Dear Horned Frogs:

I hope everyone stayed warm and safe this past week.  It is great to have students back on campus!  There is no doubt the presence of the TCU Frog Army, our great student section in Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena, made an impact in last Saturday's men's basketball win over No. 2 Houston.  The crossover season between winter and spring sports is always a busy, exciting and fun time for everyone.
                                  
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL UPDATE
As I am sure you know, we have faced a difficult situation with injuries on our women's basketball team.  In consultation with our medical team, it is simply not a safe environment to compete right now.  The health and safety and best interests of our student-athletes will always be our top priority.

As disappointed as we all are in having to make the decision to cancel this week's games, I am so impressed by the team's attitude and show of support for one another.  I am proud of the way our coaches, staff and student-athletes have handled this adversity.  The strong team unity and culture we have under Head Coach Mark Campbell and his staff's leadership is playing a major role in helping us get through this difficult and unusual time.  We will be back on the court as soon as possible.



TOP 20 HORNED FROGS
With our back-to-back wins over No. 9 Oklahoma and No. 2 Houston, it was fitting to see the success of our men's basketball team recognized with a No. 19 appearance in this week's Associated Press Top 25.  

Along the way, Emanuel Miller was selected as the Big 12 Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week.  Emanuel scored 27 points in the win over the Sooners and then had the game-winning bucket with 6.7 seconds to play in the victory against the Cougars.  Congrats E-Man!
 
WEAR BLACK SATURDAY
Please note Saturday's sold out home game against No. 24 Iowa State will have a 1:00 p.m. tip.  The time was previously listed as either 1 or 3:00 p.m. by the Big 12 Conference, but it has now been finalized as 1:00.  When attending, please wear black as we will have a Black Out that afternoon in Ed and Rae Schollmaier Arena.  
 


SPORTS REPORT
In addition to basketball, our spring sports season is well underway! 

Rifle, ranked second in the nation, swept Ohio State and Air Force to continue the momentum from its strong fall.  Equestrian is No. 1 in the nation and will begin its spring season on Thursday when it hosts Delaware State at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo. 

Track and field began its indoor season last weekend with four event wins and a pair of school records at a meet in College Station.  Congratulations to Benjamin Kirbo on breaking his own TCU mark in the pole vault with a 5.18m (17-0).  Gracie Morris, who represented us at the NCAA Cross Country Championships, also broke her own school record as she won the mile with a new career-best time of 4:39.07.

Men's and women's swimming and diving totaled 10 gold medals, 12 silver and 19 bronze in its meets last weekend versus Texas A&M, while women's tennis opens its spring season Saturday with a 3:00 p.m. home match against Northwestern State.

Baseball and men's tennis are both ranked in the top 5 nationally and begin their respective campaigns shortly.  Baseball is No. 5 with its opener on February 16 at home against Florida Gulf Coast.  Men's tennis is fourth in the preseason ITA poll and hosts Abilene Christian on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in its opening match.


 
KENRICH WILLIAMS JERSEY RETIREMENT
Men's Basketball Head Coach Jamie Dixon has always spoken of the impact Kenrich Williams made in our program becoming a consistent NCAA Tournament team.

Kenrich came to TCU when we did not have much to sell in the way of success or a first-class facility for our men's basketball program.  After displaying an incredible amount of perseverance in battling through an injury that sidelined him the entire 2015-16 season, he was finally healthy just as Coach Dixon arrived on campus.

In their first season together, an immediate and impressive turnaround of our program occurred as we won the 2017 NIT with Kenrich being named the Most Outstanding Player.  The next season, we used the momentum of the NIT title to earn our first NCAA Tournament bid in 20 years.  A trademark of Kenrich's play was his relentless hustle.  It brought him the nickname of "Kenny Hustle" by former TCU media member Billy Wessels.  That nickname has stuck to this day in his professional career.

After earning his degree from TCU, Kenrich went undrafted by the NBA but made the roster of the New Orleans Pelicans.  He is now a six-year NBA veteran and key member of the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are having a terrific season and sport one of the NBA's best records.

In appreciation of what Kenrich has meant to our men's basketball program on and off the court, we will be retiring his jersey at the February 3 home game versus Texas.  Tip-off is at 1:00 p.m., and it will be a white out.  We look forward to you hopefully joining us that afternoon to celebrate Kenrich!
 
HONOR ROLL
In addition to Emanuel Miller being selected as the Big 12 Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week, Sedona Prince from our women's team was chosen as one of 25 players to appear on the watch list for the John R. Wooden Award, recognizing the nation's top player. 



The accolades extend to our track and field coaching staff as assistant coach Marissa Chew is this year's recipient of the Vern Gambetta/Young Professional Award from USA Track & Field (USATF).  The award recognizes a young coach in the first 10 years of his/her career who has shown an exceptional level of passion, initiative and leadership in the promotion of USATF Coaching Education.  Congratulations, Marissa, on this great honor!
 
FOOTBALL RECRUITING SUCCESS
Head Football Coach Sonny Dykes and his staff definitely made an impact in this year's recruiting class.  Our transfer portal additions are ranked second in the Big 12 Conference and 11th nationally.  This includes the five commitments last weekend.  The offseason program is well underway with spring practice beginning March 25.  Our Spring Game will be on Saturday, April 27.  The time will be announced in the near future.

