From The Desk of #ADJD
3/4/2022 2:06:00 PM | General
TCU Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Jeremiah Donati provides an update on the latest topics for the Horned Frogs
Dear Horned Frogs Fans:
As TCU students depart campus for Spring Break, I believe they will join me in saying what a great time it is to be a Horned Frog! From our back-to-back men's basketball wins over No. 9 Texas Tech and No. 6 Kansas to our No. 1-ranked men's tennis program winning the ITA Indoor National Championship and David Ekdahl being our first Big 12 Conference Diving Champion, we have shared some memorable moments over the last couple of weeks.
HISTORY ON THE HARDWOOD
For our student-athlete experience, we strive to provide the best home facility advantage possible in all our sports. The great partnership and relationship with our TCU Frog Army student section as well as Barstool TCU made Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena one of the more electrifying basketball venues this season. People across the country noticed. Through Barstool TCU, we were excited to welcome the Barstool Storm Chasers to our Kansas game. They obviously accomplished what they came to see and do that night!
Our victories over Texas Tech and Kansas to close the home schedule gave us wins in consecutive games over top-10 opponents for the first time in our men's basketball history. The four victories over top-25 opponents are also a new program record. Our student-athletes and Head Coach Jamie Dixon consistently commented to media how the atmosphere in Schollmaier Arena played a major part in those successes.
As we close the regular season tomorrow at West Virginia, we look forward to seeing many of you in Kansas City next week for the Phillips 66 Big 12 Men's and Women's Basketball Championships.
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
Congratulations to Head Coach David Roditi and everyone in our men's tennis program on the 2022 ITA Indoor National Championship! The run to the title in Seattle was as impressive as you will see in any sport. Over four consecutive days, we defeated No. 12 Virginia, No. 13 Texas, No. 1 Ohio State and No. 3 Tennessee to bring the ITA trophy home to Fort Worth.
The win over the Buckeyes was our second victory over a No. 1 team this spring. We also defeated then top-ranked Florida at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.
Please mark Monday, March 14, on your calendar as we are planning a celebration of the Horned Frogs becoming national champions. Stay tuned for more information. If you would like to invest in our men's tennis program, please click HERE.
OUR NEWEST BIG 12 CHAMPION
Our swimming and diving program continues to make phenomenal improvements each year. Last weekend, David Ekdahl became our first diver to be a Big 12 Conference Champion when he won on 1-meter. He was also a silver medalist on 3-meter. Overall, our men finished second and the women were third. For the men, it was their highest finish since 2015. We totaled 12 medals and 13 school records over the four-day competition in Morgantown, West Virginia.
TOPPING THE CHARTS
We had an impressive basketball milestone set this week as Lauren Heard moved past Zahna Medley to sit atop our women's basketball program's all-time scoring chart.
Zahna totaled 1,975 points during her phenomenal career (2012-16) that saw her become our first three-time First-Team All-Big 12 Conference recipient in the sport. Lauren has also left her mark at TCU. She has been a multiple First-Team All-Big 12 selection. With the extra season of eligibility provided student-athletes due to COVID-19, Lauren returned this year and reached 1,978 points after Wednesday's game at Texas Tech. She is now No. 1 for all of TCU basketball when combining the men's and women's programs!
What Lauren has accomplished is absolutely amazing. She has represented our athletics program and TCU as a whole in a first-class manner throughout her time on campus. I hope you will make a point to see Lauren and her teammates in their Celebration of Graduates game tomorrow at 1 p.m. against Kansas State.
FOOTBALL IS NEARING
Spring practice is just about here for our football program! We will begin on March 22 and Head Coach Sonny Dykes has invited everyone to watch practice. Make sure to set your alarm as it will begin at 6:40 a.m. Friday Night Lights at The Carter, our Spring Game event, will be April 22 at 7 p.m. in Amon G. Carter Stadium. We look forward to seeing you there! If you cannot make it or are out of town, it will be televised on ESPN+.
IMPORTANT REMINDER
As a reminder, our football season ticket renewal deadline is April 1. If you have any questions or we can be of assistance in this process, please contact the Parrish Family Athletics Ticket Office at tickets@tcu.edu or 817.257.FROG (3764).
SPRING SUCCESSES
Our winter and spring sports are in the midst of outstanding campaigns. While men's tennis is ranked No. 1 in the nation and won the ITA Indoor National Championship, we also have four other sports in the top 10 of their respective polls.
Rifle is ranked third, equestrian fourth, beach volleyball fifth and baseball eighth. Rifle begins competition at the NCAA Championships in Colorado Springs next Friday, March 11. Equestrian beat No. 1 Oklahoma State, 16-4, and its current six-meet winning streak is the longest in program history. All six wins have been over top-10 opponents. Beach volleyball, 4-0 and off to its best start ever, hosts the Horned Frog Challenge this weekend. Baseball has opened the Kirk Saarloos era with a 7-1 record and is at Kentucky this weekend.
