From The Desk of #ADJD
6/28/2024 3:12:00 PM | General
TCU Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Jeremiah Donati discusses the hot topics around the Horned Frogs
Dear Horned Frogs:
I hope everyone has been enjoying their summer thus far! This edition comes to you from WinStar World Casino & Resort where I am at our TCU Athletics Executive Team Leadership Summit. A phenomenal corporate partner of ours, WinStar is only 80 miles from TCU and straight up I-35 in Thackerville, Oklahoma, just across the state border. With its Convention Center, WinStar is a terrific meeting venue and host of our annual summit.
Desmond Lomax, Director of Inclusion at the Arbinger Institute, joined us at the summit. Arbinger is a global leadership development firm. My team and I have benefited greatly from Desmond and Arbinger through the years. The focus of Thursday's professional development session was on having an outward mindset in serving you, our student-athletes, coaches, staff and the many constituents we encounter on a daily basis. We have all become better leaders through the training and discussion by Des and are very grateful to him and Arbinger for our relationship.
HOUSE V. NCAA UPDATE
As you are likely aware, the dominant topic in intercollegiate athletics, and especially at the recent National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Convention in Las Vegas, has been the settlement of the House v. NCAA class-action lawsuit which has major implications for all of Division I and especially power-conference institutions like TCU. When everything is finalized over the course of the next year, it will become one of the most significant antitrust class-action settlements in history.
The pending settlement involves the payment of back damages to former student-athletes who did not have Name, Image and Likeness opportunities during their time in school, a new revenue sharing plan with current and future student-athletes, the removal of scholarship limitations and implementation of roster caps. All this will combine to provide a new collegiate athletics model and industry reset that comes with a significant permissive expense projected to be over $20 million annually.
The timing of the settlement coincides with TCU's announcement of athletics being one of the four priority pillars in its next strategic plan. At TCU, athletics serves as the front porch of our university and we are committed to maintaining TCU's position as a member of the top echelon of athletics - competitive at the highest level. Our athletics programs add value to TCU's reputation as a leading university, enhances student recruitment efforts and helps define TCU's unrivaled student experience.
We are very excited to announce that we will fully participate at the maximum level in this permissible revenue sharing plan with our student-athletes. Along with this, we will be prepared for the challenges and opportunities it will bring. Many questions, however, do remain and we will need time to work out many details. For example, how and when we distribute that revenue remains unclear at the moment.
Along with the advent of Title IX in 1972, this settlement is the most important development in collegiate athletics history. Just like in any business or walk of life, change can bring new opportunities. Maximizing as many of those as possible for our student-athletes is vital. Over the next year, we will have a lot more answers on a wide variety of topics which include the level of congressional assistance.
In the meantime, continuing to support the Flying T Club, which you have done so well since the advent of NIL, remains absolutely critical to attract and retain the elite student-athletes needed to bring you and TCU the athletics success and championships you have come to rightfully expect from us. Even with this new industry model, the Flying T Club and collectives across the country are not going away. They will just look different - but they will still be a major part of collegiate athletics. We very much appreciate the investment and commitment you have shown to TCU and our student-athletes and hope it will continue as we enter our new era.
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
Congratulations to Head Coach David Roditi, his staff, the student-athletes and everyone in our men's tennis program on their NCAA Championship! This group defined grit and resiliency. We defeated No. 1 Ohio State 4-2 in the semifinals before rallying for a 4-3 win over Texas to become national champions. When combining our back-to-back ITA Indoor National Championships in 2022 and 2023, we how have three national titles in the last three seasons.
In recognition of their outstanding leadership this season, Coach Roditi was named the Wilson ITA Coach of the Year with Devin Bowen the Wilson ITA Assistant Coach of the Year. It is the second time for Coach Roditi to receive the honor. Additionally, All-American Jake Fearnley was recognized as the ITA Most Improved Senior.
Coach Roditi has been phenomenal in establishing TCU as a national brand in collegiate tennis. As we finished No. 1 in the final ITA poll, we are the only program in the country to have a top 10 ranking in each of the last 10 years.
SPORTS REPORT
In addition to men's tennis, several other spring sports concluded their seasons with strong finishes and accolades.
