Tag: Chris Del Conte

NCAA suspends all recruiting until April 15 per report

In a statement sent to NCAA coaches, recruiting has been placed under suspension. Schools must now follow dead period rules.

In the latest news regarding NCAA suspensions, recruiting is now suspending until April 15th. That day is the first day that players can submit their NLI (National Letters of Intent). It is uncertain at this time how that will impact basketball recruiting. For the Texas Longhorns, they do not have a single signee for the 2020 recruiting cycle for Shaka Smart’s team. Greg Brown is the main target for the class and this might delay his commitment. We will keep you updated on the situation.

In a report released on 247 sports, the following statement was sent to coaches on Friday.

“Dear Coaches and Staff,

The NCAA has adopted emergency Legislation to establish a temporary recruiting DEAD PERIOD. The Council Coordination Committee adopted emergency legislation to establish a temporary recruiting dead period in all NCAA Division I sports, effective immediately. The dead period will remain in effect at least until April 15 , at which time the Council Coordination Committee will re-evaluate the status of the situation. Based on the immediate effective date, reasonable measures should be taken to cease all recruiting activities that are not permissible during a dead period (e.g., official and unofficial visits, contacts and evaluations).From now until April 15, all sports are prohibited from any on-campus or off-campus recruiting contacts or evaluations.”

In a dead period for recruiting, coaches are not allowed to have any face to face visits at the university or in a players home with the prospect or parents. Teams are allowed to communicate through emails, texts and phone calls. It is also unclear at this time if the NCAA will delay National Signing Day in light of this new ruling.

Locked on Longhorns Podcast: NCAA cancellations and spring football

The fun fact Friday edition of the Locked on Longhorns Podcast. Pat and Cami discuss the impact on the cancellations and spring football.

Cami and Patrick bring you another edition of the Locked on Longhorns podcast. What started as just a cancellation of the Texas-Texas Tech game spirals into the Big 12 tournament and more being cancelled. They discussed what impact that could have on the seniors who might have played their final games in burnt orange and white.

Patrick reads a heartbreaking post by one such senior in John Burt from his instagram.

Plus a statement released by Athletic Director Chris Del Conte. What could that mean for football team that was expected to begin spring practice on March 25th. All that and more on the fun fact Friday edition of the podcast.

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Updated NCAA cancellations during pandemic

With the COVID-19 outbreak, there a lot of moving parts in regards to the athletic programs. The updates on how things look for Texas.

The news on NCAA athletics have been released at a fast and furious rate. Following the cancelling of the Texas and Texas Tech Big 12 tournament game on Thursday morning, it was reported following that news that the Big 12 would cancel their tournament much like the rest of the power five conferences.

In wake of the decisions made by the conference commisioners, the news spread about cancellations of spring athletics much like New Mexico University with their upcoming series with the Texas Longhorns baseball team. The opportunity arose for each athletic conference along with the professional sports leagues to try and slow the spread of the COVID-19 (coronavirus).

The Big 12 later released a tweet that they would be suspending all conference championships until at least April 15th.

The NCAA later cancelled the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments as well as the men’s and women’s College World Series. Essentially all sports through the academic year of 2019-2020 have been cancelled at this point in time.

Athletic Directory Chris Del Conte released the following statement.

With the Big 12’s recent directive suspending athletics activities until Sunday, March 29, all regular-season Longhorn Athletics competitions will be cancelled until that date, beginning with our Baseball series on Friday. In addition to in-season UT sports with current regular-season competition like Baseball, Golf, Rowing, Softball and Tennis, this also will include the Texas Relays and Spring Soccer matches, and postpone a decision on the start of Spring Football Practice until after the March 29 date.

“That was followed by an announcement from the NCAA that all winter and spring sports championships have been cancelled, which includes those upcoming in Track & Field, Basketball and Swimming & Diving. This is a very fluid situation and one that presents great challenges. The health, safety and well-being of everyone involved is the number one priority and we will be having many discussions in the coming hours, days and weeks to determine what the next steps are. We appreciate everyone’s support and patience on this and will continue to provide updates as decisions are made

At this point in time, spring football is at least pushed back into the month of April most likely but we will provide updates as they are passed along.