Men's and women's indoor track and field will send Du Mapaya (triple jump), Robert Gregory Jr. (200 meters) and Grace Anigbata (triple jump) to next weekend's NCAA Championships in Birmingham.
FROG CLUB NOTES
Our Frog Club office has a full spring of activities planned. We look forward to seeing you at the following events:
March 7 – Jamie Dixon Radio Show at Railhead Smokehouse
March 16 – Diamond Club Luncheon
March 16 – Kirk Saarloos Radio Show at Railhead Smokehouse
March 25 – Frog Club Friday
April 22 – Friday Night Lights in The Carter
April 25 – TCU Coaches Golf Classic Tournament at Texas Star Golf Course
May-July – Coaches Tour hosted by the Frog Club
All events and details can be found HERE. For more information, please email the Frog Club offices at frogclub@tcu.edu or call 817.257.7700.
For the 25th time, the Frog Club and Block T Association are teaming up for the TCU Coaches Golf Classic, presented by Sodexo. Enjoy the day with TCU coaches and compete for great prizes. The tournament benefits scholarships for our student-athletes. Player packages and sponsorships are available. Click HERE to sign up today or contact the Frog Club office.
The men's basketball home win over Kansas was also our Frog Club Appreciation Day. We want to thank everyone for attending and our Frog Club members who represented the organization that day. The Student Frog Club also welcomed new members with the help of our Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. We celebrated the start of our membership drive for the new year and released our new branded campaign for when donors #InvestintheFort.
If you are a Courtside Club or a Men's/Women's Basketball Fast Break Club member and have bought tickets to watch our teams at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championships in Kansas City, please let the Frog Club know HERE. They will then contact you with information on events happening while we are there.
#PROFROGS
Thanks to Travin Howard and Joe Noteboom, we now have 22 Horned Frogs who have been a Super Bowl Champion! Travin and Joe joined the ranks when their Los Angeles Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI. In fact, 11 of the last 16 Super Bowl winning teams have included at least one Horned Frog.
Travin and Joe were teammates at TCU for four years and were then both selected by the Rams in the 2018 NFL Draft. They have been starters for the Rams and key contributors. We will never forget Travin's interception to seal the NFC Championship Game victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
At our first outdoor men's tennis match this week, it was great to welcome back Cam Norrie and Facundo Lugones to campus. Cam is currently No. 12 in the ATP World Rankings with Facundo serving as his coach. They overlapped one year at TCU. Both took part in the honorary first serve at our home opener with Facundo serving to Cam. In case you have not noticed, Facundo's trademark is to wear a TCU hat when Cam is playing. Facundo receives a lot of air time in the stands during the matches, and we appreciate the exposure he provides us.
SAVE THE DATE
Our Student-Athlete Development Office always has great programming, and we are excited about our March 29 Women Leaders Networking Night. We will have women leaders in the business community providing input and networking opportunities for our student-athletes. Click HERE for more information and to register for the event.
FIST BUMP
This month's Fist Bump goes to marketing graduate assistant Blake Morris for defining selflessness.
Many of you recognize the voice of Jeff Smith as the longtime public address announcer for our baseball and women's basketball programs. When the most recent ice storm was scheduled to arrive on February 23, we were in the midst of preparations for our home women's basketball game that night against Oklahoma. Just hours before tipoff, Jeff gave Blake a phone call with a heads-up that he had a flat tire and was concerned about making the game in time. He had contacted roadside assistance but was unsure of their timetable in being able to help. Blake immediately dropped what he was doing and headed out to assist Jeff amidst the wintry conditions. Blake helped change the flat tire, put on the spare and made sure Jeff was okay to drive to campus to call the game. This was all Blake's initiative and not just other duties as assigned. Thank you, Blake, for taking care of Jeff and the great job you have done in our department during your time with us. Those who know you will not be surprised to learn of what you did to assist Jeff!
DID YOU KNOW?
We have set a lot of TCU records across all our sports this season, but one of my favorites is the mark for student attendance at home men's basketball games in Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena. We averaged 1,124 students, nearly double the previous record of 645 in our 2017-18 NCAA Tournament season. We also had the top four individual game totals for student attendance this year. Thank you again, TCU Frog Army!
I'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU
Whether it's through email (AthleticsDirector@tcu.edu), Twitter (@JDonati_TCU) or Instagram (JDonati_TCU), please feel free to always reach out if we can be of assistance. Thank you for your continued support of TCU Athletics!
