Athletic directors Chris Del Conte, Joe Castiglione reveal how Red River Rivalry impacts their friendship

Texas and Oklahoma will face off on Saturday in the Red River Rivalry, which is widely regarded as one of the best rivalries in all of college football. No matter the outcome, Texas Athletics Director Chris Del Conte and Oklahoma AD Joe Castiglione will remain close friends after the game is complete.

The two have a 24-hour rule and will wait 24 hours before there is any trash talk, but after that, the winner will get in a couple of jabs before they get back to being friendly with one another.

“It’s unique, but I think one of the things is that it is a hate rivalry between the two schools in terms of a game. … But they respect each other. Oklahoma is great people. Texas has great people,” Longhorns AD Chris Del Conte said Friday on The Paul Finebaum Show. “On the playing fields it’s OU’s culture against ours. … But the reality is… the relationships between the two institutions have permeated probably since the dawn of time.

“We’re going to play on the playing fields… there’s deep, deep competition, but I don’t think you have to hate each other to want to beat each other.”

Chris Del Conte and Joe Castiglione compared themselves to competitive brothers who respect each other but also want to beat each other.

“I know fans are saying, ‘How can they get along’ and it’s all nice,” Joe Castiglione said. “I guarantee we wanna win tomorrow, and we understand the repercussions about winning and not winning. And so it’s not lost on us.”

After the Sooners won last year’s game, Texas is hoping to regain bragging rights on Saturday. Joe Castiglione and Chris Del Conte will exchange pleasantries at some point before the game, then won’t speak until 24 hours after it’s over.

But moving forward, the Texas and Oklahoma football programs and athletics departments will continue to have a ton of respect for each other.

“You can’t move forward without understanding how so many aspects intertwine between the two institutions,” Joe Castiglione said. “At the end of the day, both institutions are iconic in college sports and there’s elements to working together that make each other better. We bring out the best in each other.”