"This was ..."
The pause on the other end of my phone conversation with a high-ranking Texas official on Tuesday night didn't feel like it lasted forever as much as it felt soaked in frustration, sadness and bewilderment.
"Damnit, Ketch, this was so damn preventable."
In that single moment, this official used the exact same word that two other sources within the previous two hours had used. In fact, I began to wonder if I had mentioned the word before he did, thus planting it in his mind because, damnit, he said the same thing the others had said. Literally the exact same word.
"Preventable."
After staring at the screen for about a half hour and not being able to decide how exactly to approach writing all of the things that will come next, I've decided it's probably best to start with what's already happened in an effort to provide full context to the situation that exists.
In the week leading up to the July 13 announcement from new Texas president Jay Hartzell that a wide range of diversity initiatives had been created in direct response to the June 12 letter that was written by a group of Texas athletes, an extreme amount of work went into making sure that all the i's were dotted and all of the t's were crossed.
Part of the vetting included a meeting with Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte and members of the Texas football team, with the goal of presenting the initiatives to the players and securing commitments from the players that they were satisfied with the grand nature of a proposal that included sweeping changes to the entire structure within the university system on multiple fronts.
"Go back and look at what came out of the meeting," another high-ranking Texas official told me. "The players were satisfied. They loved what we did and it was reflected by their comments.
"Everyone was told that it was handled. Everything was 'we were good'. That's what we were told."
So, how did we go from "We were good" to something potentially far, far less than that? It turns out the devil is often in the details.
"Del Conte didn't get a commitment from the players, he didn't even ask," said one source, who was part of a group of powerful Texas alumni who contacted the Texas athletic director on Monday to make it abundantly clear about their level of unhappiness. "The players were really upfront with us. They told us that they were uncomfortable with being forced to sing the Eyes of Texas and that they didn't want to be forced to sing the song after the games. They walked out of the meeting and Del Conte made them feel like as long as they were happy with what we were proposing ... everyone was on the same page. He simply didn't talk to them at all about how we would make this work when the football season started."
From the moment the meeting ended and Hartzell announced the changes, the players believed that they would not be asked to participate in the playing of the song. Yes, it was agreed that the song would be played. Yes, the tradition would continue and they would be cool with it. It's just that as far as the players were concerned, the tradition would go on without them and Del Conte never told them that the expectations would be otherwise.
If you're wondering what happened for the next two months in-between the announcement in July and the first game on September 12 against UTEP, the answer is not much of anything. While there was confusion about how the school would handle the playing of the song without the presence of the Texas band and how it would look with regards to team participation (or lack thereof), there was minimal conversation between university officials, the Texas coaching staff and the players.
"I hate to say it, but this is all on Del Conte, this is his problem," another university source said.
"He created it and he better fix it now," said another influential alum, who himself had contacted Del Conte this week.
What happens next is going to be a moment that defines Del Conte's career at Texas.
Multiple sources have confirmed that Del Conte, who I was unable to connect with yesterday after a brief game of phone tag, aims to meet with Texas players at the end of the week, possibly as early as Thursday, in an effort to find a resolution to the current situation, which has featured players walking off the field as the school song is being played since the season-opener against UTEP.
Leading into the meeting with the players, there are three growing concerns about the position in which Del Conte has put the entire athletic department and university.
a. Hartzell is an incredibly popular new president and has enormous support ranging from the biggest financial donors to board of regent members to almost all high-level university officials. When I tell you he's loved, I mean he's so loved that people at all of those various levels are very protective of him in his start as president. With all of the stuff that Hartzell is dealing with at an incredibly stressful time within the university outside of this mess, real resentment has swelled over the reality that Hartzell might get sucked into the vortex of this mess that he worked hard to find a resolution towards in the summer.
b. Del Conte's continued public silence on this situation has left his coaches hanging out to dry in every single sport. While everyone is focused on the football program and Tom Herman's failures, every other coach on campus is mortified of being put on the spot without any protective covering. The Texas men's basketball season begins next month, which means that Big 12 media day and other pre-season press availabilities will be around the corner, and there is growing concern that if the coaches don't start getting strong public support from Del Conte, Texas head coach Shaka Smart will be in an impossible position.
