Notes On A Scorecard
5/25/2011 12:00:00 AM | General
May 25, 2011
MEETING OUR NEW FRIENDSThis week's blog comes to you from the Big East Conference meetings in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Basketball coaches Jim Christian and Jeff Mittie, football coach Gary Patterson, associate athletics director/senior woman administrator Kim Johnson and I are fortunate to have been invited to attend our first Big East Conference meetings. Although we're not a voting member yet, it's been a great opportunity to meet and interact with some of our future conference brethren. We've covered a lot of ground these last few days, including television contracts, future scheduling, bowl games, pending NCAA legislation and branding initiatives.
LAST CALL ON PRIORITY POINTS RANK
With our fiscal year ending May 31, these next few days provide a final opportunity to increase your Horned Frog Priority Points standing for the 2012 football season. All gifts made before May 31 will improve your rank for next year. Priority points are calculated June 1 each year. Gifts to TCU Athletics in the previous fiscal year are included in the new totals. Please contact our Frog Club office (817-257-7700) if you have any questions or would like to make an additional gift.
POSTSEASON BASEBALL
We are aggressively pursuing a bid to host an NCAA Baseball Regional. It's our obligation to the student-athletes and coaches in our terrific program, as well as our fans who have enabled us to rank in the top 10 nationally in attendance. The announcement of the 16 host sites will be made Sunday at 2:30 p.m. CDT via the Bottom Line on the ESPN family of networks. Please make plans to join us in the Moncrief Club on Memorial Day, Monday, May 30, from 11 a.m. to noon as we host our annual viewing party to watch the announcement of the entire field and pairings. You can then head over to Buffalo Bros. for a 1 p.m. special edition of the Jim Schlossnagle Show.
REGIONAL TICKETS
The dates for the NCAA Baseball Regionals are June 3-6. If we are selected to host, season-ticket holders will have until Wednesday, June 1, at 5 p.m. to request tickets. At that time, all seats will be made available to the general public. Due to NCAA contractual obligations as part of the hosting process, in which we must guarantee each visiting team an allotment of tickets, we cannot guarantee season-ticket holders will have their same seats for the Regional. If that's the case, we will do our absolute best to provide tickets as close as possible to the regular location.
A SIX-PACK FOR SCHLOSS
Talk about a coaching dynasty! Congratulations to Jim Schlossnagle on his sixth straight Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year selection. It represents all six years we've been in the league. If you go back to Schloss being the MWC Coach of the Year in his final season at UNLV in 2003, he's now won the award his last seven years in the league.
ON THE DOCKET
All of our baseball team's games at this week's Mountain West Conference Tournament will be televised live on The Mtn. We begin play tonight versus New Mexico at 9 p.m. CDT. Our track and field program will be well represented later this week in Eugene, Ore., at the NCAA West Preliminary Round. Competition begins tomorrow.
GREAT EXPOSURE
Thanks to former Horned Frog great J.J. Henry, we received tremendous exposure last week at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Pro-Am. As you might recall, J.J. placed a friendly Rose Bowl wager with fellow PGA Tour member and Madison, Wis., native Jerry Kelly. The individual whose team lost would have to wear the mascot uniform of the winning team at this year's Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Pro-Am. When Jerry came out as SuperFrog, it became a true national story with our video being shown for three days on ESPN's SportsCenter as well as appearing on CBS Sports, The Golf Channel and PGATour.com. Other media to pick up on the fun included USA Today, Sporting News and Associated Press.
FROM THE CLASSROOM
Our student-athletes posted a cumulative 2.972 grade-point average in the just completed Spring 2011 semester. Hats off to head coach David Roditi and his men's tennis team for having the top GPA among our 20 sports. Coach Roditi's squad recorded a 3.414 GPA this spring.
BEST WISHES AND THANKS
Jason Byrne, our director of athletics marketing, has done an outstanding job in his five years at TCU. He will now have the opportunity to share his talents with the entire campus in his new role as TCU's director of corporate relations. Jason and the marketing team he led played a major role in the record-breaking season-ticket numbers and attendance we had at football, baseball, soccer and volleyball contests. Jason helped create a family-friendly atmosphere at all of our venues. He was instrumental in growing our brand and increasing our revenue streams. Jason was unbelievable for us. We thank him and wish him well as he takes on a new challenge and opportunity to better serve TCU.
KEEP IN TOUCH
Please let us know if you ever have any questions or concerns regarding our program. This is also your program and we value your feedback. We welcome all calls and emails.
Go Frogs!
Christopher M. Del Conte
Director of Intercollegiate Athletics
