|
|---|
Thursday, May 5, 2011
From TCU Media Relations: TCU director of intercollegiate athletics Chris Del Conte is one of five finalists for SportsBusiness Journal's Athletic Director of the Year.
Over the last year, the TCU football program made its second straight BCS appearance with a 21-19 Rose Bowl win over Wisconsin, the Horned Frog baseball team reached the College World Series and the rifle team won the NCAA national title. In 2009-10, TCU was the only school in the nation to play in a BCS game and win at least one game at the CWS.
Del Conte has overseen a fundraising campaign that has raised $133 million to date over the last year, exceeding the original goal of $105 million, to renovate Amon G. Carter Stadium, TCU's longtime football home. The new stadium will be completely finished in time for the 2012 season. Other recent facility improvements include the expansion of baseball's Lupton Stadium as well as the construction of a new intercollegiate strength and conditioning center scheduled for completion in September 2011. After this fall, work will begin on a new football locker room, training room and equipment room.
The recipient of the 2010 Bobby Dodd Division I-A Athletic Director's Award, Del Conte has also helped guide the Horned Frogs into Big East Conference membership effective in the 2012-13 athletics season.
Over the last year, three TCU head coaches (Gary Patterson, football; Jim Schlossnagle, baseball; Karen Monez, rifle) have been named National Coach of the Year. Patterson has received the accolade in each of the last two seasons. Five TCU coaches were named MWC Coach of the Year in their respective sports last season.
TCU set a single-season school record last year with six conference championships (football, men's swimming and diving, women's basketball, men's tennis, women's tennis and baseball). Fifteen of 20 sports were represented in NCAA postseason play and 12 teams were nationally ranked.
The success on the playing field carried over to the classroom. In the Fall 2009 and Spring 2010 semesters, TCU student-athletes recorded their highest cumulative grade-point average since tracking began in 1998. Fifteen of 20 sports had team GPAs over 3.0.
The partnership between TCU and the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex has never been more evident. Football, baseball, soccer, tennis, track and field and volleyball have set single-season attendance marks this season.
Del Conte arrived at TCU in November 2009 after serving four years as the director of athletics at Rice. With the Owls, Del Conte designed, developed and managed the Rice Vision for the Second Century Campaign, which raised over $90 million. He secured significant funds to build athletic facilities such as the Tudor Fieldhouse and Youngkin Center for Student-Athlete Excellence. He also raised $4 million for upgrades to the football stadium.
The other finalists for the SportsBusiness Journal's Athletic Director of the Year Award are Bob Bowlsby (Stanford), Tim Curley (Penn State), DeLoss Dodds (Texas) and Chris Hill (Utah).
The winner will be announced at the fourth-annual Sports Business Awards celebration at the New York Marriott Marquis in New York City on May 18.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Check out this cool TCU Baseball video from Red Productions.
Monday, November 29, 2010
The rumors have been swirling for weeks now, and it looks like we can finally put all the speculation to rest. TCU has been invited to the Big East Conference as an all sports member. The Frogs no doubt will accept the invitation.
In a move designed to prop up a weak football conference, The Big East has convinced TCU to leave the Mountain West and join the league as an all sports member, sources told the Daily News early this morning. Commissioner John Marinatto and Associate Commisioner in charge of communications John Paquette both flew to Dallas yesterday for the official announcement at 1 p.m. today.
The Horned Frogs, a small private school located in Ft. Worth, are currently the No. 3 ranked team in the BCS standings and are set to at least play in the Rose Bowl this January after completing a perfect 12-0 record. If either Auburn or Oregon lose this Saturday, there is a strong chance TCU will be in the national championship game Jan. 10 at Glendale, Arizona.
No timetable has been set, but I would expect TCU to join in 2012. This is a great move for the Frogs and they will FINALLY be in a BCS AQ conference.
They’ve done messed up. The BCS finally let us into their little exclusive group, and they won't be able kick us out this time.
Go Frogs!!!
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Wow, could Saturday have been a worse sports day? Two teams I root for, both facing elimination, and both of them end up losing.
The United States men’s soccer team was sent packing from the World Cup by Ghana. I know the team is the king of comebacks, but come on! You allow an early goal in the first half and an early goal to begin extra time? You can’t keep doing that!! I still don’t know why Robbie Findley started the game. He hasn’t been productive at all, and the team played better without him. I was also disappointed to see Edu start the game on the bench. Oh well I guess. Time to start preparing for 2014.
At the same time the United States were getting beat, my TCU Horned Frogs were dismissed from the College World Series by UCLA. The team made a great run, but it’s disappointing to see them come up short. I don’t like baseball, and this is my first time to watch multiple college baseball games in a season, so I am not going to sit here and front like I have been following them all season, but I enjoyed watching the team play over the last few weeks.
The bad part about all of this is that July is a terrible sports month and once the World Cup is over all we are going to be left with is Major League Baseball. I wish it could have ended better for both teams because it sure left a bitter taste in my mouth.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
The Horned Frogs captured the NCAA title in the coed sport of rifle, becoming the first all-female squad to accomplish the feat, while the Gators are the national champs in women's swimming and diving.
Last year, TCU, Florida and Texas were the only three schools to finish in the top 10 in football and reach the Super Regionals in baseball.
