TCU Athletics Director named AD of the Year

CU director of intercollegiate athletics Chris Del Conte has been presented the 2010 Bobby Dodd Division I-A Athletic Director's Award.

The Bobby Dodd Foundation recognized Del Conte for his support last season in the TCU football program posting a 12-1 record, No. 6 final ranking and the school's first-ever BCS appearance. Horned Frog coach Gary Patterson was honored as the 2009 Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year.

"I would like to extend a special thanks to (TCU) Chancellor (Victor) Boschini and my predecessors Frank Windegger, Eric Hyman and Danny Morrison in laying the foundation for us to receive this award," Del Conte said. "TCU is defined by momentum, not just in our athletics program but throughout campus. It is a privilege for my family to call TCU home, and I'm most appreciative for the opportunity to serve a terrific Chancellor and Board of Trustees."

In his first year on campus, Del Conte saw TCU set a single-season school record with six conference championships (football, men's swimming and diving, women's basketball, men's tennis, women's tennis and baseball) while also winning a national title (rifle).

The momentum continued into the summer. In just six months, $115 million was raised for the renovation of the west side and north end zone of Amon G. Carter Stadium. The announcement was made Aug. 16. Work will begin immediately following the 2010 football season and be fully completed in 2012. Additionally, a TCU record $4.4 million in Frog Club donations was received over the last year.

Fifteen of TCU's 20 sports in 2009-10 were represented in NCAA postseason play and 12 sports were nationally ranked.

It was an overall historic year for the Horned Frogs. In addition to the football team making its first appearance in a BCS game, the baseball team reached the College World Series for the first time. TCU was the only school in the nation to reach a BCS game in football, win at least one game at the CWS and capture a national championship in another sport.

TCU was one of just three institutions to have multiple National Coaches of the Year in Patterson (football) and Jim Schlossnagle (baseball). Patterson and Schlossnagle were part of five TCU coaches (Darryl Anderson, men's indoor track and field; Jeff Mittie, women's basketball; Angie Ravaioli-Larkin, women's golf) to receive Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year accolades.

The success on the playing field carried over to the classroom. In the Fall 2009 and Spring 2010 semesters, TCU student-athletes recorded their highest cumulative grade-point average since tracking began in 1998. Fifteen of 20 sports have team GPAs over 3.0.

The partnership between TCU and the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex was never more evident than the 2009-10 athletics campaign. Football, baseball, soccer and volleyball set single-season attendance records.

Football stays undefeated at 4-0

The football team routed SMU this past Friday night on ESPN; winning 41-24. It always feels great to beat SMU especially in Dallas, even better to do it on national t.v. in prime-time. The boys are looking good and with conference play starting this week, it looks like another conference championship is only a few weeks away giving the boys a second championship in two years. Already talk about which BCS Bowl we are headed to this year; can anybody say National Championship Game ??

Football Stadium comes to life

AMON G. CARTER STADIUM TIME LAPSE VIDEO

GoFrogs.com gives TCU fans an exclusive look at the TCU-Baylor football gameday experience in under 40 seconds. A sellout crowd of 47,393 watched the Frogs post a 45-10 victory over the Bears.

Photographer Michael Clements provided time-lapse photography featuring one photo every 30 seconds during last Saturday's Horned Frog win. Follow the link at the top of this page for the exclusive video.

TCU returns to the field Friday night, as it travels to Dallas for a 7 p.m. nationally televised matchup with cross-town rival SMU. The contest will be televised live on ESPN.

Walters MWC Honors

Kelsey Walters was honored on Monday as the Mountain West Conference Defensive Player of the Week.

Against No. 17 Memphis, Walters kept the nationally ranked Tigers off the scoreboard, helping TCU claim a 3-0 victory at Memphis. Walters was dominant on defense, limiting the Lady Tigers to only six shots-on-goal on 17 shot attempts.

Overall, Walters posted her first shutout of the season and 11th all-time against Memphis, which moved her into the No. 3 spot all-time in career shutout's. The senior from Oklahoma City saved six shots last Friday night.

Walters came back Sunday to hold Ole Miss off the scoreboard for the entire second half. Overall, despite the 1-0 loss, Walter saved five balls on 15 shot attempts. She limited the Rebels to only six shots-on-goal and gave up only one goal the entire weekend away from Fort Worth.

The Horned Frogs will be back in action this Friday night at UTSA. Start time is set for 7 p.m. in San Antonio.

