Texas AD Chris Del Conte talks SEC move, future of Longhorn Network on 104.9 The Horn

The morning after the summer of 2024 was officially announced as the new date of Texas and Oklahoma’s move to the SEC, UT athletic director Chris Del Conte appeared on 104.9 The Horn in Austin to discuss the important aspects of the updated timeline and what it means for the Longhorn football program.

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Chris Del Conte on the move: “Proud for everybody. I think we knew we were going to the Southeastern Conference. I can’t thank President Hartzell and Chairman Eltife enough for their leadership in helping guide this process. No decision at the University of Texas is ever made in a vacuum. It’s a complete team effort, and I’m just excited for our students, excited for our coaches, and for our great university.”

On if this allows for clarity for all parties with regards to scheduling, logistics, and more: “I think ’24 just lined up well. When you think about the four teams coming into the Big 12, the two teams coming into the Big 10, and then us joining the Southeastern Conference in ’24 with playoff expansion, it just seemed logical that would be the right time. It’s just a process. Brett Yormark was fantastic along with our partners at Fox and ESPN, everybody realizing that when the expansion took place, that the date of ’24 made the most sense. We just worked collectively to get to that point.”

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On the remaining year in the Big 12 and being successful there before the SEC move: “That’s our entire focus. I’m really proud of our coaches and student-athletes. We’ve won back-to-back Directors’ Cups for being the very best athletic program in the country. We’re poised to win a significant amount of championships this year as well. I think that’s always our goal, not only to win Big 12 championships but to compete for national championships. As I told our coaches and staff yesterday, ’24 is the date but we’ve got a lot of business in the next 16 months to take care of. We’ve got to keep our eye on the ball. Future scheduling and everything else will take care of itself in ’24, but between now and then we’re a committed member of the Big 12. We want to go out there and represent our great institution to the best of our abilities. We want to win championships. That’s what we’re all about. I’m excited about that, but we’re laser-focused in the next 16 months to take care of business in the Big 12.”

On the 2023 football schedule: “You put out what you put out and you just go play. I think our student-athletes look at it that way. We look at it that way. When you add new partners for the ’23 year, that’s exciting for them. For us, we know what we have with our task at hand. No matter who we’re playing on any given Saturday, they’re coming for the University of Texas. We’ve just got to go out, play our brand of football, do what we need to do, and rise to the occasion and let the chips fall where they may.”

On the football team: “Credit to Steve (Sarkisian). I think when you look back at his first year here, I think at one point in time that year we had 54 kids on scholarship. Let’s not forget that. 54 kids coming off COVID, coming off civil unrest, coaching change. We saw glimpses. We lose Sam (Ehlinger), and Steve comes in, all the things that we had that year to try to get us to… we were so close in so many games. I knew we had the pieces in terms of how to construct a team. When I was interviewing Steve, he goes ‘I don’t understand how your team has 18 wide receivers on scholarship and eight offensive linemen.’ I looked at him and go, what are you talking about? He had studied our roster!

“What’s really cool about this roster… is we’ve got big dudes on the offensive and defensive line now. I go in the lunchroom the other day. I’m like, ‘hey fellas, this is not a Sizzler. It’s all you can eat, my boys.’ They just devastate the cafeteria. It’s fantastic. We have four guys that are not quite as big as Leonard Davis, but they’re a close second. They’re like lunar eclipses when they come in. It’s going to be great to see them mature. Last year, the average age of our team was 19.2. If you look at TCU’s age, they’re 22.9. It’s like our basketball team, but reversed. We have a really old basketball team, we had a really young football team last year. Now, they have a year to get better. With the recruits we have coming in, I’m just super excited for Steve, for our fan base. Like we all know, the expectations at the University of Texas are to compete for championships. I know we have the building blocks to do so. Really happy and excited for what happens this fall.”

On the Longhorn Network and its future: “We’ll be proud members with the Longhorn Network and partner with ESPN until the conclusion until we enter the Southeastern Conference. At that point in time, we’ll move all our inventory over to the SEC Network, which will be fabulous for us. We’ll retain all our Longhorn Network historical games, and we’ll have a package for that everyone can always make sure they can watch that inventory as well. We’ll move over to the Southeastern Conference Network. We’ll supply everyone with the same amount of games we’re currently on right now.”