Originally Posted by
bigcountry
Just a fantastic hire. As an AD, his credentials are elite. He is widely known in college athletic circles (those that know), as one of the best AD’s in the nation. A young, tireless worker that clearly shows that UT alumni, along with UT administration are not messing around. It’s time to get serious about the UT athletic programs & facilities, and there is no better to do that than Del Conte. Incredibly smart & bold hire by The University of Texas. Just a tremendous hire. Sit and watch.
From Sports Illustrated:
Texas has reeled in one of the BEST ADs in college sports. In a wide-ranging survey of ADs and national media by SI this year, Del Conte received the second-most points amongst his peers, trailing only OU’s Joe Castiglione. Among Del Conte’s biggest accomplishments at TCU were getting the Horned Frogs into the Big 12 Conference and over $300 million in construction projects that were all donor funded.
From various outlets: Del Conte was the recipient of a 2015 NACDA Under Armour AD of the Year Award and the 2010 Bobby Dodd Division I-A Athletic Director's Award. In February 2015, he was named to the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship Committee. On Del Conte’s watch, five TCU head coaches have been named National Coach of the Year in their respective sports.
Del Conte has served as director of intercollegiate athletics at Texas Christian University since 2009 and is NATIONALLY recognized for developing winning programs, upgrading facilities, improving the fan experience and helping student-athletes excel on and off the field.
Del Conte took over at TCU in 2009 and has raised that athletic program to heights the Horned Frogs have never reached before. The football team won a Rose Bowl over Wisconsin and lost to Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship earlier this month, and the baseball team has reached the College World Series the last three consecutive seasons.
Under his leadership, Del Conte oversaw the school’s entrance into the Big 12 in 2012. Under his watch TCU also underwent several athletic upgrades, most notably the construction of the new Amon G. Carter Stadium and football offices at a cost of nearly $170 million and a $72 million renovation of TCU’s basketball facility. Del Conte is also proud to say that TCU athletics carries NO DEBT despite those major projects (aggy could learn from this).
One sports writer wrote:
- Wicked smart.
- Master relationship builder. Has a wildly confident charm about him that attracts winners. Very unusual in that typically alpha males repel each other but I’ve seen Chris melt even the most alpha. He just has an unusual way of having a commanding presence without needing to bow-up to get attention.
- He has had a knack for pulling off some of the most impossible deals. “How’d he do that?” or “How did he get that amount of $?” is a pretty common observation.
- He has always built a strong positive relationship with the coaches and their assistants. Very similar to Mack Brown’s ability to makes anyone he talked to feel special, Chris very much takes the time to connect on a personal level.
- He’s brashly unafraid, doesn’t settle, is not impulsive, calls his shot, and goes for the jugular
- This man can raise money from wilted shrubbery.
- IMG identified him as one of the industry’s rising stars over ten years ago. They saw something different as far back as his Arizona days.
- He can play most any room. He can work a big gala crowd, or sit in a meeting with his boots up on the desk and his arms crossed behind his head.
- At both Rice and TCU, he became a trusted advisor to the president beyond athletics.
-TCU and the deep pockets of the donors know what they got. They’re willing to put the resources into preserving it. The flip side of that is that Chris is an achiever. His personal game plan didn’t have a planned plateau at a school like TCU. Texas is the type of school that fits his self-image.
-His personality oozes TEXAS
- He’s young. He’s got a really long runway ahead.
- Very much embraces what it takes to keep a brand fresh.
Again, “off the charts” hire! HOOK’EM DANG HORNS!!!!!