The Sunday Pulpit: Chris Del Conte must fix the chaos he created
Anwar Richardson
•
Orangebloods
Columnist
Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte is failing at his job. There is no other way to put it. It is hard to sugarcoat. Impossible to ignore.
Oh, Del Conte is good at telling jokes at fundraisers. He has a great sense of humor. If you want to drink and hear a guy tell jokes, Del Conte can provide entertainment that rivals any comedian on open mic night. Heck, Del Conte’s biggest achievement was creating Bevo Blvd., a lively street with food trucks, music and alcohol. Del Conte was responsible for creating concerts after Longhorn home games, prior to the pandemic, of course. Del Conte definitely knows how throw a damn good party.
When it comes to making hard decisions about his coaching staff (dating back to TCU), leading an athletic department, or preventing The Eyes of Texas tradition from becoming arguably the most divisive issue between fans and players in school history, Del Conte is doing nothing to justify earning $2.5 million annually until 2027.
Del Conte has created this chaos.
He has to do a better job of finding solutions.
Texas was defeated by Oklahoma, 53-45 (four overtimes), on Saturday. Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley currently has a 4-1 record against Texas’ Tom Herman. Texas could not defeat one of the worst Oklahoma programs in recent memory. We saw Riley bench his starting quarterback, the ultimate surrender decision, and the same guy was reinserted after halftime and led his team to victory.
The Longhorns are 2-2, but it took a miracle comeback against Texas Tech to prevent a 1-3 start. Texas recovered the onside kick and pulled off a victory when it had less than a one-percent chance of winning with around three minutes remaining. Nobody can take the win off Texas’ record. However, it helps to remember how fortunate this team is not to be 0-3 in the Big 12 right now.
After the game, Herman looked defeated. He reminded me of the President who aged dramatically after four years in office. Herman did not have any answers. He talked about how great practice was last Sunday in an effort to show how close his program is to winning football games like this. The coach did not understand his fan base is more concerned about the product they are witnessing each Saturday.
This is the moment when you save a fighter from himself. Herman is not winning the way he or the fan base desires. Recruiting is not going well. Literally, a player quit during the middle of a game this season. Longhorn fans are pissed about his team’s lack of participation in The Eyes of Texas. Herman will not throw in the towel, but I sensed if Del Conte tapped him on the shoulder after Saturday’s game and said they should discuss an exit plan, deep down, Herman might be relieved to get out of this situation. That is just my opinion and nothing I heard from my sources.
Herman was originally under contract until 2021, which meant both sides could have happily parted ways after this season.
Instead, Del Conte gave Herman a two-year extension in 2019, months after the Sugar Bowl victory. Herman is still slated to make $6.25 million in 2021, and Del Conte added $6.5 million in 2022 and $6.75 million in 2023. This is the equivalent of staying married until the children graduate from high school.
By the way, Del Conte also gave running backs coach Stan Drayton and offensive lineman coach Herb Hand raises back in May. Drayton was bumped up from $640,000 to $700,000. Hand’s salary increased from $515,000 to $650,000.
Only $19.5 million for Herman’s contract, plus add in a little extra for his assistants?
Just ask those big money donors to cut a check, right?
You mean the same people who are ticked off about players not participating in The Eyes of Texas?
I received multiple messages from sources this weekend saying the athletic department has lost at least $25 million in pledges in the past two weeks. That number may not be 100 percent accurate, but longtime fans are withholding their financial support.
By the way, Del Conte expected several donors to cut checks for the south endzone project in December. The completion of that project is in trouble at this rate.
Del Conte should have resolved this issue before the season.
In July, Texas President Jay Hartzell rolled out a comprehensive set of proposals to create a more diverse and welcoming campus, including plans to allocate Athletics’ revenue to recruit and support Black students, rename the Robert L. Moore Building, and honor Black trailblazers at UT through new campus symbols. Hartzell said the university would keep “The Eyes of Texas” as the university’s song but would work to own the history of the song while reclaiming and redefining what the song stands for.
“The Eyes of Texas, in its current form, will continue to be our alma mater. Aspects of its origin, whether previously widely known or unknown, have created a rift in how the song is understood and celebrated, and that must be fixed,” Hartzell said in a press release. “It is my belief that we can effectively reclaim and redefine what this song stands for by first owning and acknowledging its history in a way that is open and transparent.
“Together, we have the power to define what the Eyes of Texas expect of us, what they demand of us, and what standard they hold us to now. The Eyes of Texas should not only unite us, but hold all of us accountable to our institution’s core values. But we first must own the history. Only then can we reimagine its future, and I look forward to partnering with our campus community to do just that.”
At that point, the controversy should have been over.
The President did his part. Dr. Leonard Moore successfully talked players out of boycotting the season and was no longer involved in any athletic discussions. Longhorn players openly applauded the initiatives. I thought it was a very fair compromise for everyone involved.
Del Conte’s task was simple.
Inform the players they need to resume participating in the tradition. They did not have to sing the song, but he expected them to stay after games.
Simple.
Instead, Del Conte never expressed his expectations with student-athletes, which is why there has been chaos. Many cheerleaders did not participate in The Eyes during Texas’ recent home game against TCU. Several band members have said they will not play the song. The football team – black and white players – have skipped the tradition this season. The volleyball team recently stayed on the court but did not acknowledge the song.