Go Frogs!
Jeremiah Donati, J.D.
Director of Intercollegiate Athletics
As TCU students depart campus for Spring Break, I believe they will join me in saying what a great time it is to be a Horned Frog! From our back-to-back men's basketball wins over No. 9 Texas Tech and No. 6 Kansas to our No. 1-ranked men's tennis program winning the ITA Indoor National Championship and David Ekdahl being our first Big 12 Conference Diving Champion, we have shared some memorable moments over the last couple of weeks.
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For our student-athlete experience, we strive to provide the best home facility advantage possible in all our sports. The great partnership and relationship with our TCU Frog Army student section as well as Barstool TCU made Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena one of the more electrifying basketball venues this season. People across the country noticed. Through Barstool TCU, we were excited to welcome the Barstool Storm Chasers to our Kansas game. They obviously accomplished what they came to see and do that night!
Our victories over Texas Tech and Kansas to close the home schedule gave us wins in consecutive games over top-10 opponents for the first time in our men's basketball history. The four victories over top-25 opponents are also a new program record. Our student-athletes and Head Coach Jamie Dixon consistently commented to media how the atmosphere in Schollmaier Arena played a major part in those successes.
As we close the regular season tomorrow at West Virginia, we look forward to seeing many of you in Kansas City next week for the Phillips 66 Big 12 Men's and Women's Basketball Championships.
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
Congratulations to Head Coach David Roditi and everyone in our men's tennis program on the 2022 ITA Indoor National Championship! The run to the title in Seattle was as impressive as you will see in any sport. Over four consecutive days, we defeated No. 12 Virginia, No. 13 Texas, No. 1 Ohio State and No. 3 Tennessee to bring the ITA trophy home to Fort Worth.
The win over the Buckeyes was our second victory over a No. 1 team this spring. We also defeated then top-ranked Florida at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center.
Please mark Monday, March 14, on your calendar as we are planning a celebration of the Horned Frogs becoming national champions. Stay tuned for more information. If you would like to invest in our men's tennis program, please click HERE.
OUR NEWEST BIG 12 CHAMPION
Our swimming and diving program continues to make phenomenal improvements each year. Last weekend, David Ekdahl became our first diver to be a Big 12 Conference Champion when he won on 1-meter. He was also a silver medalist on 3-meter. Overall, our men finished second and the women were third. For the men, it was their highest finish since 2015. We totaled 12 medals and 13 school records over the four-day competition in Morgantown, West Virginia.
TOPPING THE CHARTS
We had an impressive basketball milestone set this week as Lauren Heard moved past Zahna Medley to sit atop our women's basketball program's all-time scoring chart.
Zahna totaled 1,975 points during her phenomenal career (2012-16) that saw her become our first three-time First-Team All-Big 12 Conference recipient in the sport. Lauren has also left her mark at TCU. She has been a multiple First-Team All-Big 12 selection. With the extra season of eligibility provided student-athletes due to COVID-19, Lauren returned this year and reached 1,978 points after Wednesday's game at Texas Tech. She is now No. 1 for all of TCU basketball when combining the men's and women's programs!
What Lauren has accomplished is absolutely amazing. She has represented our athletics program and TCU as a whole in a first-class manner throughout her time on campus. I hope you will make a point to see Lauren and her teammates in their Celebration of Graduates game tomorrow at 1 p.m. against Kansas State.
FOOTBALL IS NEARING
Spring practice is just about here for our football program! We will begin on March 22 and Head Coach Sonny Dykes has invited everyone to watch practice. Make sure to set your alarm as it will begin at 6:40 a.m. Friday Night Lights at The Carter, our Spring Game event, will be April 22 at 7 p.m. in Amon G. Carter Stadium. We look forward to seeing you there! If you cannot make it or are out of town, it will be televised on ESPN+.
IMPORTANT REMINDER
As a reminder, our football season ticket renewal deadline is April 1. If you have any questions or we can be of assistance in this process, please contact the Parrish Family Athletics Ticket Office at tickets@tcu.edu or 817.257.FROG (3764).
SPRING SUCCESSES
Our winter and spring sports are in the midst of outstanding campaigns. While men's tennis is ranked No. 1 in the nation and won the ITA Indoor National Championship, we also have four other sports in the top 10 of their respective polls.
Rifle is ranked third, equestrian fourth, beach volleyball fifth and baseball eighth. Rifle begins competition at the NCAA Championships in Colorado Springs next Friday, March 11. Equestrian beat No. 1 Oklahoma State, 16-4, and its current six-meet winning streak is the longest in program history. All six wins have been over top-10 opponents. Beach volleyball, 4-0 and off to its best start ever, hosts the Horned Frog Challenge this weekend. Baseball has opened the Kirk Saarloos era with a 7-1 record and is at Kentucky this weekend.
