diagnosis and first-round NCAA tournament loss. What was your take on this past men's basketball season? 

Del Conte: I was beyond inspired by what [Smart] did. Young people don't look at their mortality. You had a young kid who was struggling all fall. He's getting tired. What's happening? Next you know he finds out he has leukemia. That was a tough blow for our team to handle. They rallied. At one point, we were down three to four starters at the end. We had seven guys we played with. For him to get us in the tournament and who he has recruited, I'm excited about the future of our men's basketball program.

You have been evaluating the athletic department and personnel the last few months. Do you expect some changes? 

Del Conte: Not necessarily changes. What I really expect is structurally, what works for me going forward. For me it's not necessarily mass moves, it's just how I wanted it organized. I'm externally focused and when you're externally focused, you got to organize to your strengths. That's the reality of it.

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I just took the stadium expansion survey. If they’re gonna sell out for the money and use the space solely for luxury seating and boxes, that’s an awful idea as it will attract the same old west side grandpas and grandmas that make our atmosphere shitty.

I basically said in the comments that 95% of real fans would rather sit in bleachers and watch us win championships than sit in boxes with TVs and private pissers and watch us go 6-6 again. 

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On 4/27/2018 at 6:34 AM, Patricio Swayze said:

What a world we live in where the Sister fucking sooners get it right and we get a rendering of something that looks like we asked an aggy   an engineering company with tinkertoys to design. 

This was the rendering of the SEZ provided by the aggy group:

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15 hours ago, Machinator said:

That makes one of us.

Edited by GringoSalado
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9 hours ago, TheFlagship said:

I just took the stadium expansion survey. If they’re gonna sell out for the money and use the space solely for luxury seating and boxes, that’s an awful idea as it will attract the same old west side grandpas and grandmas that make our atmosphere shitty.

I basically said in the comments that 95% of real fans would rather sit in bleachers and watch us win championships than sit in boxes with TVs and private pissers and watch us go 6-6 again. 

I actually don't mind the private boxes. Maybe some of the old guys who are going to be at the game anyway will vacate a bleacher seat and move into the boxes, thereby opening the bleacher seat for a fan who will be a little more rowdy and engaged.

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9 hours ago, TheFlagship said:

I just took the stadium expansion survey. If they’re gonna sell out for the money and use the space solely for luxury seating and boxes, that’s an awful idea as it will attract the same old west side grandpas and grandmas that make our atmosphere shitty.

I basically said in the comments that 95% of real fans would rather sit in bleachers and watch us win championships than sit in boxes with TVs and private pissers and watch us go 6-6 again. 

“Real fans” don’t get stadiums built. Rich people do

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2 minutes ago, TheBryMan81 said:

I actually don't mind the private boxes. Maybe some of the old guys who are going to be at the game anyway will vacate a bleacher seat and move into the boxes, thereby opening the bleacher seat for a fan who will be a little more rowdy and engaged.

That's only if the price of the now-opened bleacher seat is accessible to said rowdy fan.

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IT

It's no secret that Chris Del Conte is genuine and enthusiastic about reaching out to all corners of Longhorn-dom. Of course he has his talks with the biggest of cigars, he has his mid-level donor gatherings, his schmoozing in suites at basketball games, and even solicits input from Joe Saturday on Twitter. There are a ton others I'm missing, but that about covers the spectrum.

Part of his outreach was to identify a next generation of influential alumni. This is something we mentioned months back when discussing the location of the basketball arena (still as yet undetermined). This cadre ranges from former athletes to up-and-coming businessmen. The goal is to have the pulse for what is needed to improve myriad long defective issues. It seems to be it's a sounding board of sorts.

Game day experience is one of Del Conte's biggest priorities. He fully trusts Herman (he thinks Herman is going to win big) will do his part to make sure you enjoy your time between the minutes of the game clock, but he feels it's up to him to improve the rest.

We're hearing about some really cool ideas, some even speaking to the roots of the city. One is the hope to partner with ACL to feature concerts before home games. Another is turning San Jacinto into a Longhorn Walk and beer garden. I'm sure you'll find more than Corona there. Basically, he's going to get even non-tailgating fans rowdy before kick.

Everybody has seen the renderings for the south end zone. It will have the ground-level suites like Jerry World, plus eight 'founders suites' that will practically pay for the build over time, as well as one apiece for the Governor and Chancellor. There will also be some club level seating.

The north end zone will get a touch up as the food court becomes more of a shrine to Longhorn greats.

A couple of months back we mentioned the installation of grass. That report made it to Chris Del Conte and he tweeted to the effect, 'the cart is a little ahead of the horse.' I found out what he meant by that. The move to grass will be after this season, but it will also be for baseball.

While the department is growing in many ways, we still expect it to shrink when it comes to personnel. Texas currently has upwards of 450 people in the department while places like OU have less than 200. That will likely be a story-line to follow this summer.

Quote

A couple of months back we mentioned the installation of grass. That report made it to Chris Del Conte and he tweeted to the effect, 'the cart is a little ahead of the horse.' I found out what he meant by that. The move to grass will be after this season, but it will also be for baseball.
 

