The Buddie System - February 2026 Update

Frog Fans,

Thanks for checking back into The Buddie System. My aim with these updates is to give you a high-level, inside look at our top priorities regularly. Avid readers of this newsletter quickly picked up on our new lighting project in Amon G. Carter Stadium — more to come this summer— as well as feasibility studies around Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena and Charlie and Marie Lupton Stadium.

There will be a lot more to share in the near future, but for now, let's hit some of the pressing topics here at TCU as well as the collegiate landscape at large.

The New NIL Landscape and the CSC

As shared in the last update, with the passing of 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 revenue number — $20.5 million — raises each year and is the currently capped number for all participating schools. TCU is fully committed to remaining at that cap.

In the "Above the Cap" space, true compensation for Name, Image, and Likeness for student-athletes is becoming the differentiator as schools work to recruit and retain talent on their rosters. We are fortunate to have a great partnership with Learfield (Horned Frogs Sports Properties) to assist our LEAP Agency team in aggressively pursuing those opportunities on behalf of our programs. In fact, we were recently ranked No. 8 nationally for NIL support by Athletes.org. You can also expect to see a larger push from our social media team to highlight our above-the-cap activity.

Related to this, you may also hear about an organization charged with enforcing rules related to the framework on NIL: the College Sports Commission (CSC). The CSC's charge, led by former MLB Executive Vice President for Legal and Operations Bryan Seeley, is to enforce the new and revised NCAA bylaws resulting from the House settlement.

In order for the organization to have the teeth all schools agreed they should have when it was created, the 68 Power 4 schools must all sign the CSC's Participant Agreement, which shields the organization from being sued and requires accepting arbitration for disputes. At present, there are challenges to the legal legitimacy of that agreement, including here in the state of Texas.

TCU is fully committed to supporting the CSC and, by extension, the Participant Agreement in whatever revised format it takes. I believe strongly that collegiate sports as a whole benefit from a consistent set of enforceable rules, and I share many of the same frustrations I hear from our fans on a regular basis about the current state of the industry. Providing the CSC with the backing they need to move forward with enforcing the rules that, again, we all agreed to is a positive first step of many in the right direction.

Capping the Football Season

TCU. The Alamo Bowl. Did you expect anything else? As the relative newcomer to the party, I heard all of the tales of TCU's past two trips to San Antonio, and it did not disappoint.

What an incredible finish in San Antonio as the Frogs defeated No. 16 USC in yet another thrilling Alamo Bowl. Your support in the Alamodome was felt, and it truly served as a home-field advantage for us. The story of Ken Seals, in his first and only start for his childhood team, is something I'll never forget.

We also finished the season in the top 25, and Coach Dykes' 36 wins since 2022 are the most among all Big 12 schools. Our consecutive nine-win seasons are a first since 2014-15 as well. There was little time to rest, however, as the staff immediately went back to work hosting visitors in the transfer portal.

Coach Dykes also has a new title: Professor. He is teaching a three-hour course on Mondays in the Neeley School of Business titled: "Leadership in Action: Lessons from the Gridiron to the Boardroom."

I am excited about the new additions to the coaching staff—namely new offensive coordinator Gordon Sammis and head strength coach Darl Bauer—as well as in the locker room. Sonny was laser-focused in the end-of-year review of the program and made a number of difficult decisions with the goal of bringing TCU back to the College Football Playoff. We are currently in talks to extend Coach Dykes' contract, and I will have more to share on that very soon.

Important Dates to Remember:
→ Aer Lingus Football Classic Tickets – Purchase direct from TCU by February 28
→ 2026 Season Ticket Renewal Deadline – Renew by March 13

Want to look your best when you join the Frogs in Dublin this August? We just might have something new for you coming very soon.

Let's Play Ball!

We're officially in season for Frog Ball, and what a preseason run-up it was for Kirk Saarloos and his squad. The preseason Big 12 Conference favorite, your Frogs are ranked as high as No. 9 nationally and started the season off at Globe Life Field in Arlington over the weekend, where they picked up a pair of ranked wins over Vanderbilt and Arkansas.

Sawyer Strosnider, Tommy LaPour, Chase Brunson, Noah Franco, and Mason Brassfield have all earned preseason All-America recognition, but as any good coach or player will tell you, it's just the preseason. Now, it's time to go prove it.

Hope to see you this spring at Lupton Stadium, where, for the 16th consecutive season, we are sold out of reserved seat inventory. The waitlist rewarded a number of Frog fans this season, so I would encourage you to get added to it for future seasons.

Grow the Game

Looking at our other two ticketed fall sports, we had encouraging growth in all revenue areas for soccer and women's volleyball. Both sports saw increased year-over-year attendance, student attendance, group sales, and overall ticket revenue.

On social media, soccer led the nation in video views and organic posts while ranking inside the top 10 in total views and impressions, engagements, and social media value. Volleyball ranked inside the top 25 nationally in impressions, engagements, and social media value.

When you combine their success with football's, TCU is joined by only Louisville and Penn State as schools to post a bowl win and NCAA tournament victories in soccer and volleyball this fall. It's an incredibly limited group and a testament to the hard work of our student-athletes, coaches, and staff.

Postseason Basketball

As the calendar creeps toward March, don't let the Big 12 Conference Tournament in Kansas City sneak up on you. Commissioner Yormark announced last week that our league will become the first to integrate the ASB GlassFloor, a state-of-the-art full LED video sport floor, into the tournament, and other exciting additions to the experience for both fans and student-athletes are set to follow.

I hope to see you there for the women's (March 4-8/9) and men's (March 10-14) tournaments in the T-Mobile Center.

We have also submitted a bid to host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Women's Tournament again this season. Along with Visit Fort Worth, we will also play an integral role in hosting the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 rounds of the women's tournament at Dickies Arena.

Coach Mark Campbell's women's squad pushed their home winning streak to a staggering 40 games over the weekend as they moved back into first place in the Big 12 Conference race with a ranked win over West Virginia. Over 4,000 of you packed Schollmaier Arena on Sunday and truly made a difference!

Future Projects and Considerations

As mentioned above and in the previous edition of this newsletter, feasibility studies are underway in Schollmaier Arena and Lupton Stadium. So, More to come on those in the future.

Surface-level improvements will also be coming to volleyball this fall, and if you're looking south in Amon G. Carter Stadium, we're going to try to broaden your view of the world—or just the game.

Wrapping Up

Thank you, as always, Frog Fans, for following along and for your consistent support of TCU Athletics. These topics are just a few of the hundreds we can touch on, and that's really what makes this business so rewarding. We head into a packed spring semester and have already seen nine programs ranked in the top 10 during the 2025-26 season.

Go Frogs!
-- MB

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