Dear Horned Frogs:

The Horned Frogs are back.  With our football, women's soccer and volleyball programs having their preseason camps underway and our men's and women's basketball teams currently on overseas trips, we are ready to get started!  Our student-athletes bring a lot of energy back to campus and watching them prepare for the start of their upcoming seasons always makes this one of my favorite times of the year.

I hope everyone enjoyed a safe and relaxing summer with some time away.  One quick note from my summer - I took my family to Southern California for a few days in early July.  With my daughters, it obviously had to include a visit to Disneyland.  It will never surprise me how Horned Frogs are truly everywhere.  As we were exiting It's a Small World, we ran into former TCU offensive lineman and current Detroit Lion Halapoulivaati Vaitai aka "Big V" and his family (he was also sporting TCU gear).  Yes - It is a small world, indeed! 
 
RECAPPING THE YEAR AND LOOKING AHEAD
As we celebrate our 150th anniversary as a University and turn the page to a new year for our sports programs, we can look back with pride at the greatest athletics season across the board in our history.

In the College Football Playoff era, we are the only school to make the CFP, NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament and College World Series in the same season.  Six of our sports (baseball, beach volleyball, equestrian, football, rifle and men's tennis) had finishes in the Final Four or better.  Four programs (beach volleyball, equestrian, rifle, men's tennis) were ranked No. 1 in the nation.  Men's tennis repeated as ITA Indoor National Champions, women's soccer reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for a third consecutive season while men's basketball and indoor volleyball advanced to the second round.  

Conference championships were won in baseball, rifle, men's tennis and beach volleyball. Ten of our 21 sports were ranked in the national top 25 with eight in the top 15.  Nineteen programs were represented in postseason play.

We now look forward to the 2023-24 academic year and building off the huge momentum we have within our athletics programs.

WELCOME TO THE BIG 12 CONFERENCE 
We are thrilled to welcome Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah to the Big 12 Conference starting July 1, 2024.  For the Buffaloes, it is a trip home as they were a charter member of the league when it was formed in 1996.  As we host Colorado in our September 2 football opener, we look forward to competing against them as future conference mates.  With our strong alumni base in the Denver area and a good number of our student body being Colorado natives, our trips to Boulder in all sports should bring a lot of purple in the stands, much like we had in last year's football opener against the Buffaloes.

While Colorado will be a new rival, Utah provides an opportunity to renew a past rivalry.  We had some memorable games with the Utes during our time together in the Mountain West.  Through the years, we have also competed regularly against Arizona and Arizona State in various sports.  These new additions provide a great opportunity for all our Horned Frogs on the West Coast to see us more in action.

It has been great to see the excitement, which we experienced firsthand in 2012, around the BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF campuses, as well as in their respective cities, in being proud new members of the Big 12 Conference.  

Congratulations to Commissioner Brett Yormark on an incredible job with his vision and leadership in solidifying the Big 12's future as a leader in collegiate athletics.  All of the new members shared a like-minded vision for their programs and their universities and are all great fits for many different reasons.  We are a true national conference, spanning 10 states and three time zones.  There has never been a better time to be a member of the Big 12 Conference!


 
BIG 12 FOOTBALL MEDIA DAYS
The unofficial start to football season is Big 12 Media Days.  I enjoyed the opportunity to attend this year's event at AT&T Stadium along with nearly 700 media.  Coming off our appearance in the College Football Playoff National Championship, it was great to see the attention on our program as Head Coach Sonny Dykes, Bud Clark, Brandon Coleman, Jamoi Hodge, Josh Newton and Jared Wiley made the rounds as our representatives.

Our season opener against Colorado on September 2 at Amon G. Carter Stadium is the marquee game of college football's opening weekend.  As such, we will have FOX's Big Noon Kickoff Show back on campus with the lead broadcast team of Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt and Jenny Taft on the call.  Prominent national media will also be traveling to Fort Worth to cover the game.  A lot of eyes will be on us that day as 11 a.m. Central time is the most viewed window on a college football Saturday.


 
SOCCER AND VOLLEYBALL SEASONS APPROACHING
Our soccer and volleyball seasons are just around the corner, and there is a lot of anticipation with both programs as they are both coming off NCAA tournament appearances!

Soccer always kicks off, no pun intended, our athletics year and will do so again on August 17 when it hosts SMU.  Our nonconference schedule also includes visits from Florida State and Texas A&M.  The complete slate can be seen HERE.
 
Volleyball will open its season August 25 at Minnesota in the Big 12/Big Ten Challenge.  The home opener is September 14 versus Hawaii when we host the Fight in the Fort.  Our schedule features 14 games against NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago.

