Sports Business Journal tabs Del Conte as Athletic Director of the Year
New York – In the midst of an historic year in Longhorns Athletics, University of Texas Vice President and Lois and Richard Folger Athletics Director Chris Del Conte was named Athletic Director of the Year by the Sports Business Journal at its 17th Annual Sports Business Awards ceremony in New York City on Wednesday night. Del Conte, in his seventh year at Texas, was selected the winner from a group of five finalist (Trev Alberts, formerly Nebraska now Texas A&M; Jeff Bourne, James Madison; Desiree Reed-Francois, formerly Missouri now Arizona; Carla Williams, Virginia) by the SBJ staff. For more information, visit Sports-Business-Awards.com.
Texas’ final season in the Big 12 Conference before officially heading to the Southeastern Conference on July 1 has been a memorable one. The Longhorns have eclipsed their own Big 12 season record with 15 conference championships, which is more than the rest of the Big 12 schools combined (14) and by far the most of any Power-Five Conference program in the 2023-24 academic year. This year saw the Longhorns win a second-straight National Championship in volleyball, finish as NCAA Championship runners-up in women’s swimming & diving and men’s tennis, advance to the College Football Playoff semifinals, the Elite Eight in women’s basketball, and the round of 16 in women’s soccer, women’s tennis, and currently softball, which hosts a Super Regional this weekend.
With the baseball season still ongoing, 18 of Texas’ 19 eligible sports have already advanced to NCAA Championship postseason play. Including softball’s current run to a Super Regional, the Longhorns have won one national title, seen three teams finish NCAA championships in the top-two, five in the top-five, 10 in the top-10, and 14 in the top-20 already in 2023-24. And for the third time in the last four years UT is right in the thick of the race to win the LEARFIELD Directors’ Cup that goes to the nation’s top all-around athletics program. The Longhorns snapped Stanford’s streak of 25-straight years winning that coveted trophy in 2020-21, joining the Cardinal as the only program to claim it in consecutive years when UT repeated as winners in 2021-22. Including a tightly contested runner-up finish in 2022-23, the Longhorns have finished in the top-five of the Director’s Cup standings in each of Del Conte’s seven years leading the Longhorns program.
In addition to maintaining Texas as one of the nation’s top generating and most financially stable departments, Del Conte continues to redefine fan engagement and the atmosphere at Longhorn sporting events. Every year he and his staff have found new ways to enhance fan amenities like Bevo Blvd., Longhorn City Limits and Smokey’s Midway on football gamedays, while also spearheading numerous facility upgrade and development projects designed to keep Texas at the forefront of college athletics. The Longhorns’ state-of-the-art South End Zone project at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium opened in 2021 while the recently opened and spectacular Moody Center for Men’s and Women’s Basketball was completed for the 2022-23 seasons. Texas also recently announced the plans for construction of a new Football Indoor Training Facility, which is slated to begin in 2024.
Texas Athletics has had tremendous success during Del Conte’s tenure that began in December 2017, winning 12 NCAA team titles and recording 14 NCAA runner-up finishes for a total of 26 NCAA Championship top-two finishes. During his time at UT, the Longhorns have also posted 46 top-five and 70 top-10 team showings at the NCAA Championships, along with 73 Big 12 Conference Championships. Those staggering team performances include a College Football Playoff semifinal appearance from football, advancing to the NCAA Elite Eight in both men’s and women’s basketball, while also earning a spot in the College World Series in baseball and softball. Volleyball, Women’s Tennis and Rowing have all earned back-to-back national titles in his tenure at UT.
Del Conte is a proven, well-regarded and nationally recognized athletics administrator who has a long history of leading highly successful athletic departments. He is in his seventh year at UT and 19th as an athletics director overall, having spent a dozen years at TCU and Rice before taking over leadership of Texas Athletics in 2017.
