The Buddie System - Fall 2025 Update
12/10/2025 6:30:00 PM | General
TCU Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Mike Buddie provides the latest update on all things Horned Frogs
Frog Fans,
It's been an incredibly successful fall semester in so many ways, so let's catch up! I aim to provide these updates quarterly, or more frequently as necessitated in the fast-moving world of collegiate athletics, to get you caught up on what's happened, what's going to happen, and a couple sneak peeks behind the curtain on some long-range projects here at TCU.
As I look back on my first fall in Fort Worth, I am truly thankful for our incredible student-athletes, coaches, and your support as fans. Soccer advancing to the College Cup, volleyball's play into the NCAA tournament's round of 32, triathlon finishing third at their national meet, and so many more individual accomplishments along the way have energized our department on a daily basis.
When we pitch TCU to prospective student-athletes and their families, we promise they are going to have world-class training and development opportunities, they'll get to compete at the highest level, and they will be supported through their journey as Horned Frogs. We have lived that promise, and that's because of the work of so many individuals and your direct support.
On Sunday, we learned our bowl destination, and the early returns are that fans are as excited as we are to be playing in our third Valero Alamo Bowl against the nationally-ranked USC Trojans on ESPN. It's an exciting match up in a drivable destination that lands right in between Christmas and New Year's. I expect to turn the Alamodome and San Antonio purple!
While the Alamo Bowl is a tremendous prize and experience for our student-athletes, their goals, our coach's goals, and our administration's goals are to compete and win a Big 12 conference championship and play in the College Football Playoff. Ultimately, we fell short of those marks this season, but I am confident our play in the bowl game, along with the extra practices we are afforded because of it, will be used as a springboard into a strong 2026 season. Our revenue-sharing model positions our football program to support roster building at one of the highest levels in the Big 12, but the additional above-the-cap resources are now the true differentiators in college football. More on that below.
Coach Dykes and his staff are going to be incredibly aggressive this offseason assembling a roster to push us towards those stated goals, and they are well on their way with 22 signees already in the December class. We will also be very active and engaged when the transfer portal opens on January 2.
Basketball Off to Fast Start
It's been a fast and furious start to the winter sports calendar in Schollmaier Arena as your women's basketball program is currently undefeated and ranked No. 8 nationally. Head coach Mark Campbell has assembled another incredible roster, and they are worth far more than the price of admission. Coach Campbell's squad has already set the record for the most consecutive wins inside Schollmaier Arena – in any sport – and they will continue pushing that mark which now stands at 31 games!
On the men's side, head coach Jamie Dixon's squad rallied to knock off defending national champion Florida as well as Wisconsin on a neutral floor while taking Michigan to the brink here at home.
Speaking of beating national champions, that was something of a trend for the Frogs this fall. Soccer defeated North Carolina, volleyball defeated Penn State, rifle defeated West Virginia, equestrian toppled Georgia, and then men's basketball made it five wins over reigning national champions this semester.
Revenue Sharing and Above-The-Cap Explained
As mentioned previously, above-the-cap dollars are going to become the newest term you will become accustomed to hearing. In layman's terms, we consider these dollars to be true compensation for Name, Image, and Likeness opportunities for student-athletes.
With the House v. NCAA settlement last year, schools are permitted to share revenue with their student-athletes in a direct pay-for-play model. That number, set at $20.5 million this year, is the same for all schools, and TCU is committed to being at the cap moving forward. What is now taking place in the above-the-cap space is where you may be seeing numbers above that $20.5 million being thrown around for roster construction. These are dollars contributed through the business communities supporting programs by working directly with student-athletes for marketing opportunities.
The nuances here are significant, and I won't bore you with any more minutiae than this. But, our LEAP Agency team is aggressively pursuing those opportunities on behalf of our programs to recruit and retain our talented student-athletes. If you would like more information or want to engage, reach out to our staff at NIL@TCU.edu.
One of my passions in collegiate athletics administration is preparing our student-athletes for life after sport. The reality is the highest level of competition most student-athletes reach is the collegiate level, and the next phase of their journey begins once their time competing in college is over. I am excited to have launched our Athletic Director Leadership Program (ADLP) to provide a structured development initiative designed to empower TCU student-athletes to excel not only in their sport, but as leaders on campus, in the community, and in life.
Our nine participants this year were nominated and selected for their leadership potential, commitment to personal growth, and desire to elevate their influence within their teams and the broader community.
Those nine student-athletes are:
- Kaitlyn Bradley, Beach Volleyball
- Hudson Hooper, Football
- Kayla Jones, Women's Track and Field
- Ryan Jordan, Men's Track and Field
- Mamie Grace McClelland, Women's Track and Field
- Damilare Olukosi, Men's Track and Field
- Morgan Rodriguez, Women's Swimming and Diving
- Riley Weigelt, Volleyball
- Katie Zaun, Rifle
Future Projects and Considerations
Looking far ahead into the future, we are currently discussing a re-imagining of the seating bowl in Schollmaier Area, focused primarily on ways to enhance the viewing and fan engagement experience as we compete with the couch and your television.
Feasibility studies are also slated to begin soon on baseball's Charlie and Marie Lupton Stadium as well as a potential multi-sport facility. Additionally, we are also hoping to lighten up the experience at Amon G. Carter Stadium sometime in the near future.
More information to come on these projects as we phase them in over the next 12-18 months.
Wrapping Up
Thank you again Frog Fans for all your support and the warm welcome my wife Traci and I continue to receive as we make our way throughout the community. This newsletter would be ten times longer if I attempted to touch on every single positive item that's occurred between editions, but I hope this proves to be an important part of our communication now and into the future.
We have some fun things in store, so stay tuned for future mailers from me and TCU Athletics at large.
Go Frogs!
-- MB
