When a team of representatives from the University of Texas traveled last month to meet with their counterparts from the University of Oklahoma in an effort to keep the Big 12 Conference together, three key officials were part of the mission. UT President Bill Powers was accompanied by Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds and Women’s AD Chris Plonsky.

While Powers and Dodds have been front and center during recent talks about lightning-rod topics like conference realignment and the Longhorn Network, Texas hasn’t made a move without the input of Plonsky, who carries the dual role of running UT’s women’s sports as well as serving as director of external services for both the men’s and women’s programs.

Plonsky has been linked to any number of jobs in college sports and even jobs related to her other passion, golf, but she has stayed at Texas for 23 years, carving out a place as one of the school’s most influential administrators. She played a hands-on role with the formation of the Longhorn Network, working day to day with multimedia rights partner IMG College and media partner ESPN to establish the groundbreaking channel. She also oversees Texas’ monstrous licensing department, which has generated more royalties than any other Collegiate Licensing Co. school for the last six years.