University of Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte always intrigued me during my time as a UT student, and his wins for the Longhorns athletic department positioned him as one of the best ADs in the country. I had to tell his story. When I stepped inside Del Conte’s office, I learned he’s not just a suit. This narrative on the Texas AD placed third in the Texas Managing Editors Awards’ 2024 Sports Feature contest.

Chris Del Conte keeps a container of airsoft BBs in his office.

“Darrell Royal had a saying: ‘A united Texas is a reckoning when all the BBs are in a box,'” Del Conte said from behind the legendary coach’s old desk. “Once the BBs get out of the box, they’re scattered. But when you put them all back in, you can do great things.”

When Del Conte, 56, became the University of Texas athletic director in 2017 after an eight-year stint in the same role at TCU, the school’s football and baseball programs hadn’t won a national championship since 2005. The closest the men’s basketball team had been to a national title was a Final Four appearance in 2003. Texas football, which played for a national championship in 2009, went a combined 53-48 from 2010 through 2017.

The BBs were not in the box.