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  • Thursday: The Lieutenants

    Bobby Burton

    By Bobby Burton

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    If you listened to the Town Hall meeting of Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte on Tuesday night, you realize just how many talented people work alongside Del Conte to make Texas athletics the best in the country.

    I felt like it would be informative to give a little more background info on those folks and exactly what they do.

    Drew Martin - If it has to do with marketing and game-day experience, Drew Martin is the person whose fingerprints are all over it. Martin also helps manage and oversee third party agreements with media behemoths like Learfield and William Morris Endeavor.

    Chris Plonsky - Plonsky was once the women's athletic director, but when CDC was hired, Texas unified the athletic department into one outfit for both men and women. CDC, however, did not clip the wings of Plonsky in the process. Instead, she has continued to help build Texas women's athletics into the juggernaut it is and CDC gives her due credit in the process.

    Andrew Hamor - One of the leads of the Longhorn Foundation, Hamor helps CDC find the funds for various athletic department projects. While CDC is the forward facing fundraiser for the athletic department, Hamor is someone almost every major Longhorn donor knows.

    Ricky Brown - The former fullback for Ricky Williams is one of the heads of outreach from the athletic department to former players.

    Shawn Eichorst - He's the deputy. Eichorst is CDC's right-hand man, the "glue" that keeps it all together. The former Nebraska AD is a voice of experience that CDC can count on.

    Sarah Baumgardner - Baumgardner works directly with Texas coaches to fix issues that arise on a daily basis. She works hand-in-hand with CDC.

    Fernando Lovo - All those pretty new facilities and their functionality? That's Lovo's job, to execute the vision, work with the general contractors, architects, and the university, to make sure it all comes out to plan.

    Rob Novak - The CFO of Texas athletics. He makes sure the money is there, not just for next month, but for large projects well into the future.

    While CDC is a gifted administrator and fundraiser, the success of Texas athletics is far from a one-man show, and that's something CDC would tell you himself, and why he mentioned the folks above during his speech on Tuesday night.

    Hats off to all of those who help make Texas athletics the best program in the country.

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    Bobby Burton
    31 minutes ago, Neil Leininger said:

    Plonksy had little to do with women's athletics becoming a juggernaunt. Once her ability to make bad hires was taken away, Del Conte started hiring great coaches.

    I don’t agree with that. She created the backbone of that department in many ways.

    Some of her hires definitely fell flat, but the infrastructure remains and that allows for new coaches to prosper and utilize the resources of the university.

    I’m no one’s apologist here. But I think she was too often an easy out for people to point to when things weren’t going as planned.

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    Bobby Burton
    4 minutes ago, BlakeMay said:

    I'd like to see Hamor implement new strategies to get more alumni to donate to the ONE FUND. 

    That is happening as we speak. Talked to someone about that this morning. More will be announced soon. 

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    BlakeMay
    1 minute ago, Bobby Burton said:

    That is happening as we speak. Talked to someone about that this morning. More will be announced soon. 

    That's awesome to hear!

    Even at sporting events, have the option when you swipe your card to round up to the nearest dollar as a donation to the ONE FUND. Little implementations go along way.

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    GoHorns1
    1 hour ago, Neil Leininger said:

    Plonksy had little to do with women's athletics becoming a juggernaunt. Once her ability to make bad hires was taken away, Del Conte started hiring great coaches.

    She hired the HC for women’s  National Champion Volleyball, Rowing, Tennis, Golf, the playoffs soccer, the national power swimming and diving. 

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    Bobby Burton
    24 minutes ago, ryantnelson02 said:

    Bobby CDC is clearly one of the "Elite Minds in the Space" the UT athletic department is in good hands as long as he is here! 

    There’s depth to the department, too, IMO. 

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    horns96
    6 hours ago, Bobby Burton said:

    I don’t agree with that. She created the backbone of that department in many ways.

    Some of her hires definitely fell flat, but the infrastructure remains and that allows for new coaches to prosper and utilize the resources of the university.

    I’m no one’s apologist here. But I think she was too often an easy out for people to point to when things weren’t going as planned.

    Anyone that has actually worked with Chris will tell you the same 🤘

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    tsip92

    Thanks Bobby, this is a seriously underrated post.  Texas Athletics is a large business and much more than just the head man and coaches. It takes a multitude of people to facilitate the success that CDC has been able to enable at Texas.  

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