Cedric Golden: Texas Athletic Director Chris De Conte Is an Absolute Savage | Texas Longhorns

Cedric Golden, Austin American-Statesman joins 365 Sports to discuss his thoughts on the Jim Schlossnagle press conference at Texas today, his thoughts on if this move was in the works for a long time, his thoughts on the atmosphere around Texas A&M, what programs need to look over their shoulders at Texas, and more.

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know the story now where Cedric golden was at the press conference works for the Austin American statesman and joins us on 365 Sports was this just a Savage move by Chris Delante you’ve been reading golden uh smoke because I used exactly I haven’t read it yet okay yeah I called I called him an absolute Savage in the nicest sense of the word I mean he’s a he’s a Don he’s a he’s a boss and he doesn’t care if he hurt your feelings when he took your coach I mean is it brutal you think uh the season ends and this this is like you know you you think you’re on good terms with your girl you may have had a little argument but everything’s good and you’re at the mall the next day you see her walking in a Foot Locker with the one guy you hate and she’s happy and they’re hand in hand and there’s nothing you can do about it man the Eggies are the Eggies are stewing in it and they are out for blood but guess what I don’t think Texas cares they didn’t care when they when they left the Big 12 with Oklahoma and I know they don’t care now that they’ve taken maybe the best baseball coach in the country um Cedric there is a you know the narrative from Chris Del con and Jim schnegel is that this just came up after the game was over I don’t necessarily believe that uh I know it’s not something that they can just say like yeah we’ve been working on this for months but this happened really fast uh with everybody on the coaching staff being ready to go if it just happened in about 15 hours what are you trying to say PA what are you trying to say qu being around the bush I’m telling they they they’ve had this in the works are you trying to tell me that when when Jim scha laid his head down Monday night that he before he went to sleep he went I’m gonna be coaching next Seas no I’m gonna tell you he did that like four days before that you can’t prove it but if you’re telling me that they cook this thing up way beforehand I would I I would tend to agree with you they talk all the time you don’t think they talked after Texas lost 16 to7 to Rio Grand Valley you don’t think they had some after that you don’t think they talked when the Eggies came in here and worked them 9 to2 UM on a Tuesday night of course they did and they’re old buddies and they and they worked together and they were four of his five College World Series appearances at TCU came with um CDC as his athletic director and so uh it it pays for me to say it but I just don’t see how this all just came together when it’s span of 12 hours he did not it did not I think I think I think that he was going to be the guy I wrote it a day before CDC Harden that he that he that he was the right choice and you know there’s not a graceful exit it’s polarizing and I thought it was a to a 3,000 pound bull trying to tiptoe out of a china shop there’s going to be some furniture being knocked over and people in College Station know and one more thing guys let’s let’s quit trying to hold these coaches up to some standard yeah let’s quit just quit equating a salary with with with some kind of uh honor you know um this is this is not Mother Teresa serving starving kids on the streets of kolut this is America these are capitalists and they want money and for me if smoke if someone offered me double my salary I would I would stop talking in the middle of this sentence and head to the bank because because it’s America and we all want more uh he’s gonna probably make upwards of $3 million a year probably could have made it at um Texas A&M but he wanted to work with the person that he respects the most uh as an ad and that’s still K Cedric uh you know the I guess you can argue over the timing of the announcement about David Pierce’s firing being on the day of the national championship game and all that created but then by the end of the night the story was schlass Nagel and his interaction with I guess a reporter whose name we now all know Richard Zayn who asked him about the job opening um I guess we can debate on whether either one of those handlings were were right or wrong or not but in particular with the um response he had I know he didn’t have a lot of room or a lot of options in terms of what he could say but um how do you think maybe that could have been handled differently and how do you feel like he addressed that reporter um in today in mentioning him how do you feel like that that went over Craig I believe in my heart a heart that he handled that poorly and all you had to say is man I’m not talking about that tonight you just lost that’s all you had to say yeah and then 24 hours later you’re bailing on the team that just you know that just lost in the championship game all players that sold it sold it out for you he did publicly apologize it is my hope that he will contact Richard Zayn personally and apologize I’ve known schla for years I I get along well with him he’s been on my podcast with Kirk BS and uh we have we have a good time chopping it up um it it’s not it wasn’t a great way to handle it um it reminded me of Roy Williams uh when they lost Texas made it to the final four in 2003 and lost to Carmelo Anthony in Syracuse and then in the championship game uh Carmelo and Company beat Roy Williams in Kansas 8178 after that game a reporter asked Roy Williams about the North Carolina opening and Roy Williams goes I could give a you know what about Carolina right now I just care about those do we lose them uh it didn’t look like hold on yeah watch the mic uh we’ll see if we can reestablish that was an interesting story I’m looking forward to what he had to say with uh with Roy Williams at KU and eventually was North Carolina um sorry I could not hold that back and the camera happened to be on me I could not stop that one yeah that’s one thing you gosh bless you Craig thank you guys that’s why when we redo this we need to get the uh cough the cough that would cough clicker whatever it it might be so we’re waiting to get reestablished with Cedric golden Cedric hasn’t he’s said what I think we’ve discussed as far as the timeline of when it All Began uh how he handled the Richard Zayn question uh and and and and really the dagger U Savage of of what was able to be done by getting this accomplished in the first place yeah I mean he’s right the the best handling and I was asking this earlier would have been to say like guys I’m not talking about that tonight now that would have still LED everybody to go oh well he’s he’s definitely going then but it still would have probably left enough vague room to think well yeah maybe he just doesn’t want to talk about it tonight although I’m sure that wouldn’t have you know helped Aggie sleep any better of like well just say no if you’re not going to take it right but still it uh it um