Track and field had nine entries at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon. Iyana Gray, who won the Big 12 Conference Championship in the indoor 200 meters, closed her phenomenal year by earning Second-Team All-America honors in three events: 100 meters, 200 meters and the 4x100 relay. Fresh off becoming our first-ever Big 12 Conference champion in the women's pole vault, Irene Jepkemboi finished fourth at the NCAAs to earn First-Team All-America recognition. It was also the best finish in the event in our program history. Additionally, Gracie Morris was a Second-Team All-American in the 1500 meters after placing 16th overall.
Men's golfer Gustav Frimodt, after winning a share of the Big 12 Conference Championship, closed his outstanding postseason performance by tying for 20th at the NCAA Regional in Austin. Along the way, Gustav collected an impressive run of accolades that included being a PING All-American and All-Big 12. His stroke average of 70.32 ranked second for a season in TCU history.
Congratulations as well to baseball's Ben Abeldt and Payton Tolle on being named All-Americans for their outstanding work on the mound this spring. Men's tennis produced four All-Americans with Jake Fearnley and Jack Pinnington in singles and Sebastian Gorzny and Pedro Vives in doubles.
HORNED FROGS 24/7
We are always most appreciative of your investment in our student-athletes. The pride you have in your commitment to their success and TCU experience was perfectly displayed during the past week with the Frog Club's Horned Frogs 24/7 donor initiative. Over just seven days, we raised $271,309 in discretionary support of our 22 intercollegiate sports and spirit programs.
With you being part of the team behind the team, donations will be earmarked for areas such as training technologies, program enhancements, high-level recruiting and game-day atmosphere upgrades. Thank you for your support!
FOOTBALL SCHEDULE UPDATES
Our first three home football games this season will be under the lights in Amon G. Carter Stadium. The home schedule begins September 7 against LIU at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN+ with the Big 12 Conference opener the following Saturday, September 14, versus UCF at 6:30 p.m. on FOX. We will then host Houston on Friday, October 4, on ESPN at 6:30 p.m.
We look forward to seeing many of you in Palo Alto, California, for our Friday night, August 30, season opener at Stanford. It has been the most popular road game for advance ticket requests by our fans. The game will also be televised on ESPN at 9:30 p.m. CT.
#CARTERBOYS25
Football begins fall camp in just over four weeks with the unofficial start to the season being on July 9 with Big 12 Media Day at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. If you keep up with recruiting, you might have noticed Head Coach Sonny Dykes and his staff have been on quite a roll. Our 2025 class is currently ranked No. 1 in the Big 12 Conference and 13th nationally. It is the highest ranking since tracking began by 247Sports.com.
TICKET OFFICE NOTES
Our family of season-ticket holders, Investors Society, Frog Club members and TCU parents were able to take advantage of last week's special advance sale of single-game tickets for the upcoming football season. Beginning Monday, the general public was provided the same opportunity with the exception of the October 26 Homecoming contest versus Texas Tech which will be offered in a ticket package at a later date.
Season tickets for soccer and volleyball are now available.
Our recently announced volleyball schedule features 14 home matches, including UCLA on Friday, September 13, as part of the Fight in the Fort Tournament. The Big 12 Conference opener is September 25 against Arizona State.
Women's soccer begins our 2024-25 athletics season on Thursday, August 15, when it hosts Alabama at 7:00 p.m., part of eight home matches on its 2024 slate.
BLACK STUDENT-ATHLETE SUMMIT
I was very proud to see Samiyah Abdur-Rahim (volleyball), Jonathan Bax (football), Lafayette Kaiuway (football), Isaiah Manning (men's basketball) and DaiJa Turner (women's basketball) represent us recently at the Black Student-Athlete Summit in Los Angeles. This annual event provides a great professional development and networking opportunity with the goal to empower Black Student-Athletes to maximize their college experience academically and ensure they are competitive in the global workforce upon graduation.
OLYMPIC FROGS
We are going to be well represented at this summer's Olympics with nine current and former student-athletes headed to Paris. It is the most we have ever had at an Olympic Games.
Our most recent additions come from swimming and diving with Rhanishka Gibbs earning a spot in the 50 meter freestyle for the Bahamas women's team, while Jadon Wuilliez will compete in the 100 breaststroke for Antigua.
Twelve-time All-American Stephanie Grundsoee from our NCAA Championship rifle program will shoot for her home country of Denmark. While her time as a student-athlete has been completed, Stephanie will be remaining at TCU as a graduate assistant with the Frog Club. Katie Zaun, also from rifle, is an alternate for the United States.
Hailey Van Lith from our women's basketball program is a member of the U.S. 3x3 team. Hailey is the only active collegian who was selected to a USA Basketball men's or women's team in 5-on-5 or 3x3 competition. We also have a pair of former players in Amy Okonkwo and Tomi Taiwo taking the court for Nigeria. It will be Amy's second Olympic appearance as she also competed for Nigeria at the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
Beach volleyball standouts Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno have qualified for Team Spain, while former men's tennis All-American Cam Norrie will represent Team Great Britain. Cam is ranked in the top 50 in the world and had that memorable 2022 semifinal run at Wimbledon.
Best wishes to everyone! We are very proud to have you competing for your home countries as well as TCU.
HORNED FROGS AT WIMBLEDON
Our men's tennis program will be prominent at Wimbledon as Cam Norrie and Jake Fearnley will compete in singles, while Jake and Jack Pinnington again form a doubles pair. Additionally, Reese Stalder is on the alternates list in doubles.
TCU is one of just four collegiate programs nationally with multiple players competing in the men's singles main draw.
WELCOME HOME, COACH MO
It is great to have Bill Mosiello back at TCU as our Associate Head Baseball Coach. Prior to serving the last two years as head coach at Ohio State, Bill was previously on staff with the Horned Frogs for nine seasons (2013-22) which included four consecutive trips to the College World Series.
DID YOU KNOW?
With our NCAA Championships in rifle and men's tennis, we were one of just five schools in the country this year with multiple national team titles. Arkansas (women's indoor and outdoor track and field), Stanford (women's golf, men's gymnastics), Texas (women's rowing, women's volleyball) and UCLA (men's volleyball, women's water polo) join us in this select group.
I'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!
Whether it is through email, X or Instagram, please feel free to always reach out if we can be of assistance. Thank you for all your support of TCU Athletics!
Go Frogs!
Jeremiah Donati, J.D.
Director of Intercollegiate Athletics
I hope everyone has been enjoying their summer thus far! This edition comes to you from WinStar World Casino & Resort where I am at our TCU Athletics Executive Team Leadership Summit. A phenomenal corporate partner of ours, WinStar is only 80 miles from TCU and straight up I-35 in Thackerville, Oklahoma, just across the state border. With its Convention Center, WinStar is a terrific meeting venue and host of our annual summit.
Desmond Lomax, Director of Inclusion at the Arbinger Institute, joined us at the summit. Arbinger is a global leadership development firm. My team and I have benefited greatly from Desmond and Arbinger through the years. The focus of Thursday's professional development session was on having an outward mindset in serving you, our student-athletes, coaches, staff and the many constituents we encounter on a daily basis. We have all become better leaders through the training and discussion by Des and are very grateful to him and Arbinger for our relationship.
HOUSE V. NCAA UPDATE
As you are likely aware, the dominant topic in intercollegiate athletics, and especially at the recent National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Convention in Las Vegas, has been the settlement of the House v. NCAA class-action lawsuit which has major implications for all of Division I and especially power-conference institutions like TCU. When everything is finalized over the course of the next year, it will become one of the most significant antitrust class-action settlements in history.
The pending settlement involves the payment of back damages to former student-athletes who did not have Name, Image and Likeness opportunities during their time in school, a new revenue sharing plan with current and future student-athletes, the removal of scholarship limitations and implementation of roster caps. All this will combine to provide a new collegiate athletics model and industry reset that comes with a significant permissive expense projected to be over $20 million annually.
The timing of the settlement coincides with TCU's announcement of athletics being one of the four priority pillars in its next strategic plan. At TCU, athletics serves as the front porch of our university and we are committed to maintaining TCU's position as a member of the top echelon of athletics - competitive at the highest level. Our athletics programs add value to TCU's reputation as a leading university, enhances student recruitment efforts and helps define TCU's unrivaled student experience.
We are very excited to announce that we will fully participate at the maximum level in this permissible revenue sharing plan with our student-athletes. Along with this, we will be prepared for the challenges and opportunities it will bring. Many questions, however, do remain and we will need time to work out many details. For example, how and when we distribute that revenue remains unclear at the moment.