I know some fans are blaming the “woke” generation or “social justice warriors” for what is occurring right now. I get that frustration. Nobody wants to be labeled a racist when those sentiments are not in their heart. Fans view this song as a tradition. They played the song at weddings, parties, and it was a source of school pride. I understand the anger.
Yet, I look at how other athletic departments across the country handled the current climate better than Del Conte.
Oklahoma State running back Chuba Hubbard threatened to boycott all team activities after a tweet surfaced of coach Mike Gundy wearing a One America News Network T-shirt. I was not convinced Gundy could prevent a player revolt.
Yet, they put those issues aside and unified.
Oklahoma football players decided not to practice and marched for social and racial justice. That could have ripped apart the team. Instead, there were several productive conversations between players, administrators and coaches.
Del Conte told the football staff this week they had to participate in the tradition after games to show respect to their fans. Unfortunately, Del Conte did not have a conversation with players and express his expectations. He definitely has done nothing to publicly express any solutions to the fan base.
As a result, Sam Ehlinger and Cameron Dicker were the only players I saw participating in The Eyes after the Oklahoma loss, while everyone else was in the locker room.
That was unacceptable.
If Del Conte can receive credit for creating a carnival atmosphere, he has to be accountable for this circus.
Del Conte should tap Herman on the shoulder this week and express the importance of finishing this season 8-2, or at least 7-3, because Longhorn fans are tired of losing.
In addition, Del Conte should sit down with players in every sport and express his expectations. I am not saying Del Conte needs to bang the table in anger. Instead, he has to be the leader Texas needs at this moment.
Del Conte has created this chaos.
He has to do a better job of finding solutions.
Funniest Things You Will See This Week
(These videos are always funnier after a win)These teachers trying to do their job virtually need a hug
1. Herman on the self-inflicted wounds by his team: “I'm disappointed. Again, it's my job to make sure that they don't happen. I do want to tell you guys, we had a great week of practice. Probably the best Sunday after a loss that we've ever had in our program. There were tons of accountability. Tons of maturity. Really, really, had a great week of practice. Now, what we have to do is we have to find a way. Find a way, mentally, to do the things to translate what we work on, and we execute at a very high level in practice, to do that in a game.”
2. Herman’s response when asked if he considered going for two at the end of regulation or in overtime: “Certainly thought about it. Talked about it each time we scored there at the end, as well as in overtime. Felt like our offense was playing really, really, well. Our defense had just held them to three and out. We got the ball back got a decent punt return and went right down the field and scored. Certainly, at the end of regulation, we all felt like you know that we were playing good enough defensively. We found a groove. We definitely found a groove offensively and taking this thing into overtime. Then we score. We had the ball first and overtime. We wanted to make sure that we didn't put our defense in a bad spot. We were trying to obviously keep them out of the endzone. Felt like the way we had played there the last couple series in regulation that that was the right thing to do.”
3. Herman on not going for two in the second overtime: “Yeah, thought about it again I'm sure much like Lincoln did as well. But, we felt like our best opportunity was to continue to play ball.”
4. It is definitely time to see what Bijan Robinson can do. Keaontay Ingram’s fumbling issues cannot be ignored. Roschon Johnson is solid. However, it is hard to think Robinson does not offer more upside than Ingram and Johnson. Longhorn running backs coach Stan Drayton should spend the bye week preparing Robinson to heavily contribute against Baylor on October 24.
5. Ryan Bujcevski’s blocked punt was the latest special teams miscue this season. The special teams unit was inconsistent against Texas Tech, and Oklahoma capitalized on Bujcevski’s blocked punt and scoring on its ensuing possession. Bucjcevski was also penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct, which lead to another Oklahoma score. The constant mistakes from this unit are too egregious to ignore.
6. The right side of Herb Hand’s offensive line has not played well. Of course, the left side is only slightly better. Offensive line recruiting has been terrible, and it is not going to improve after the recent loses against TCU and Oklahoma. This season and 2021 are huge areas of concern, and it is hard to see how that room becomes a strength at this rate.
7. The Longhorns are on the wrong side of history:
8. Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley on benching Spencer Rattler: “Spencer did some good things early and then had a couple of couple plays that I didn't like. I knew had Tanner been practicing well. So, I felt like, one, wanted to kind of give us a new face in there. Two, I felt like Tanner would go play well. That it would help Spencer to take a step back for a second and kind of see the whole thing a little bit and settle down, and I think that happened. Tanner was stabilizing for us offensively. Made some really nice throws. Some key conversions. Got a scoring drive. Honestly, really other than the you know the coming out of the pocket, and looked like it was going to runaways and ball just got knocked out of his hand. He played pretty well. I had confidence in either one. Decided at halftime to go ahead and give Spencer start with Spencer. He got hot and kind of got settled down. We started playing pretty well, so I stuck with him the rest of the way.”
9. Riley on Rattler’s overtime performance: “He just trusted it. He was better here at the end of the game than he was a previous couple weeks simply because he trusted it. Trusted his teammates. Stayed really true to his reads. I thought his mentality and mindset and confidence was really good. He’ a guy that's going to take any setbacks or any failures and he's going to learn from them. He’s not going them discourage him. He just kind of has that way about him. I was very confident in the way we played and gave him a lot of opportunities to make plays. He, along with the rest of our offense, made a bunch of them there.”
10. Well, at least I had F1 to salvage the weekend:
