From The Desk of ADJD
11/15/2024 9:00:00 AM | General
TCU Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Jeremiah Donati discusses the hot topics around the Horned Frogs
Dear Horned Frogs:
It is crossover season as fall sports are in the home stretch of their respective campaigns, with some already in postseason play, while our winter sports are now underway. We are finishing 2024 strong!
The TCU Board of Trustees held their fall meetings last week and unanimously approved the new strategic plan, LEAD ON: Values in Action. One of the four strategic pillars is Athletics and we will continue to play a key role in the growth of TCU as we look out over the next 10 years and beyond. With the Intercollegiate Athletics Committee, we reviewed the upcoming House v. NCAA class-action lawsuits settlement and how we will fully participate at the maximum level in the permissible revenue sharing plan with our student-athletes and operationalize the many new aspects of this landmark settlement starting in July 2025. We are all very fortunate to have the university leadership and their unwavering support of athletics – that is a big deal and not commonplace across the country I can assure you.
BOWL BOUND
With our 38-13 win over Oklahoma State and victories in three of our last four contests, our football program is now bowl eligible. It is a great reward for our student-athletes, and you could see their excitement in the locker room last Saturday night after the convincing win. We took some nice momentum into the open week as we prepare for our final two regular-season games, at home next Saturday, November 23, against Arizona and then at Cincinnati on November 30. We will know the game time for Arizona either late tomorrow night or early Sunday morning and look forward to seeing you for Senior Day and Fan Appreciation Day at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
Please click HERE for bowl game ticket information and all our possible destinations. Bowl matchups will become official on Sunday, December 8. By purchasing your bowl tickets directly through TCU, you will increase your standing in our Horned Frogs Priority Points System. Thank you in advance!
BIG 12 CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS
Congratulations to Head Coach Eric Bell, his staff and especially the student-athletes in our women's soccer program on their Big 12 Championship! It is our third regular-season conference title, all in the last five seasons. Coach Bell was fittingly recognized as the Big 12 Coach of the Year for the third time and we led the conference with 10 All-Big 12 selections, including Bella Diorio as Forward of the Year and Oli Pena as Midfielder of the Year.
We are thrilled to again host postseason soccer as we will be home tonight at 7:00 p.m. for an NCAA Tournament First Round game against Stephen F. Austin at Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium. Tickets are available HERE. See you there!
BASKETBALL OFF TO UNDEFEATED STARTS
Men's and women's basketball are both 3-0 with some great games coming up this weekend. The men are at Michigan tonight at 5:00 p.m. on FS1, while our women have a marquee home game on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. when they host No. 13 NC State on ESPN. Head Coach Mark Campbell's squad is just outside the Associated Press Top 25 at No. 27 based on votes received.
The men are being led offensively by Vasean Allette at 13.0 points per game in just under 23 minutes a contest. The new backcourt duo of Frankie Collins and Noah Reynolds are both averaging at least 11 points and have a combined 30 assists to just 12 turnovers. Ernest Udeh Jr. is among the Big 12 leaders in rebounding at 9.3 per game while scoring at an 8.0 clip.
Hailey Van Lith is nearly averaging a triple-double at 17.0 points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game for the women. Shooting 64.1 percent from the field, Sedona Prince has a team-best 19.3 scoring mark to go with 8.0 rebounds and 5.7 blocks. Madison Conner continues to shine behind the arc with 14 3-pointers, including nine against New Orleans, while averaging 16.7 points.
For the first time in program history, we are sold out of women's basketball reserved seats. However, we still have general admission season tickets available. Just call the Parrish Family Athletics Ticket Office at 817.257.3764 for men's or women's season ticket information. Women's single-game tickets are on sale for all remaining contests this season. Men's single-game tickets are currently available for nonconference only. Big 12 Conference games can be purchased beginning December 9.
When we play NC State on Sunday, it will mark the first of two opponents for us in women's basketball who were in last year's Final Four. We also will face defending national champion and No. 1 South Carolina on Sunday, December 8, at 6:00 p.m. at Dickies Arena. Our men will also play at Dickies that day with an 11:30 a.m. tip against Vanderbilt.
SPORTS REPORT
In addition to football, women's soccer and our basketball teams, it has been great to see the success across the board in our athletics program.
Volleyball is ranked 18th. Our final two regular-season home matches are Wednesday, November 20, and next Friday, November 22, against Houston and Texas Tech, respectively. Under Head Coach Jason Williams, we are in position to make the NCAA Tournament in three consecutive seasons for the first time in program history.
Defending national champion rifle is ranked third and had an impressive win over No. 1 Alaska on Sunday. In a recent victory at UTEP, Katie Zaun recorded a perfect score of 600 in air rifle. In just its second season of competition, triathlon finished fourth at nationals last weekend in Clermont, Florida. We were led by Kira Gupta-Baltazar and Amanda Moro who finished 11th and 14th, respectively. Both our men's and women's tennis programs will be represented at the NCAA Individual Championships hosted by Baylor. The men's doubles team of Pedro Vives and Lui Maxted will be joined by Duncan Chan in singles, while the women will have our 12th-ranked duo of Jade Otway and Isabel Pascual in Waco.
Men's cross country was sixth at the Big 12 Conference Cross Country Championships for its best finish since joining the league. Equestrian closed its fall season with a No. 3 national ranking and a 3-0 record against Big 12 opponents. Women's swimming and diving had home wins over Arkansas and SMU, while the men also defeated the Mustangs. Women's golf concluded the fall with a pair of tournament victories and a No. 23 ranking with the men wrapping its fall slate with a tie for sixth at a 21-team tournament in Hawaii, carding a 32-under 820 for the fifth-lowest score versus par in program history.
BASEBALL SCHEDULE SET
With the Purple/White World Series completed, we have announced our 2025 baseball schedule. It includes 29 home games with the Lupton Stadium opener on February 25 versus Tarleton. For all of you in Southern California, the season opens February 14 with a four-game series at San Diego.
Season ticket renewals will begin in early December with a January 10 deadline.
PRIORITY POINTS UPDATE FOR NIL CONTRIBUTIONS
As a reminder, donors to the Flying T Club NIL collective now earn Horned Frogs Priority Points. As of May 2, 2024, the priority points are awarded at the same factor as Frog Club unrestricted giving (3 points per $100). These points are utilized for benefits that include seating experiences and preferred ticketing status for postseason games.
This initiative strengthens our partnership with the Flying T Club while also positioning us well for increasing NIL opportunities for our student-athletes in the future. We are very grateful to our donors for their phenomenal support and proud to appropriately reward them for the impact they make on our student-athletes, ensuring we continue to recruit and retain top talent.
Additional options to support TCU student-athletes through NIL include the purchasing of their jerseys with proceeds of the sales going back to them as well as the TCU Horned Frog NIL Marketplace.
For more information, please contact the Frog Club at frogclub@tcu.edu or the Flying T Club at info@flyingtclub.com as well as visiting FrogClub.com and FlyingTClub.com. As the Holiday season approaches and you consider making tax-deductible end-of-year gifts, I hope you will consider supporting our student-athletes!
NEW ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP
We recently received a $1.5 million gift from an anonymous donor to endow a women's basketball scholarship in honor of Amy and Jill Sutton. The twins excelled for us on the court with both earning All-WAC honors as teammates from 1997-2001. They played a major role in helping us reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history in 2001 which included a first-round upset of Penn State.
PODCASTS
It was an honor recently to join Chancellor Victor Boschini as a guest on his TCU Innovates podcast. If you have not already, please take a listen. He's a natural!
Also, speaking of podcasts, our next episode of "Inside TCU Athletics with Jeremiah Donati" will be recorded Monday. It will then be available on Apple, Spotify and Amazon as well as the TCU Athletics YouTube page and GoFrogs.com. These are fun for me to do with Brian Estridge and another way to help keep you informed on what we are working on in the department. The feedback has been great and much appreciated.
DID YOU KNOW?
Making last Saturday in Amon G. Carter Stadium even more special was having Bob Lilly serve as our Honorary Captain. If there was a Mount Rushmore for TCU Football, Bob Lilly would be on it. As a member of the College Football and Pro Football Halls of Fame, he is such an integral part of the sport on both levels.
Did you know Bob was the first-ever draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys franchise in 1961? He then became the first player to spend his entire career with the Cowboys and be selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He is a remarkable man, and we were truly honored to have him back home.
LET'S GET SOCIAL
To keep up with the latest news around our department, please feel free to follow me on X or Instagram. Thank you for all your support of TCU Athletics!
Go Frogs!
Jeremiah Donati, J.D.