Along with the advent of Title IX in 1972, this settlement is the most important development in collegiate athletics history. Just like in any business or walk of life, change can bring new opportunities. Maximizing as many of those as possible for our student-athletes is vital. Over the next year, we will have a lot more answers on a wide variety of topics which include the level of congressional assistance.
In the meantime, continuing to support the Flying T Club, which you have done so well since the advent of NIL, remains absolutely critical to attract and retain the elite student-athletes needed to bring you and TCU the athletics success and championships you have come to rightfully expect from us. Even with this new industry model, the Flying T Club and collectives across the country are not going away. They will just look different - but they will still be a major part of collegiate athletics. We very much appreciate the investment and commitment you have shown to TCU and our student-athletes and hope it will continue as we enter our new era.
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS
Congratulations to Head Coach David Roditi, his staff, the student-athletes and everyone in our men's tennis program on their NCAA Championship! This group defined grit and resiliency. We defeated No. 1 Ohio State 4-2 in the semifinals before rallying for a 4-3 win over Texas to become national champions. When combining our back-to-back ITA Indoor National Championships in 2022 and 2023, we how have three national titles in the last three seasons.
In recognition of their outstanding leadership this season, Coach Roditi was named the Wilson ITA Coach of the Year with Devin Bowen the Wilson ITA Assistant Coach of the Year. It is the second time for Coach Roditi to receive the honor. Additionally, All-American Jake Fearnley was recognized as the ITA Most Improved Senior.
Coach Roditi has been phenomenal in establishing TCU as a national brand in collegiate tennis. As we finished No. 1 in the final ITA poll, we are the only program in the country to have a top 10 ranking in each of the last 10 years.
SPORTS REPORT
In addition to men's tennis, several other spring sports concluded their seasons with strong finishes and accolades.
Track and field had nine entries at the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon. Iyana Gray, who won the Big 12 Conference Championship in the indoor 200 meters, closed her phenomenal year by earning Second-Team All-America honors in three events: 100 meters, 200 meters and the 4x100 relay. Fresh off becoming our first-ever Big 12 Conference champion in the women's pole vault, Irene Jepkemboi finished fourth at the NCAAs to earn First-Team All-America recognition. It was also the best finish in the event in our program history. Additionally, Gracie Morris was a Second-Team All-American in the 1500 meters after placing 16th overall.
Men's golfer Gustav Frimodt, after winning a share of the Big 12 Conference Championship, closed his outstanding postseason performance by tying for 20th at the NCAA Regional in Austin. Along the way, Gustav collected an impressive run of accolades that included being a PING All-American and All-Big 12. His stroke average of 70.32 ranked second for a season in TCU history.
Congratulations as well to baseball's Ben Abeldt and Payton Tolle on being named All-Americans for their outstanding work on the mound this spring. Men's tennis produced four All-Americans with Jake Fearnley and Jack Pinnington in singles and Sebastian Gorzny and Pedro Vives in doubles.
HORNED FROGS 24/7
We are always most appreciative of your investment in our student-athletes. The pride you have in your commitment to their success and TCU experience was perfectly displayed during the past week with the Frog Club's Horned Frogs 24/7 donor initiative. Over just seven days, we raised $271,309 in discretionary support of our 22 intercollegiate sports and spirit programs.
With you being part of the team behind the team, donations will be earmarked for areas such as training technologies, program enhancements, high-level recruiting and game-day atmosphere upgrades. Thank you for your support!
FOOTBALL SCHEDULE UPDATES
Our first three home football games this season will be under the lights in Amon G. Carter Stadium. The home schedule begins September 7 against LIU at 7:00 p.m. on ESPN+ with the Big 12 Conference opener the following Saturday, September 14, versus UCF at 6:30 p.m. on FOX. We will then host Houston on Friday, October 4, on ESPN at 6:30 p.m.
We look forward to seeing many of you in Palo Alto, California, for our Friday night, August 30, season opener at Stanford. It has been the most popular road game for advance ticket requests by our fans. The game will also be televised on ESPN at 9:30 p.m. CT.
#CARTERBOYS25
Football begins fall camp in just over four weeks with the unofficial start to the season being on July 9 with Big 12 Media Day at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. If you keep up with recruiting, you might have noticed Head Coach Sonny Dykes and his staff have been on quite a roll. Our 2025 class is currently ranked No. 1 in the Big 12 Conference and 13th nationally. It is the highest ranking since tracking began by 247Sports.com.