Vegas Odds: Texas Second Favorite to Land John Beilein

According to SportsLine, the Longhorns are the second favorite to land Beilein’s services, if he decides he wants to get back into coaching.

It has been a rough season for Shaka Smart and the Texas Longhorns, with Smart’s time in Austin more than likely coming to an end after the 2019-2020 season ends. With that, comes speculation about who would be the next coach to turn around the basketball program.

A name that has been circulating has been former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach John Beilein. He left the organization before completing his first season, proving he was not ready for the NBA. Instead, he is expected to return to college basketball, a place he has had success.

According to SportsLine, the Longhorns are the second favorite to land Beilein’s services, if he decides he wants to get back into coaching. Surrounding Texas are three ACC schools in Boston College, Georgia Tech, and Wake Forest.

Boston College is currently coached by Jim Christian and is an overall 13-13. Much like Texas, they are not expected to make the NCAA Tournament in March. If they are to fire Christian, the Longhorns would be in competition with the Eagles for the hottest name in the CBB market.

Beilein has been to two Final Fours in his career, both with Michigan. He has also won four regular-season conference titles throughout his years of coaching and has added four conference tournament championships. If Chris Del Conte decides a change is needed, Beilein would be a proven winner to turn around this Texas program.

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It’s now or never for Texas head coach Tom Herman

Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte recently expressed his opinions on head coach Tom Herman’s one chance to reshape his coaching staff.

Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte expressed a few interesting statements last week to Horns247 on The Flagship Podcast.

Del Conte gave listeners a behind-the-scenes look of head coach Tom Herman’s coaching search and his expectations for Texas in 2020. Although several topics were covered, what stands out most is Del Conte’s words regarding Herman’s one chance to reshape his staff.

“He knows that you get a chance to do that one time,” said Del Conte in regards to Herman’s seven new assistant coaches. Could this be affirming that Herman is in a now or never moment? It appears so, considering the Longhorns consistently bring in a top 10 recruiting class yet fail to produce results.

If this newly assembled staff is unable to provide the necessary player development and production, Del Conte seems confident in steering the program in a new direction.

However, Del Conte did reiterate that he’s proud of Herman for taking the necessary steps to attempt to improve the program, “With what he did, I’m really proud of him because he took a step back, looked within, looked at what he needed to do to change and what he wanted to do with his staff and made the changes.”

Herman currently has the most talented roster yet throughout his four-year tenure at Texas. With a new coaching staff in tact, expectations for the 2020 season couldn’t be higher.

 

Texas projected to face Texas A&M in the Texas Bowl

ESPN is projecting Texas to face Texas A&M in the Texas Bowl. It would be the first time they would play since the rivalry ended in 2011.

In ESPN’s latest bowl projection, Mark Schlabach projects one of the country’s best rivalry not only to come back but to be played in Houston, TX. Schlabach thinks the Longhorns will face off against former in-state rival Texas A&M in the Academy Sports + Outdoors Texas Bowl on Dec. 27.

A historic matchup that has been played 118 times, Texas has double the number of wins the Aggies do, leading the series 76-37-5. It was played for the final time in 2011 when Texas A&M decided to join the SEC. In the final game, Justin Tucker hit a game-winning field goal to give Texas a classic 27-25 win.

Since that moment, there have been continuous questions of when these two teams will play again. Either in a bowl game or scheduling a home and home series, the fans agree the Longhorns and Aggies need to play each other.

“Us not playing Texas A&M is not good for college football,” Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte said. “We’d love to play A&M.”

There were reports that Texas reached out to Texas A&M to renew the series with a home and home series in 2022 and 2023, but the Aggies “were already booked,” said Texas A&M athletic director Scott Woodward said.

Since being in the SEC in 2012, the Aggies have only had less than four losses once. Before leaving the Big 12, it had been since 1998 since they only had three losses. They agreed to play against Kansas State in the 2016 Texas Bowl but lost to the Wildcats 33-28.

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While the basketball teams will play each other on Dec. 8, this rivalry will remain all talk until the two meet again on the football field. With both teams expected to end their season 7-5, the opportunity for the two schools will be there to play in the Texas Bowl. While there have been rumors that the Aggies would turn down that opportunity, the two schools need to find a way to face off against each other.

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