Director of Intercollegiate Athletics
It is crossover season as fall sports are in the home stretch of their respective campaigns, with some already in postseason play, while our winter sports are now underway. We are finishing 2024 strong!
The TCU Board of Trustees held their fall meetings last week and unanimously approved the new strategic plan, LEAD ON: Values in Action. One of the four strategic pillars is Athletics and we will continue to play a key role in the growth of TCU as we look out over the next 10 years and beyond. With the Intercollegiate Athletics Committee, we reviewed the upcoming House v. NCAA class-action lawsuits settlement and how we will fully participate at the maximum level in the permissible revenue sharing plan with our student-athletes and operationalize the many new aspects of this landmark settlement starting in July 2025. We are all very fortunate to have the university leadership and their unwavering support of athletics – that is a big deal and not commonplace across the country I can assure you.
BOWL BOUND
With our 38-13 win over Oklahoma State and victories in three of our last four contests, our football program is now bowl eligible. It is a great reward for our student-athletes, and you could see their excitement in the locker room last Saturday night after the convincing win. We took some nice momentum into the open week as we prepare for our final two regular-season games, at home next Saturday, November 23, against Arizona and then at Cincinnati on November 30. We will know the game time for Arizona either late tomorrow night or early Sunday morning and look forward to seeing you for Senior Day and Fan Appreciation Day at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
Please click HERE for bowl game ticket information and all our possible destinations. Bowl matchups will become official on Sunday, December 8. By purchasing your bowl tickets directly through TCU, you will increase your standing in our Horned Frogs Priority Points System. Thank you in advance!
BIG 12 CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS
Congratulations to Head Coach Eric Bell, his staff and especially the student-athletes in our women's soccer program on their Big 12 Championship! It is our third regular-season conference title, all in the last five seasons. Coach Bell was fittingly recognized as the Big 12 Coach of the Year for the third time and we led the conference with 10 All-Big 12 selections, including Bella Diorio as Forward of the Year and Oli Pena as Midfielder of the Year.
We are thrilled to again host postseason soccer as we will be home tonight at 7:00 p.m. for an NCAA Tournament First Round game against Stephen F. Austin at Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium. Tickets are available HERE. See you there!
BASKETBALL OFF TO UNDEFEATED STARTS
Men's and women's basketball are both 3-0 with some great games coming up this weekend. The men are at Michigan tonight at 5:00 p.m. on FS1, while our women have a marquee home game on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. when they host No. 13 NC State on ESPN. Head Coach Mark Campbell's squad is just outside the Associated Press Top 25 at No. 27 based on votes received.
The men are being led offensively by Vasean Allette at 13.0 points per game in just under 23 minutes a contest. The new backcourt duo of Frankie Collins and Noah Reynolds are both averaging at least 11 points and have a combined 30 assists to just 12 turnovers. Ernest Udeh Jr. is among the Big 12 leaders in rebounding at 9.3 per game while scoring at an 8.0 clip.
Hailey Van Lith is nearly averaging a triple-double at 17.0 points, 7.7 rebounds and 7.3 assists per game for the women. Shooting 64.1 percent from the field, Sedona Prince has a team-best 19.3 scoring mark to go with 8.0 rebounds and 5.7 blocks. Madison Conner continues to shine behind the arc with 14 3-pointers, including nine against New Orleans, while averaging 16.7 points.
For the first time in program history, we are sold out of women's basketball reserved seats. However, we still have general admission season tickets available. Just call the Parrish Family Athletics Ticket Office at 817.257.3764 for men's or women's season ticket information. Women's single-game tickets are on sale for all remaining contests this season. Men's single-game tickets are currently available for nonconference only. Big 12 Conference games can be purchased beginning December 9.
When we play NC State on Sunday, it will mark the first of two opponents for us in women's basketball who were in last year's Final Four. We also will face defending national champion and No. 1 South Carolina on Sunday, December 8, at 6:00 p.m. at Dickies Arena. Our men will also play at Dickies that day with an 11:30 a.m. tip against Vanderbilt.
SPORTS REPORT
In addition to football, women's soccer and our basketball teams, it has been great to see the success across the board in our athletics program.
Volleyball is ranked 18th. Our final two regular-season home matches are Wednesday, November 20, and next Friday, November 22, against Houston and Texas Tech, respectively. Under Head Coach Jason Williams, we are in position to make the NCAA Tournament in three consecutive seasons for the first time in program history.
