Univ. of Texas AD CHRIS DEL CONTE has had a busy spring and summer since arriving at the school in February, spending most of his time simply getting acclimated to his new stomping grounds. If Del Conte isn’t travelling around Texas on school business, his days are typically filled with meetings from the time he steps in the office. Still, he is usually able to get in some good reading and spend time with his family. Del Conte recently spoke to THE DAILY to give the low-down on what his first six months at UT have been like and what any given day as the Longhorns’ AD can consist of.
5:30am: I wake up and I go work out. I’ll meet some of the staff and we’ll work out in the gym or I’ll hit the trail there on the lake, just depends on how much time I have and what everyone’s doing. I just found a breakfast place on 6th Street that DARRELL ROYAL used to go to, Cisco’s. That’s the joint right now.
7:15am: I’m usually in the office and from there, depending on what my day could be like, it could be a variety of things. I grab a cup of coffee, I sit down and read from whatever book I’m reading -- recently it was “THE POWER OF A POSITIVE TEAM” by JON GORDON -- just to set the tone for the day. Then I’ll look at my schedule and review each meeting I have, take notes of what the meeting is or what it’s about. I might have a breakfast meeting, I could have a donor meeting, I could have coaches meetings, it just all depends.
Del Conte enjoys any down time he gets with his family when he is not dialed in to all-things UTUNIV. OF TEXAS
8:00am-noon: I could have meetings or conference calls from 8:00-11:00am. Or I could be doing evaluations all day where I’ll meet with every coach for 45 minutes starting at 9:00am all the way until I get done. Every day is just a different deal. Staff meetings are usually from 8:00-9:00am. I have revenue share meetings, which are about what we’re doing with our ticket sales, all of our external areas -- what’s happening with the gameday environment, season-ticket sales, development, media relations. I also have a lot of donor meetings.
Noon: Lunch can be all over. One day may be lunch with 75 people in the UT Club, but typically they’re all over the place.
2:00-6:00pm: We could have meetings from 2:00-5:00pm. I could be gone the next day in Houston doing donor business all day. When I was in Dallas for Big 12 Media Days, I saw donors, went to a D-I institutional summit. A lot of my time’s not spent in Austin. We’re in Dallas, Ft. Worth, Houston, San Antonio, all over the state, as we’re trying to see as many people as we can. These first months, we have 429 employees, and I spent a lot of time meeting with each one of our employees and all of our donors just looking, listening, learning for their feel of the university. I had meetings with all the Deans on campus, all the VPs, different constituents on campus. A lot of my time has been more externally focused. I also had a two-day retreat with our head coaches. It’s all-encompassing, something new every day, nothing the same.
6:00pm: I usually have dinner around 6:00pm. It could be a dinner meeting, or I may have a speaking engagement. If I go out in Austin, I’m just checking all the local places right now. I’ve just been looking all over.
8:15-10:00pm: I usually get home between 8:15-9:00 every night. I walk in, kiss my wife ROBIN and see my kids, SIENNA and SOPHIA. I do a lot of reading, but usually we’ll play games with the kids, whatever it may be. I have a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old, so Dad is no longer the flavor of the month, but we’re trying to get back in there. A lot of the TV shows I watch are either Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel or the History Channel. I don’t watch a lot of sports. Shark Week is always pretty good entertainment, even though last year was a flop when they tried to have a race between MICHAEL PHELPS and a Great White. I needed him in the water to see how fast he could really swim against a shark. Nothing like a little fear makes you haul some rear end.
10:00pm: I usually take a shower and hit the sack. I’m wore out.
