New athletic director is expected to fill the coffers at TCU

By JIM REEVES

revo@star-telegram.com

There was no mistaking the most important figure on the podium when TCU introduced Chris Del Conte as its new athletic director. Its alluring curves were strikingly unavoidable.

Imagine a capital S with a vertical slash through it.

Let me paint the picture for you: $

This was all about the money.

That’s no knock on Del Conte, mind you, who just spent three years at Rice knocking their socks off and, more importantly, filling the athletic department’s coffers.

The numbers that clearly mattered most to the TCU search committee had nothing to do with the Owls’ 0-7 record this season, their 10-3 mark and Texas Bowl appearance last year or their mediocre 20-25 ledger since Del Conte arrived there in 2006.

Big-time college athletics today is about the ability to raise money, which is why TCU proudly listed these accomplishments from Del Conte’s résumé:

Raised more than $90 million for the Rice Vision for the Second Century Campaign.

Secured $41 million to open the Barbara and David Gibbs Recreation and Wellness Center.

Raised $29 million for the renovation and creation of the Tudor Fieldhouse and Youngkin Center for Student Athlete Excellence.

Raised $4 million for upgrades to Rice University’s football stadium.

The list, about as long as Dirk Nowitzki’s leg, goes on and on, but I can sense that you’re beginning to doze off and I can’t say I blame you. There’s nothing more boring than talking about money, especially when it’s somebody else’s, but there was no question about what kind of athletic director the committee was looking for when it began its search for Danny Morrison’s replacement.

The money-making kind.

I couldn’t tell you if the Horned Frogs’ new AD, culled from a starting list of 63 "legitimate candidates," then whittled down to a final eight, knows a safety blitz from an end-around, but this I can guarantee you: He knows how to raise money.

His philosophy on that is simple.

"Ask," he said. "That’s a skill set I’m not afraid to use. I’ve been told 'no’ many times."

The record, though, says he’s also been told "yes" more often than not and that’s what grabbed TCU’s attention.

"His drive, his determination," said Chancellor Victor Boschini Jr. of what impressed him most about Del Conte, who grew up in Taos, N.M., and went to the University of Oregon as a high jumper. "Any goal he ever set for himself was met and any goal set by the administration he always met that.

"We did extensive research on this guy — and on all of them — and what came back on him was just amazing."

Boschini can’t wait for the TCU community to get to know Del Conte.

"You can’t raise funds until you raise friends and that’s the phase we’re in now," Boschini said. "You can’t be a fundraiser if you’re not a friend-raiser. People give to people, not to a cause."

Del Conte has already begun the process.

Looking for comments?