Defending national champion rifle is ranked third and had an impressive win over No. 1 Alaska on Sunday. In a recent victory at UTEP, Katie Zaun recorded a perfect score of 600 in air rifle. In just its second season of competition, triathlon finished fourth at nationals last weekend in Clermont, Florida. We were led by Kira Gupta-Baltazar and Amanda Moro who finished 11th and 14th, respectively. Both our men's and women's tennis programs will be represented at the NCAA Individual Championships hosted by Baylor. The men's doubles team of Pedro Vives and Lui Maxted will be joined by Duncan Chan in singles, while the women will have our 12th-ranked duo of Jade Otway and Isabel Pascual in Waco.
Men's cross country was sixth at the Big 12 Conference Cross Country Championships for its best finish since joining the league. Equestrian closed its fall season with a No. 3 national ranking and a 3-0 record against Big 12 opponents. Women's swimming and diving had home wins over Arkansas and SMU, while the men also defeated the Mustangs. Women's golf concluded the fall with a pair of tournament victories and a No. 23 ranking with the men wrapping its fall slate with a tie for sixth at a 21-team tournament in Hawaii, carding a 32-under 820 for the fifth-lowest score versus par in program history.
BASEBALL SCHEDULE SET
With the Purple/White World Series completed, we have announced our 2025 baseball schedule. It includes 29 home games with the Lupton Stadium opener on February 25 versus Tarleton. For all of you in Southern California, the season opens February 14 with a four-game series at San Diego.
Season ticket renewals will begin in early December with a January 10 deadline.
PRIORITY POINTS UPDATE FOR NIL CONTRIBUTIONS
As a reminder, donors to the Flying T Club NIL collective now earn Horned Frogs Priority Points. As of May 2, 2024, the priority points are awarded at the same factor as Frog Club unrestricted giving (3 points per $100). These points are utilized for benefits that include seating experiences and preferred ticketing status for postseason games.
This initiative strengthens our partnership with the Flying T Club while also positioning us well for increasing NIL opportunities for our student-athletes in the future. We are very grateful to our donors for their phenomenal support and proud to appropriately reward them for the impact they make on our student-athletes, ensuring we continue to recruit and retain top talent.
Additional options to support TCU student-athletes through NIL include the purchasing of their jerseys with proceeds of the sales going back to them as well as the TCU Horned Frog NIL Marketplace.
For more information, please contact the Frog Club at frogclub@tcu.edu or the Flying T Club at info@flyingtclub.com as well as visiting FrogClub.com and FlyingTClub.com. As the Holiday season approaches and you consider making tax-deductible end-of-year gifts, I hope you will consider supporting our student-athletes!
NEW ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP
We recently received a $1.5 million gift from an anonymous donor to endow a women's basketball scholarship in honor of Amy and Jill Sutton. The twins excelled for us on the court with both earning All-WAC honors as teammates from 1997-2001. They played a major role in helping us reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history in 2001 which included a first-round upset of Penn State.
PODCASTS
It was an honor recently to join Chancellor Victor Boschini as a guest on his TCU Innovates podcast. If you have not already, please take a listen. He's a natural!
Also, speaking of podcasts, our next episode of "Inside TCU Athletics with Jeremiah Donati" will be recorded Monday. It will then be available on Apple, Spotify and Amazon as well as the TCU Athletics YouTube page and GoFrogs.com. These are fun for me to do with Brian Estridge and another way to help keep you informed on what we are working on in the department. The feedback has been great and much appreciated.
DID YOU KNOW?
Making last Saturday in Amon G. Carter Stadium even more special was having Bob Lilly serve as our Honorary Captain. If there was a Mount Rushmore for TCU Football, Bob Lilly would be on it. As a member of the College Football and Pro Football Halls of Fame, he is such an integral part of the sport on both levels.
Did you know Bob was the first-ever draft pick of the Dallas Cowboys franchise in 1961? He then became the first player to spend his entire career with the Cowboys and be selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He is a remarkable man, and we were truly honored to have him back home.
LET'S GET SOCIAL
To keep up with the latest news around our department, please feel free to follow me on X or Instagram. Thank you for all your support of TCU Athletics!
Go Frogs!
Jeremiah Donati, J.D.
Director of Intercollegiate Athletics
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