Single-game tickets for both soccer and volleyball are now on sale.
 
Congratulations to Audrey Nalls on being selected to the Big 12 Conference's Preseason Volleyball Team.  She was a unanimous pick, just like she was in being a first-team honoree after last season.  Gracie Brian, Olivia Hasler and Camryn Lancaster represented us on the Preseason All-Big 12 Soccer Team.


 
NIKE CONTRACT EXTENSION
TCU and Nike have been synonymous with each other for years, and we are very excited to sign a contract extension to continue our long relationship.  They are truly the best in the business.  It is a terrific partnership and will continue to be for the foreseeable future.  They do a tremendous job in support of our student-athletes and enhancing their experience at TCU.
 
FLYING T CLUB UPDATE
As you know, we are in a new era of college athletics and one that requires schools like ours to support our student-athletes through name, image, and likeness (NIL) opportunities.  
 
The Flying T Club is the lone collective directly working with our student-athletes.  Just like you support us, we encourage you to do the same with The Flying T Club.  You may have heard that gifts to the Flying T Club will now earn you Horned Frog Priority Points!  More details will be coming soon.  

Many of you were at last month's Flying T Club event.  Having Head Football Coach Sonny Dykes, Head Men's Basketball Coach Jamie Dixon and Head Baseball Coach Kirk Saarloos on hand speaks to the importance of what The Flying T Club means to their programs, all our sports and especially the student-athletes, several of whom were also in attendance.  

A strong NIL program will help ensure that we can continue to have seasons like we just had - thank you for considering this important initiative! 
 
A HELPING HAND
As you likely know, there were some special circumstances that led to us hosting the Super Regional in baseball against Indiana State.  The Sycamores were a national seed and earned the right to be the home site.  The city of Terre Haute, where ISU is located, has hosted the Indiana Special Olympics for over 50 years and this year's event coincided with the Super Regionals.  As a result, there were going to be scheduling, accommodations and staffing issues.  Indiana State was thus not able to host and the games were moved to Fort Worth.

To show our support for the Indiana Special Olympics, we donated $1 from every concession transaction over the course of the Super Regional weekend.  It resulted in $14,700 being sent from TCU.  But in full disclosure we were not the first Frogs who took the initiative to support the Indiana Special Olympics…

Thanks to the initiative of the Lupton Drinking Club, a fundraiser was first started among our fan base to support Indiana Special Olympics.  It was incredibly rewarding, and not surprising, to see so many of you show what being a Horned Frog is about with your personal contributions.  

With coverage of our efforts, additional support came in across the country as well for Indiana Special Olympics. 
 


DUGGAN ADDS TO TROPHY CASE
There was no shortage of awards for Max Duggan this season, and they have continued even as he begins his NFL career with the Los Angles Chargers. 

At Big 12 Conference Football Media Days, Commissioner Brett Yormark announced Max as the inaugural male recipient of the Bob Bowlsby Award.  The award is named in recognition of our former commissioner and is the Big 12's most prestigious individual accolade.  It recognizes the absolute best in the conference for their leadership and excellence, on and off the field of competition.  

Max winning this award has extra meaning to me.  Bob Bowlsby remains an incredible friend and mentor.  He was also incredibly supportive of TCU.  Seeing Max as a recipient of an award named after Bob is indeed special, as well as the voting coming from my colleagues around the Big 12 Conference. 

Max then made history again when he became the first Horned Frog, male or female, to win Big 12 Athlete of the Year.  

In addition to leading us to an appearance in the College Football Playoff National Championship, Max won the Davey O'Brien Award, Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award and was the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy.  

Max also shined off the field as one of two Big 12 student-athletes on the NCAA Division I Football Oversight Committee Student-Athlete Connection Group.  As part of the committee assignment, he represented the interests of Big 12 players and college football as a whole.  He was also a three-time Academic All-Big 12 recipient en route to earning his marketing degree from our Neeley School of Business.

Well done, Max. There is not a more deserving recipient of these two Big 12 Conference awards. 
 
FROM THE TICKET OFFICE
Football season tickets and donor parking were sent earlier this week.  If you have not yet received them, please email or call the ticket office.  If you requested to claim your tickets at will call, please stop by beginning Monday, August 14.  Thanks to you, we are nearly 10 percent over last year's number and are approaching 30,000 total.  The Colorado and SMU games are already sold out with just standing room only tickets available. 