"It's not just Shaka," one source connected to women's athletics said. "You think Vic (Schaefer) wants to have to deal with this any more than Shaka does? One wrong word from either of them and they either lose the support from the fans or get killed in recruiting. This is where we are at the moment, praying that none of the other coaches have to do what Tom (Herman) did on Monday, which is atone for a situation beyond their job titles."
"We don't have until January," another coaching source said. "If we wait until January for this committee to tell us what to do, we're going to be screwed."
c. Losing the support of the current Texas players.
"I don't know what he's going to say when they ask him what has changed since July," a women's athletics source said. "They had a deal. The players have literally done what (Del Conte has) asked of them and now he's going to go back and ask to change the circumstances of the deal he made with them? That has a chance to blow up in his face and if it blows up in his face, we're all in trouble."
Indeed, the million dollar question at this point is what kind of approach Del Conte takes in the meeting. Given that multiple sources have reported that Del Conte has faced tremendous criticism and pressure for the first time in his career at Texas in the last couple of months, but especially in the last 72 hours, there's no sense for how he's going to approach things.
One university official familiar with the events from this week indicated that the best thing Del Conte could do before going into the meeting with the players is to make some sort of public statement that takes the pressure off of the players and his coaches.
"He has to take ownership of this mess," the source said. "He has to let everyone know that the players aren't the blame and that his goal isn't to force them to do something he told them they wouldn't have to do back in July. If he goes back on his word to them, his credibility will be shot. It's that simple. What he needs to convey is that this needs to be a coming together moment for everyone.”
Stuff like ... there is no I in team? The program can't survive without the team and the team can't survive without the program?
"That's exactly right. This can't be about strong-arming the players. This is his fault. They know it. We know it. Everyone knows it. What he has to do is convince the players that if we don't find a better solution, the fallout will be so exceptional that they won't be able to avoid the toxicity that will follow. They might not believe that this crisis can impact them and he has to explain to them that it already is. For a man that can pretty much sell anything, this becomes the most important sale of his entire career."
The pause on the other end of my phone conversation with a high-ranking Texas official on Tuesday night didn't feel like it lasted forever as much as it felt soaked in frustration, sadness and bewilderment.
"Damnit, Ketch, this was so damn preventable."
In that single moment, this official used the exact same word that two other sources within the previous two hours had used. In fact, I began to wonder if I had mentioned the word before he did, thus planting it in his mind because, damnit, he said the same thing the others had said. Literally the exact same word.
"Preventable."
After staring at the screen for about a half hour and not being able to decide how exactly to approach writing all of the things that will come next, I've decided it's probably best to start with what's already happened in an effort to provide full context to the situation that exists.
In the week leading up to the July 13 announcement from new Texas president Jay Hartzell that a wide range of diversity initiatives had been created in direct response to the June 12 letter that was written by a group of Texas athletes, an extreme amount of work went into making sure that all the i's were dotted and all of the t's were crossed.
Part of the vetting included a meeting with Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte and members of the Texas football team, with the goal of presenting the initiatives to the players and securing commitments from the players that they were satisfied with the grand nature of a proposal that included sweeping changes to the entire structure within the university system on multiple fronts.
"Go back and look at what came out of the meeting," another high-ranking Texas official told me. "The players were satisfied. They loved what we did and it was reflected by their comments.
"Everyone was told that it was handled. Everything was 'we were good'. That's what we were told."
So, how did we go from "We were good" to something potentially far, far less than that? It turns out the devil is often in the details.
"Del Conte didn't get a commitment from the players, he didn't even ask," said one source, who was part of a group of powerful Texas alumni who contacted the Texas athletic director on Monday to make it abundantly clear about their level of unhappiness. "The players were really upfront with us. They told us that they were uncomfortable with being forced to sing the Eyes of Texas and that they didn't want to be forced to sing the song after the games. They walked out of the meeting and Del Conte made them feel like as long as they were happy with what we were proposing ... everyone was on the same page. He simply didn't talk to them at all about how we would make this work when the football season started."