Rest Day on the Road

Today was a great day and day of rest for everyone after the big time win last night over Memphis. We had a pool workout here at the hotel and the girls' used the down time to get plenty of study hours in while on the road. We ended the day with dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and walked around downtown Memphis; looking at tons of Rock n Roll memorabilia. We head out in the morning for Oxford. Mississippi to play Ole Miss to hopefully cap off a great weekend of Horned Frog Soccer.

Weekend in Memphis

What a great way to start the road trip, we went out and beat the #17 team in the nation 3-0 !! The Horned Frogs dominated the game and completely took over the second half scoring three goals from freshmen Brittany Slyman, Kristen Barg and Kelly Johnson. It was also Brittany Slyman's birthday so Happy Birthday to her and again congrats girls on the big time win on the road!

Travel Weekend

We hit the road today! We are flying to Memphis, Tennessee to play Memphis and Ole Miss this weekend. Friday night game versus No.20 Memphis and Sunday versus Ole Miss in Oxford, Mississippi. Everyone is excited to get on the road and hopefully do some sight seeing while in Memphis for the weekend.

Everyone watch TCU beat up on Baylor this weekend in football Saturday, back in Fort Worth at Amon Carter Stadium.

GO FROGS!!

TCU Rifle goes to the White House

Members of the 2010 NCAA Championship rifle team traveled to Washington D.C. over the weekend for a special ceremony hosted by President Barack Obama, honoring all 2009-10 NCAA Champions.

Erin Lorenzen, Simone Riford, Sarah Scherer, Sarah Beard and Caitlin Morrissey, along with Chancellor Victor J. Boschini, Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Chris Del Conte, Associate Athletics Director Ross Bailey and head coach Karen Monez made the journey to Washington D.C. for the ceremony.

The team received a special thrill as the President formally acknowledged the TCU rifle team in his five-minute long welcome speech. The team arrived in the capital city on Monday for the celebration and returned home Tuesday morning.

"We've got the sharpshooters from the TCU rifle squad. Where are they?" Obama asked in the opening minute of his speech. "I think that they may be able to give the Secret Service a run for their money."

"It was a great thrill to be invited to the White House," remarked Monez. "It was an even greater thrill for the team and the program to be recognized in President Obama's speech. The entire trip was full of special moments for the team. It will be cherished for a long time to come."
Over 650 athletes from 32 different schools made the journey. The TCU rifle team sported black dresses to the event, which was held on the south lawn of the White House, and wore purple and black cowboy boots with the TCU logo. As a gift to the President, the team gave President Obama his own pair of TCU cowboy boots.

Tuesday Sweet Snack Day

In the BLUU every Tuesday there are tables setup for students to participate in "Sweet Tuesdays." Where every week there is something new that students can enjoy, such as last week there was cotton candy and this week there was fruit and chocolate syrup. Even Dan go into the action this week and enjoyed a banana with chocolate syrup.

Football Moving on Up

In the end, the fourth-ranked TCU Horned Frogs did exactly what they were supposed to do against a lower-division FCS team.

A dominating 62-7 victory over Tennessee Tech extended the Horned Frogs' home winning streak to 15 games, yet still gave coach Gary Patterson plenty of teaching points after a penalty-filled game that led to a postgame apology Saturday night.

"I didn't want to score the last touchdown. We don't do style points. ... That's not the program that we are, period. I did not want to score 60," Patterson said. "I'm not unhappy. I'm just not going to come in here jumping up and down."

TCU (2-0) was running out the clock and didn't even throw a pass while scoring three times in the fourth quarter, including a 16-yard touchdown run by seldom-used fullback Ryan Hightower with 4 minutes left. The fifth-year senior appearing in only his fourth game cut left on a short run and had a wide-open lane to the end zone.

The Frogs were just that much better than Tennessee Tech (0-2), where Patterson earned a master's degree while serving as a graduate assistant from 1983-85.

The Mtn. broadcast live

In front of the 10th largest attendance in stadium history and a nationally televised audience, TCU recorded 17 shot attempts, but it wasn't enough as the Horned Frogs dropped a 4-0 decision to No. 14 Oklahoma State on Sunday evening.

With the loss, TCU moved to 3-3-1 on the season, while Oklahoma State improved to 6-1-0 on the year. The match, which was shown on The Mtn., marked the first ever nationally televised home contest in program history.

"We had a few unfortunate bounces today, but I think we are on the right path towards our ultimate goal of winning a conference championship. We have been working so hard and I think we are coming together as a team," said Nikki Wilbur.

