The Eyes18 Texas CEO Magazine Q1 2020
FeatureOFTEXASAREUPONUSUniversity of Texasathletics director ChrisDel Conte on servantleadership, the futureof collegiate sports, andwhat it takes to run aninstitution representingnearly 30 million Texans.By most accounts, Chris Del Conte has revitalized Longhorn athletics.Since his hire in December 2017 as vice president and athleticsdirector at the University of Texas, he’s not only overseen a recordbreaking$219 million in annual revenue—he’s also led the chargeon building new sports facilities, amped up game day with a festivalconcept on Bevo Boulevard, and found time to run one of the mostresponsive Twitter accounts out there. (Seriously, try tweeting athim. He’ll probably respond.) We recently spoke to Del Conte aboutleading an organization that entertains millions of spectators evenas it prepares its student-athletes for success—on and off the field.To start off, can you give us an idea of the scope of UT Athletics?We’ve got about 400 full-time employees, 2,000 part-timeemployees, 523 student-athletes, and a budget of $225 million.We’re the front porch of an institution that has 52,000 studentsand about 500,000 living alumni. Plus, there’s about 30million people in the state of Texas that the University of Texasrepresents on a daily basis. The eyes of Texas are upon us!You ran smaller operations before you got to the University of Texas.What were the big differences moving to a larger institution? I’llgo back to the movie Hoosiers for a moment. When I was directorof athletics at Rice, it was a lot like the town of Hickory, Indiana,in Hoosiers. It was a small town, 3,000 students, and you havebasically 30,000 living alumni and an $11 million budget. Youknow who your constituents are. When I moved to TCU, it waslike the sectionals in Hoosiers. It was a bigger stage, where youhave 8,000 students and 50,000 living alumni. And now I’m at theUniversity of Texas, with a lot more than that. But at the end of theday, the fundamentals of the game are the same. It’s still a 10-footrim, it’s still a 15-foot free throw, and it’s still a 94-foot court.At the end of Hoosiers, they take the whole team into that biggymnasium and they’re all looking around at the size and scope ofthe place. But the dimensions of the court are the same as anywhereelse. In the same way, the football field is the same at Rice as it isat TCU as it is at the University of Texas. It’s just the size and scopeof the operation that’s bigger. With that comes all the challengesof a larger organization, but the basic footprint is the same. And inall three institutions, we’re educating young people, helping themget a degree through their interests on the playing field. It’s justthe size and scope of who you represent and the complexities of theinstitution that are magnified when you move to a larger institution.Photos courtesy of Texas AthleticsFinding good jobs for your student-athletes is a key priority of yours.What do you want Texas CEOs to know about your student-athletes?When they come to our school, every one of our student-athletes believesthat they’re going to be a pro athlete in whatever sport they participatein. But there’s always that “aha” moment where they realize it’s aboutmore than that. Our job is to say, “A sport is what you do—it’s not whoyou are.” When you come to college, we’re going to find and accentuatewho you are. Every one of our kids has tremendous grit. They are drivento be the very best. They have put their entire efforts into athletics andthey know what time management is, they know what hard work is.TexasCEOMagazine.com19
- Page 1 and 2: Q1 2020THE BUSINESS OFTEXASSPORTSTI
- Page 3 and 4: Letter from theOWNERGreat CEOs crea
- Page 5 and 6: INSIDE Departments6 [MANAGEMENT]OUT
- Page 7 and 8: CEOs; as you can see, the outsiders
- Page 9 and 10: FeatureDid you know when you were s
- Page 11 and 12: Featureimplemented. People told me,
- Page 13 and 14: P O D C A S TEach week on Ask a CEO
- Page 16 and 17: money.” They went on to share wit
- Page 20 and 21: THERE’S ASAYING IN OURWEIGHT ROOM
- Page 22 and 23: WHAT CEOSCan Learn fromEXCEPTIONALC
- Page 24 and 25: STARTUP SUCCESS:A STARTUP FUNDRAISI
- Page 26 and 27: out how much to raise in order to a
- Page 28 and 29: 7WITHFeatureMark CubanQuick Questio
- Page 30 and 31: Want to WorkfromCOWBOYS HQ?HERE’S
- Page 32 and 33: Our approach, starting with JerrySr
- Page 34 and 35: invested into The Star development,
- Page 36 and 37: environment, still allows a company
- Page 38 and 39: 5 ThingsTO CONSIDER BEFORE TAKING A
- Page 40 and 41: HOW BUSINESSES EXPERIENCE TEXASATTE
- Page 42 and 43: The Characteristics of a Well-Desig
- Page 44 and 45: Who gave you the heads-up on the un
- Page 46 and 47: • Use reflection questions.o Refl
- Page 48 and 49: Three Actionable Strategiesfor Buil
- Page 50 and 51: SAVE THE DATE!October 3, 2020 • 1
- Page 52 and 53: toward a target audience’s IP add
- Page 54 and 55: Austin FC — In 2021, Major League
- Page 56 and 57: LEGISLATIVEFOOTBALL,TEXAS-STYLECrai
- Page 58 and 59: The Legislature also authorized a r
- Page 60: BUILDINGA BRIGHTER FUTUREFOR CENTRA
- Page 63 and 64: million for a six-year randomized s
- Page 65 and 66: WHAT HASANDY RODDICK LEARNEDSINCE S
- Page 67 and 68: ON SALENOW!Available wherever books
- Page 69 and 70:
THE ESPORTSINDUSTRY IS VALUEDAT ABO
- Page 71 and 72:
The thing I find with older folks w
- Page 73 and 74:
won’t maximize the storage space.
- Page 75 and 76:
He pulls out his badge and goes,
- Page 77 and 78:
CATCHINGTHE PERFECT PASSInnovation
- Page 79 and 80:
the thousand other things we could
- Page 82 and 83:
2. It’s not just about fitness.Pr
- Page 84 and 85:
[PERFORMANCE]MARKETING RESEARCHUNIT
- Page 86 and 87:
ListenIn his recent book, Shut Up a
- Page 88 and 89:
You’ve realized your dream of own
- Page 90 and 91:
[LEADERSHIP]MISSION, PRIDE, PEOPLE3
- Page 92 and 93:
cannot profess a mission and expect
- Page 94 and 95:
BRINGING ARENEGADE SPIRITTO XFL 2.0
- Page 96 and 97:
THE BUSINESS OFCOLLEGE ATHLETICSA C
- Page 98:
At UTSA, their AD is in hersecond y