Our Keep It Purple Mini-Plan, which is the only way to purchase tickets for the home games against BYU and Texas, are $150.  Single-game tickets are available for our other home games against Nicholls, West Virginia and Baylor.

Basketball season-ticket renewals are underway with an August 18 deadline.  The upgrade process will begin in early September.  Coming off back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances, there is a lot of excitement around men's basketball.  The same is true for our women's program under new Head Coach Mark Campbell.  He has brought in a very impressive newcomer class.  It will be fun in Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena this season!

While the dates are still to be determined, our nine Big 12 Conference men's basketball home games will be Baylor, Cincinnati, Houston, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech, UCF and West Virginia. Our women will host BYU, Houston, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas Tech, UCF and West Virginia.
 
Please contact the Parrish Family Athletics Ticket Office (tickets@tcu.edu, 817.257.3764) with any questions.

FROG CLUB LUNCHEONS RETURNING
Our annual Frog Club luncheons during the fall will begin on August 28 with Head Football Coach Sonny Dykes the featured speaker.  Please mark your calendar for the other dates of September 18, October 2, October 23, November 13 and December 4.  We appreciate Origin Bank for its continued sponsorship.  Click HERE for more information and to purchase tickets. 

SPANNING THE GLOBE
I am always thrilled to see our student-athletes enjoy an international experience.  Our men's basketball program is currently in Europe, playing a total of four games in Paris and London.  Women's basketball is also overseas, enjoying Costa Rica and in the midst of a series of exhibition contests as well.  This is the first foreign tour for both teams since they made a joint trip to Australia in 2017.
 
CARTER BOYS RECEIVES EMMY NOMINATION
The debut of Carter Boys, the weekly inside look at our football program, was a major hit last year on ESPN+ and will return again this fall.  We appreciated the positive feedback we received from everyone who watched the show throughout the season.  Jon Petrie and Luke Heslep from our football creative team were the co-producers on it, and it was great to see their work recognized with a 2023 Lone Star Regional Sports Emmy nomination in the category of Sports Story – Long Form Content.  Well done, Jon and Luke!

SHOPPING SURVEY
It was a record-breaking year for us in merchandise sales.  To help us learn more about what you like in official TCU licensed products, it would be very helpful and much appreciated if you could complete this survey.  In appreciation of your time, those who participate in the survey will be entered to win an autographed Sonny Dykes football and a $100 TCU Campus Store gift card. 
 


#PROFROGS
Congratulations to our seven student-athletes who were selected in last month's Major League Baseball Draft!  

Brayden Taylor made history when he became the first position player in our history, and fifth overall, to go in the first round when he was taken by the Tampa Bay Rays with the 19th overall pick.      

Also drafted were Cole Fontenelle (7th round, Los Angeles Angels), Ryan Vanderhei (10th round, San Francisco Giants), Cam Brown (10th round, Philadelphia Phillies), Elijah Nunez (14th round, Washington Nationals), Tre Richardson (15th round, St. Louis Cardinals) and Garrett Wright (20th round, Chicago White Sox).

Congrats as well to Mike Miles from men's basketball as he embarks on his NBA career!  Mike signed a two-way contract with the Dallas Mavericks, and it was fun watching him play in the NBA 2K24 Summer League. 

Our men's tennis program was well represented at Wimbledon with Cam Norrie, Jake Fearnley and Reese Stalder taking the court at the All England Lawn Tennis Club.  In keeping with tradition, Head Coach David Roditi was not only supporting his former players but also proudly representing us with all his TCU apparel!

We have 33 former football student-athletes active in the NFL.  We send our best to them in their respective training camps.
 


CONGRATULATIONS, YESI
If you have visited our athletics administration offices on the second floor of Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena, you have likely met Yesi Madrigal at the front desk.  Yesi is our administrative assistant and has been with us for six years.  She does a phenomenal job and bleeds purple for all things TCU.  I am proud to announce Yesi is our Athletics Division Winner for the Chancellor's Staff Award.  The overall campus recipient will be announced this month.  In addition to always having a pleasant demeanor about her and defining handling other duties as assigned, Yesi has also been taking classes at TCU.  She will graduate this December, earning a general studies degree with an emphasis in communications and Spanish.  She is the model of time management to balance everything.  Congratulations, Yesi, and thank you for everything you do for our student-athletes, coaches, staff, 22 sports and our entire athletics program! 
 
DID YOU KNOW?
Since TCU began Big 12 play in 2012, we have won 20 conference championships across our sports programs.
 
Go Frogs! 


 
Jeremiah Donati, J.D.
Director of Intercollegiate Athletics