The Horned Frogs will next be in action at No. 20 Memphis on Friday, Sept. 17. Start time is set for 7 p.m. CT at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex.

National Televised Game this Sunday

TCU On National TelevisionSunday's nationally televised match will mark the third time in four years that the Horned Frogs will be shown on national television.

The 4 p.m. contest, which will be only the second regular season match ever televised in TCU women's soccer history, will mark the first home contest ever shown on national television and only the second ever appearance on The Mtn. On national television, the Frogs are 1-1-0 when appearing on television.

In 2007, Jackie Torda netted a goal in overtime off an assist from former Frog Michelle Nguyen to lift the Horned Frogs, who played the overtime period with only 10 players, to a 1-0 regular season victory over Houston. The 2007 contest against the Cougars was broadcast nationwide on CSTV, which is now CBS College Sports.

In its only appearance on The Mtn., TCU dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to Utah in semifinal action at the 2008 Mountain West Conference Tournament.
TCU Closing In On StreakHaving not lost since falling to USC on Aug. 27, TCU is currently on a three-match unbeaten streak. That mark is the best single-season mark since the midway point of the 2008 season when the Purple and White defeated Arkansas-Pine Bluff, UTSA and New Mexico.

The school record for consecutive games without a loss is seven, which was set during the 2008 season.

Barg Honored by Top Drawer Soccer

Freshman Kristen Barg was selected on Thursday to Top Drawer Soccer's Top 100 Freshman To Watch list.
Barg, who comes into Sunday's game ranked No. 90 among collegiate freshman, has started all six games for the Horned Frogs this fall. The Plano native has netted one goal, while also dishing out one assist this season.
Top Drawer's watch list will be updated weekly. Earlier this week, Jordan Calhoun, Chelsea Cody and Jackie Torda were selected among the top 20 players in the Mountain West Conference. Calhoun is currently ranked No. 8, while Cody and Torda head into this weekend ranked No. 11 and No. 13, respectively.
TCU will take on No. 14 Oklahoma State on Sunday. Start time for the match, which will air live on The Mtn., is set for 4 p.m.

Dallas Cowboys here at TCU

The Dallas Cowboys are coming to TCU today to use our facilities. The Sam Baugh Indoor Facility is playing host to the Dallas Cowboys for their practices due to the inclement weather. It is a pretty cool feeling to know that our facilities here at TCU are good enough and respected by NFL teams like the Cowboys. We are going to try and get some pictures of the action today and get them up on the web.

Over the weekend

Friday night against Houston the girls played hard for over 90 minutes. The game went into double over time and it was very back and forth all game long. Alex Mechalske scored a screamer of a goal in the second half that would be worthy of a Top Ten Spot on ESPN.

Sunday afternoon at Northwestern State in Louisiana, the girls did have the best of starts to the game but really showed their character and courage when we dominated the Lady Demons of Northwestern State for over 60 minutes playing a man down. Scored 3 of our 4 goals shorthanded and looked like we were the team up.

GameDay vs. Houston Tonight!

It is another Friday Night Lights game versus University of Houston tonight at 7pm at beautiful Garvey-Rosenthal Stadium. The Jane Justin Fieldhouse is going to be lit up as always providing an impressive addition to the stadium.

Everyone is excited and relaxed for the match tonight and with beautiful weather providing temperatures in the low 70's you could not ask for a better environment. So come out and watch the Horned Frogs take on Houston in a must see game!

Happy Birthday Kerri!

Today is Kerri's birthday! Everyone on the team would like to say Happy Birthday to Kerri Hanks. This is Kerri's first birthday as a Horned Frog and part of our awesome program.

On another note North Texas is getting some very much needed rain today and our field looks great. It is a perfect green color that by tomorrow night will be better than the pitch at Old Trafford Stadium. Giving the girls a perfect pitch to go out and play under Friday Night Lights against University of Houston at 7PM.

Go Frogs!!

NIke Combat Football Jersey Released!

TCU's uniquely designed Nike uniform, to be worn in Saturday's season opener versus Oregon State at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, was officially unveiled Wednesday.

The Horned Frogs are one of just 10 college football programs this season to wear a new special Nike uniform for at least one game. TCU was also one of 10 schools to have the honor last season.

The Nike Pro Combat System of Dress uniforms the schools will wear are engineered to provide superior protection and durability, while utilizing advanced fabrics and tooling that reduce weight.

Nike worked diligently with each university to bring relevant elements of the school's rich heritage into the futuristic elite fit uniform designs.