Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte releases the Forty Acres Insider each week.
It’s a newsletter to Longhorn Nation that focuses on how each athletic program performed over the past week and what to look forward to in the days ahead. After Texas’ shocking loss to Kansas, many were eager to hear Del Conte’s thoughts on the matter.
In a surprise to some, he voiced a very clear vote of confidence in Steve Sarkisian and his staff.
Saturday was just a heartbreaking 57-56 overtime loss to Kansas at DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium. Coach Sark said it after the game and reiterated the message at his weekly press conference on Monday: “The first half of that game was not the competitive football that I know we’re capable of playing. The four turnovers — three in the second quarter — were killers, and our inability to stop the run on defense and our inability to get off the field on third down were big issues that did us in. I will say I was proud of the guys in their effort fighting back to get to overtime, but until we figure that out that it takes discipline, commitment, toughness and accountability all of the time, we’re going to be swimming upstream. That’s the message to the guys. It’s about being a true competitor and competing with that mindset. We didn’t do that on Saturday.”
At Texas Athletics, we all know it was a devastating way to lose. You all are so passionate about your Longhorns and feel frustrated about how things have gone for five games. Trust me, we’re so disappointed and frustrated, too, but no one is more upset than Coach Sark and the team. As Coach Sark said, “They put in a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of hard work to not be playing the type of football that is the standard here at Texas.” Coach Sark knew when he took the job that it’s not always going to be smooth sailing, that there would be bumps in the road and — at times — choppy waters that he has to navigate through. None of us expected what we’re up against now, but that’s why we hired him and a tremendous staff to allow us to build a foundation for long-term success. Our Longhorns need to continue to learn and grow from these challenging times. We can be there by their side to help pull them through.
With all that said, it’s important that we discuss the reality of the situation facing Coach Sark and our Football program. It came up in Monday’s press conference and is something we’ve talked about. This isn’t to cast any blame or make excuses; it’s just factual that we have some real depth issues. As injuries mount, it’s even more glaring. When you look at it, 52% of our 2018 signing class and 46% of the 2019 class are no longer here. That’s nearly half of the student-athletes from two classes that were ranked as the third-best in the nation and should be making up the juniors and seniors on our roster today. Overall since 2018, we’ve lost 33 percent of the last four classes. That’s a lot of attrition to manage. And when it rains, it pours. We had 25 guys miss practice last week due to a flu bug and virus and missed three others who were out due to COVID-19 protocols.
I say that to help everyone understand the real challenges we’re facing. Coach Sark is building a culture, he has a tremendous group of coaches with him, and we are providing every ounce of support we can muster to help them redirect our program. We have a group of coaches who are proven and have a wealth of experience. They have all succeeded at the highest level. They will help us do that here, too. The guys are fighting their butts off on the field, and we have a really good group of student-athletes giving it all they have. We’ve been dealt a tough hand with more injuries to players this week. Two young men who are among the best in the Big 12 at their positions, Bijan Robinson and Josh Thompson are out. We know we’re up against even more challenges and going through a difficult stretch. That being said, our Texas Fight and resolve never wavers.
Del Conte continued on by stating how important it is for the fans to stand behind the team and stay positive. “We know there are better days ahead, and I know y’all will continue to be the wind beneath our wings to help lead us there.”
Needless to say, it appears that Del Conte is fully behind the rebuild that Sarkisian will have to do at Texas.