 

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Of particular interest from the above:

Quote

A couple of months back we mentioned the installation of grass. That report made it to Chris Del Conte and he tweeted to the effect, 'the cart is a little ahead of the horse.' I found out what he meant by that. The move to grass will be after this season, but it will also be for baseball.

 

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For a $200,000,000 Athletic Department, you’d think they could design a ticket website. I got my email notification that I needed to purchase my parking pass. I followed the link and there is text over text, boxes over boxes, shit cut off by the margins, etc. I couldn’t even add it to my cart. I tried to use my iPhone because I’m on the road, and that’s all I have. JFC, I’ve used ticketing websites from FCS and D-II schools (with budgets not much bigger than TH’s salary) that worked seamlessly. I complained years ago to someone about the way the ticket renewal confirmation page printed all screwy, and he admitted that it was messed up and to print it in landscape mode. Now, they pretend that it was the original intent.

CDC, are you listening, OR DO I HAVE TO USE ALL CAPS!?!?

Rant over. 

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14 minutes ago, Kevin O’Shea said:

Del Conte alluded tonight at the Dallas fundraising event that Scott Fisher’s weather report will no longer take place during games. 

Thank God. This feature was so annoying. We are at the game for fucks sake. 

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From Brian Davis' Twitter:

Del Conte, Herman, Shaka, Karen, Jerritt, Angela all here in Dallas tonight for the This is Texas Tour stop.

Del Conte surveys the room of 300, grabs the mic and says, “Hi everybody. This is pretty awesome.” This after working the room for tons of selfies.

Texas AD Chris Del Conte: “I challenge every one of you to wear burnt orange on Friday. Put a flag in your yard.” He’s serious about energizing fans again.

Del Conte says cars will be removed from San Jacinto on game day. Texas wants to turn the street into “a carnival” on game day. Wants food trucks, music, concerts.

Del Conte on the DKR experience: “I don’t need to know what the weather is. We’re gonna try to make it about the band.”

Del Conte envisions a smaller Staples Center, one that holds 10,000. On the Erwin Center, “It’s a beautiful facility... NOT!”

 

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Sent An email to Mr. Del Conte asking if we could get back to one-stop shopping for Foundation/Tickets/Parking instead of having to come back to (Patterson's) parking page. Sent me back a reply the next day telling me "he has folks looking into it". I was favourably impressed, in the past, I would get no answer or some non-answer from a flunky when I asked a question.

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On 5/1/2018 at 9:00 AM, TheFlagship said:

I just took the stadium expansion survey. If they’re gonna sell out for the money and use the space solely for luxury seating and boxes, that’s an awful idea as it will attract the same old west side grandpas and grandmas that make our atmosphere shitty.

I basically said in the comments that 95% of real fans would rather sit in bleachers and watch us win championships than sit in boxes with TVs and private pissers and watch us go 6-6 again. 

I bet you are one of those individuals who supports the Hellraisers

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4 hours ago, TtomTerrific said:

Golf carts come in "plethoras?" 

 

I thought they came in "prides" or perhaps "murders" 

Golf carts always come in plethoras.  Scooters come in prides.  Bike taxis come in murders.  You ignoramous

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On 4/26/2018 at 11:39 PM, rantanamo said:

 

OU did, pretty much what many are talking about.  Loge boxes, decks and larger seats within the same shape of the existing stadium.  Could even go with larger seats like Jacksonville and Miami have in their loge areas, with pretty much loungers and some table areas.    Its why I cringe when I see something like Louisville is doing.  Its really not that hard.  Perhaps architects see something like OU and think, "meh" ?

 

South-endzone-expansion-082816.jpg

 

ou-background-6716870871.jpg

 

72ClubLRB4.jpgCorner-Terrace-JN2_5170.jpg

I like the symmetry of the stadium upgrades at OU...

But maybe UT is planning to also have a bit of uniqueness that says "We are Texas", is what I guess...

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4 hours ago, Caddox said:

The west side needs to be knocked down so everything about the stadium is symmetrical. The overhang and exterior are complete eyesores. The stadium will never look like it should unless that happens.

You’re entitled to an opinion ... but this one sucks.  IMO.

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First of all, it's amazing what a little pressure washing and paint can do.  Go check it out.

Second, the westside upper deck is as much an icon of the Austin skyline as it is for UT football.

Finally, maybe new Kyle Field is more your style.  I hear that group is always anxious for new devotees.  

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20 minutes ago, Amos Moses said:

First of all, it's amazing what a little pressure washing and paint can do.  Go check it out.

Second, the westside upper deck is as much an icon of the Austin skyline as it is for UT football.

Finally, maybe new Kyle Field is more your style.  I hear that group is always anxious for new devotees.  

Lol are you actually getting butthurt bc I think its ugly? Saying I'm an aggy bc I don't like our butt ugly westside facade and upper deck is about as aggy as it gets. 

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