TICKET OFFICE NOTES
Our family of season-ticket holders, Investors Society, Frog Club members and TCU parents were able to take advantage of last week's special advance sale of single-game tickets for the upcoming football season. Beginning Monday, the general public was provided the same opportunity with the exception of the October 26 Homecoming contest versus Texas Tech which will be offered in a ticket package at a later date.
Season tickets for soccer and volleyball are now available.
Our recently announced volleyball schedule features 14 home matches, including UCLA on Friday, September 13, as part of the Fight in the Fort Tournament. The Big 12 Conference opener is September 25 against Arizona State.
Women's soccer begins our 2024-25 athletics season on Thursday, August 15, when it hosts Alabama at 7:00 p.m., part of eight home matches on its 2024 slate.
BLACK STUDENT-ATHLETE SUMMIT
I was very proud to see Samiyah Abdur-Rahim (volleyball), Jonathan Bax (football), Lafayette Kaiuway (football), Isaiah Manning (men's basketball) and DaiJa Turner (women's basketball) represent us recently at the Black Student-Athlete Summit in Los Angeles. This annual event provides a great professional development and networking opportunity with the goal to empower Black Student-Athletes to maximize their college experience academically and ensure they are competitive in the global workforce upon graduation.
OLYMPIC FROGS
We are going to be well represented at this summer's Olympics with nine current and former student-athletes headed to Paris. It is the most we have ever had at an Olympic Games.
Our most recent additions come from swimming and diving with Rhanishka Gibbs earning a spot in the 50 meter freestyle for the Bahamas women's team, while Jadon Wuilliez will compete in the 100 breaststroke for Antigua.
Twelve-time All-American Stephanie Grundsoee from our NCAA Championship rifle program will shoot for her home country of Denmark. While her time as a student-athlete has been completed, Stephanie will be remaining at TCU as a graduate assistant with the Frog Club. Katie Zaun, also from rifle, is an alternate for the United States.
Hailey Van Lith from our women's basketball program is a member of the U.S. 3x3 team. Hailey is the only active collegian who was selected to a USA Basketball men's or women's team in 5-on-5 or 3x3 competition. We also have a pair of former players in Amy Okonkwo and Tomi Taiwo taking the court for Nigeria. It will be Amy's second Olympic appearance as she also competed for Nigeria at the 2020 Games in Tokyo.
Beach volleyball standouts Daniela Alvarez and Tania Moreno have qualified for Team Spain, while former men's tennis All-American Cam Norrie will represent Team Great Britain. Cam is ranked in the top 50 in the world and had that memorable 2022 semifinal run at Wimbledon.
Best wishes to everyone! We are very proud to have you competing for your home countries as well as TCU.
HORNED FROGS AT WIMBLEDON
Our men's tennis program will be prominent at Wimbledon as Cam Norrie and Jake Fearnley will compete in singles, while Jake and Jack Pinnington again form a doubles pair. Additionally, Reese Stalder is on the alternates list in doubles.
TCU is one of just four collegiate programs nationally with multiple players competing in the men's singles main draw.
WELCOME HOME, COACH MO
It is great to have Bill Mosiello back at TCU as our Associate Head Baseball Coach. Prior to serving the last two years as head coach at Ohio State, Bill was previously on staff with the Horned Frogs for nine seasons (2013-22) which included four consecutive trips to the College World Series.
DID YOU KNOW?
With our NCAA Championships in rifle and men's tennis, we were one of just five schools in the country this year with multiple national team titles. Arkansas (women's indoor and outdoor track and field), Stanford (women's golf, men's gymnastics), Texas (women's rowing, women's volleyball) and UCLA (men's volleyball, women's water polo) join us in this select group.
I'D LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!
Whether it is through email, X or Instagram, please feel free to always reach out if we can be of assistance. Thank you for all your support of TCU Athletics!
Go Frogs!
Jeremiah Donati, J.D.
Director of Intercollegiate Athletics
Saturdays are for the #frogs
Wednesday, September 10
ATH | Simpson Family Restoration Center
Friday, August 22
Aer Lingus College Football Classic Press Conference
Monday, April 21
WBB Postgame Press Conference vs. No. 5 Texas
Tuesday, April 01