From the moment the meeting ended and Hartzell announced the changes, the players believed that they would not be asked to participate in the playing of the song. Yes, it was agreed that the song would be played. Yes, the tradition would continue and they would be cool with it. It's just that as far as the players were concerned, the tradition would go on without them and Del Conte never told them that the expectations would be otherwise.
If you're wondering what happened for the next two months in-between the announcement in July and the first game on September 12 against UTEP, the answer is not much of anything. While there was confusion about how the school would handle the playing of the song without the presence of the Texas band and how it would look with regards to team participation (or lack thereof), there was minimal conversation between university officials, the Texas coaching staff and the players.
"I hate to say it, but this is all on Del Conte, this is his problem," another university source said.
"He created it and he better fix it now," said another influential alum, who himself had contacted Del Conte this week.
What happens next is going to be a moment that defines Del Conte's career at Texas.
Multiple sources have confirmed that Del Conte, who I was unable to connect with yesterday after a brief game of phone tag, aims to meet with Texas players at the end of the week, possibly as early as Thursday, in an effort to find a resolution to the current situation, which has featured players walking off the field as the school song is being played since the season-opener against UTEP.
Leading into the meeting with the players, there are three growing concerns about the position in which Del Conte has put the entire athletic department and university.
a. Hartzell is an incredibly popular new president and has enormous support ranging from the biggest financial donors to board of regent members to almost all high-level university officials. When I tell you he's loved, I mean he's so loved that people at all of those various levels are very protective of him in his start as president. With all of the stuff that Hartzell is dealing with at an incredibly stressful time within the university outside of this mess, real resentment has swelled over the reality that Hartzell might get sucked into the vortex of this mess that he worked hard to find a resolution towards in the summer.
b. Del Conte's continued public silence on this situation has left his coaches hanging out to dry in every single sport. While everyone is focused on the football program and Tom Herman's failures, every other coach on campus is mortified of being put on the spot without any protective covering. The Texas men's basketball season begins next month, which means that Big 12 media day and other pre-season press availabilities will be around the corner, and there is growing concern that if the coaches don't start getting strong public support from Del Conte, Texas head coach Shaka Smart will be in an impossible position.
"It's not just Shaka," one source connected to women's athletics said. "You think Vic (Schaefer) wants to have to deal with this any more than Shaka does? One wrong word from either of them and they either lose the support from the fans or get killed in recruiting. This is where we are at the moment, praying that none of the other coaches have to do what Tom (Herman) did on Monday, which is atone for a situation beyond their job titles."
"We don't have until January," another coaching source said. "If we wait until January for this committee to tell us what to do, we're going to be screwed."
c. Losing the support of the current Texas players.
"I don't know what he's going to say when they ask him what has changed since July," a women's athletics source said. "They had a deal. The players have literally done what (Del Conte has) asked of them and now he's going to go back and ask to change the circumstances of the deal he made with them? That has a chance to blow up in his face and if it blows up in his face, we're all in trouble."
Indeed, the million dollar question at this point is what kind of approach Del Conte takes in the meeting. Given that multiple sources have reported that Del Conte has faced tremendous criticism and pressure for the first time in his career at Texas in the last couple of months, but especially in the last 72 hours, there's no sense for how he's going to approach things.
One university official familiar with the events from this week indicated that the best thing Del Conte could do before going into the meeting with the players is to make some sort of public statement that takes the pressure off of the players and his coaches.
"He has to take ownership of this mess," the source said. "He has to let everyone know that the players aren't the blame and that his goal isn't to force them to do something he told them they wouldn't have to do back in July. If he goes back on his word to them, his credibility will be shot. It's that simple. What he needs to convey is that this needs to be a coming together moment for everyone.”
Stuff like ... there is no I in team? The program can't survive without the team and the team can't survive without the program?
"That's exactly right. This can't be about strong-arming the players. This is his fault. They know it. We know it. Everyone knows it. What he has to do is convince the players that if we don't find a better solution, the fallout will be so exceptional that they won't be able to avoid the toxicity that will follow. They might not believe that this crisis can impact them and he has to explain to them that it already is. For a man that can pretty much sell anything, this becomes the most important sale of his entire career."