Men's and women's indoor track and field will send Du Mapaya (triple jump), Robert Gregory Jr. (200 meters) and Grace Anigbata (triple jump) to next weekend's NCAA Championships in Birmingham.
FROG CLUB NOTES
Our Frog Club office has a full spring of activities planned. We look forward to seeing you at the following events:
March 7 – Jamie Dixon Radio Show at Railhead Smokehouse
March 16 – Diamond Club Luncheon
March 16 – Kirk Saarloos Radio Show at Railhead Smokehouse
March 25 – Frog Club Friday
April 22 – Friday Night Lights in The Carter
April 25 – TCU Coaches Golf Classic Tournament at Texas Star Golf Course
May-July – Coaches Tour hosted by the Frog Club
All events and details can be found HERE. For more information, please email the Frog Club offices at frogclub@tcu.edu or call 817.257.7700.
For the 25th time, the Frog Club and Block T Association are teaming up for the TCU Coaches Golf Classic, presented by Sodexo. Enjoy the day with TCU coaches and compete for great prizes. The tournament benefits scholarships for our student-athletes. Player packages and sponsorships are available. Click HERE to sign up today or contact the Frog Club office.
The men's basketball home win over Kansas was also our Frog Club Appreciation Day. We want to thank everyone for attending and our Frog Club members who represented the organization that day. The Student Frog Club also welcomed new members with the help of our Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. We celebrated the start of our membership drive for the new year and released our new branded campaign for when donors #InvestintheFort.
If you are a Courtside Club or a Men's/Women's Basketball Fast Break Club member and have bought tickets to watch our teams at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championships in Kansas City, please let the Frog Club know HERE. They will then contact you with information on events happening while we are there.
#PROFROGS
Thanks to Travin Howard and Joe Noteboom, we now have 22 Horned Frogs who have been a Super Bowl Champion! Travin and Joe joined the ranks when their Los Angeles Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI. In fact, 11 of the last 16 Super Bowl winning teams have included at least one Horned Frog.
Travin and Joe were teammates at TCU for four years and were then both selected by the Rams in the 2018 NFL Draft. They have been starters for the Rams and key contributors. We will never forget Travin's interception to seal the NFC Championship Game victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
At our first outdoor men's tennis match this week, it was great to welcome back Cam Norrie and Facundo Lugones to campus. Cam is currently No. 12 in the ATP World Rankings with Facundo serving as his coach. They overlapped one year at TCU. Both took part in the honorary first serve at our home opener with Facundo serving to Cam. In case you have not noticed, Facundo's trademark is to wear a TCU hat when Cam is playing. Facundo receives a lot of air time in the stands during the matches, and we appreciate the exposure he provides us.
SAVE THE DATE
Our Student-Athlete Development Office always has great programming, and we are excited about our March 29 Women Leaders Networking Night. We will have women leaders in the business community providing input and networking opportunities for our student-athletes. Click HERE for more information and to register for the event.
FIST BUMP
This month's Fist Bump goes to marketing graduate assistant Blake Morris for defining selflessness.
Many of you recognize the voice of Jeff Smith as the longtime public address announcer for our baseball and women's basketball programs. When the most recent ice storm was scheduled to arrive on February 23, we were in the midst of preparations for our home women's basketball game that night against Oklahoma. Just hours before tipoff, Jeff gave Blake a phone call with a heads-up that he had a flat tire and was concerned about making the game in time. He had contacted roadside assistance but was unsure of their timetable in being able to help. Blake immediately dropped what he was doing and headed out to assist Jeff amidst the wintry conditions. Blake helped change the flat tire, put on the spare and made sure Jeff was okay to drive to campus to call the game. This was all Blake's initiative and not just other duties as assigned. Thank you, Blake, for taking care of Jeff and the great job you have done in our department during your time with us. Those who know you will not be surprised to learn of what you did to assist Jeff!
DID YOU KNOW?
We have set a lot of TCU records across all our sports this season, but one of my favorites is the mark for student attendance at home men's basketball games in Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena. We averaged 1,124 students, nearly double the previous record of 645 in our 2017-18 NCAA Tournament season. We also had the top four individual game totals for student attendance this year. Thank you again, TCU Frog Army!
I'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU
Whether it's through email (AthleticsDirector@tcu.edu), Twitter (@JDonati_TCU) or Instagram (JDonati_TCU), please feel free to always reach out if we can be of assistance. Thank you for your continued support of TCU Athletics!
Go Frogs!
Jeremiah Donati, J.D.
Director of Intercollegiate Athletics
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