Coach Dykes added to his staff with the addition of Ken Wilson as linebackers coach.  Ken was the head coach at Nevada the past two seasons and previously worked with our new Defensive Coordinator Andy Avalos at Oregon when the Ducks won back-to-back Pac-12 Conference Championships. 

SUPPORTING THE HORNED FROGS
We now have men's basketball student-athlete replica jerseys available for purchase to support your favorite student-athletes on the team.  Through NIL, each player will receive a portion of the proceeds from his jerseys being sold.
 


FLYING T CLUB
It was great to see Chicken Express become a corporate partner of the Flying T Club, the only NIL collective directly working with our student-athletes. 

If you have any questions about making a gift, the different giving levels available, upcoming events or a partnership with your business, just email info@flyingtclub.com or give them a follow on social media at @flyingtclub.  Perks of a membership include exclusive Flying T gear and access to events with TCU coaches and players. 

SPORT-SPECIFIC GIVING JUST BECAME EASIER
By introducing FrogFunding, the Frog Club has been making significant strides and improvements in how our donors can support sport-specific programs.  This new platform allows you to easily choose which sports, including multiple ones simultaneously, you would like to support.  Please visit tcufrogclub.com/give to learn more about each team, their goals and supporting them directly.


 
TICKET OFFICE NOTES
The success of our men's basketball program has definitely brought about a high demand for tickets.  We are sold out for the Iowa State, Texas Tech, Texas and Baylor games.  Limited seats are still available for the West Virginia, Cincinnati and UCF contests.  

Football season ticket renewals began Wednesday of this week.  Please note the March 1 deadline.  By renewing early, you can take full advantage of extended payment plans which include the below three options:

•3 Months – 40 percent of balance due prior to March 1, 30 percent due on March 15 and final payment of 30 percent due April 15
•2 Months – 50 percent of balance due before March 1 and the final 50 percent due April 15
•Full Payment – All balance paid at time of renewal
 
The renewal deadline for baseball season tickets was last week.  We very much appreciate everyone for providing us such a high renewal number.  As a result, we have less than 20 reserved seats available for upgrades beginning later this month.  They will be processed based on availability and priority rank.  General admission season tickets are available HERE.
 
COACHES CLASSIC SET
Please mark your calendar for April 29 and this year's TCU Coaches Golf Classic, one of our more popular annual traditions.  This year's event, which marks the 27th edition, will take place at Texas Star Golf Course in Euless with 8:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. shotgun starts.  This is a perfect way to spend a day on the links with the coaching staffs from all our sports.  Registration is underway!  To learn more about playing and sponsorship opportunities, please click HERE.



PRO FROGS
With the National Football League playoffs underway, we send our best to the eight Horned Frogs who are still in pursuit of a Super Bowl Championship this season.  We have had at least one former player on a Super Bowl team in nine of the past 10 seasons with 23 Horned Frogs having won a championship ring.

Down in Melbourne, Australia, we have been represented at the Australian Open by a couple of past men's tennis greats.  Cam Norrie, the No. 19 seed in the singles draw, has advanced to the third round, while Reese Stalder competed in doubles. 

Gracie Brian, a three-time First-Team All-Big 12 recipient, was invited to preseason camp with San Diego Wave FC of the National Women's Soccer League.  Gracie is our program's all-time leader in assists (27) while ranking second in points (97) and third in goals (35).  We had five active players in the NWSL last season.
 
FIST BUMP
Kenneth Janak is a very special person to me, TCU Athletics and our campus community.  After arriving at TCU in 2007 and serving as our Assistant Vice Chancellor for Finance, he moved to Athletics in 2016, right before I became Director of Intercollegiate Athletics.  As our Senior Associate Athletics Director/Chief Financial Officer, Kenneth plays an invaluable leadership role in all our financial matters and is a trusted advisor and confidant in that capacity.  He has overseen all our business transactions, budgets, contracts and financial plans.  Kenneth has been invaluable to me and all our sports programs.  Our coaches sing his praises from their many budget meetings.

Kenneth recently announced his retirement, effective February 2.  While he will be missed around the office, we are very happy for him and his wife, Karen.  

As the type of leader Kenneth is, we did not have to search far for his replacement.  It was just a matter of the next office down the hallway.  Bennett Askew, who has served as our Associate Athletics Director for Business and Finance the last five years, will assume Kenneth's role.  Bennett has done a phenomenal job and has a wealth of experience working alongside Kenneth.  I am very proud to see Bennett's efforts recognized with this well-deserved promotion!  

Congrats to Kenneth and Bennett!
 


DID YOU KNOW?
Thanks to the leadership of TCU President Daniel Pullin, Chancellor Victor Boschini and Vice Chancellor for Marketing and Communication Tracy Syler-Jones with the partnership of Sundance Square, there is a new 96-by-90-foot TCU mural on the southeast corner of 5th Street and Throckmorton in downtown Fort Worth.  Recently completed and designed by 2022 TCU graduate Trevor Scott, the mural represents the tremendous partnership and relationship TCU has with the city of Fort Worth. 

Go Frogs! 


 
Jeremiah Donati, J.D.
Director of Intercollegiate Athletics