yeah it’s very interesting to to dig into this one it’s a fascinating story that like I said earlier is going to go down in the college football folk tales book you know when the the the tales from history of college football this is going to have its own little entry in that I feel like yeah I I I don’t know if I just text him myself he’s not answering Paul no I got him he’s right here okay all right good I thought he basically exactly did he got an offer twice the size of his money man I’m GNA say something about something about an iPhone 7 that sometimes it does okay uh I forgot where we were Roy Williams he was talking finish up that story about the the game after they lost to Carmelo and Syracuse so they lose they lose by three points to Syracuse and and after the game a reporter asked Roy Williams about the North Carolina opening and he goes I could give a r you know what about North Carolina I just care I just care about these kids in their locker room uh they’re hurting and I love them one week later Roy Williams is the head coach of North Carolina so this is what these guys do and and it it’s co coaching is is not this is not new this this is not the new Rocky era these guys are millionaires and they want more millions and if you can find a guy that that you know has your back and and and can can um support you and your recruiting and in this nil thing the the the buying of players why wouldn’t you want that I’m not saying he didn’t have it at A&M but him and Del K are are like best friends so um I felt like it was a move that he was going to make if he could make it Cedric uh I mean obviously uh a lot of players are in the portal from A&M right now you know that the the key like the heart of their lineup essentially going do you feel all those guys will go with Jim schl angle or do you think that there might be some that scatter elsewhere man I don’t even know uh I know that I know that if they if they’re not mad at him they’ll probably they’ll probably come to play for him he brought his whole staff with him and and um that’s going to make the uh 2026 Series in College Station even juicier um you know ktie bar the door for this fall Thanksgiving weekend I would advise the Texas bus driver to go 10 miles an hour under the speed limit and um you know it’s not just a a university that’s upset with schoth it’s a whole city it’s a whole Aggy Nation uh those people are broken and big brother did it to them again he did and and and if this isn’t a reminder of of of of how Texas views Texas A&M uh I mean announcing David Pierce is firing on the day y of the championship game really I mean of all days to announce it uh it was crazy and so I I think I think Chris Dell con just doesn’t care about perception especially Perceptions in College Station he believes that he’s got the formula to put Texas back on top in the major sports football basketball and baseball and from what I’m seeing he’s making All the Right Moves uh you told me that shos Nagel would be coaching Texas uh this time next year I’m telling I would I would tell you that’s a huge upgrade over a very good baseball coach in David Pierce yeah Delante seems to be the the right leadership that they had been missing for a while and also the right time I mean to really Flex all of Texas’s muscle with the resources that they have in this era where those are a lot more valuable uh not so much behind the scenes but you know yeah like they’re they’re working with a lot of uh ammo right now Cedric and he’s hired a bunch of coaches at this point I mean I I know there’s been other hires this offseason what in golf for example uh but who’s on staff now looking at Chris Al con basically handpicking Elite coach after Elite coach and delivering the message of like we’re going to be the best at everything like who’s looking over their shoulder and needing to perform you feel like amongst the Texas Sports now moving forward that haven’t been addressed lately uh what sports on campus are looking over their shower yeah what coaches are like well I better get my step my game up because there’s a elite bar that that must be met and that’s been very clear by how Del con’s maneuvered that’s a great question but they just won the learfield director’s cup for the third time in four years so they’re performing well in all sports they even won rowing National Championship who knew they had rowing they won a rowing National Championship they won in women’s tennis they won in men’s and women’s track uh uh three straight Elite eights from Vic schaer uh you know Rodney Terry two straight Elite eight so it it’s it’s going now I will say this guys uh between 01 and ‘ 05 Texas had it going they were rolling uh two Rose Bowl wins a national championship for Mack uh two national championships uh in four years for Augie gito two final four appearances in 03 for the men and the women and um but the difference now is those Olympic sports are the ones leading the charge right now what Del kante is trying to do is to get those big Revenue producing sports football which took a ma major step with the cfp appearance under Steve sarkeesian um basketball with Rodney Terry baseball with Jim Schlagel those are the sports that that bring in the big crowds and and bring in the big money those are the sports that need to be barking the loudest those are the ones and I know speaking of barking I know pit bull’s coming in here for that SEC celebration in a few days but the biggest dog in Austin is Chris Del con he’s making All the Right Moves guys Cedric I’m gonna ask you a question I hope it makes sense to you as you know columnist that cover Texas but you you do more than that uh whoever it might be but there also have been stories written about other programs who have been through some tough times and or maybe a little greasy that even Austin media has gotten involved with columns or opinion pieces do you think anybody in Austin has the you know what’s and I think you’re probably one of the few that would write a story that at maybe even the possibility of man this is not really a great look it needs to be done a little bit better oh yeah I’m sure I know people in College Station have written it today um I think I think the new way of doing business is more financial I’d love to say that uh it’s all about going into to Mom and Dad’s living room and saying we’re going to take care of your kid for the next four years and he’s going to get a degree and blah blah blah that game has changed when they had the first official visiting day for football players players a couple of weeks ago they had six Lamborghini parking at at the facilties engines revving so it’s changed it’s it’s Unapologetic um the romanticist in me would love to to go back to a simpler time when it was when it was just about uh you know education and blah blah blah but even then guys were getting paid under the table we all know that’s FY um I think um the whole way of doing business the model is what really drove Nick Savin out of college football he knew that even though he’s the best coach and the best recruiter the game has ever seen that he wouldn’t be able to deal with the big money of a Texas of a Notre Dame of a Texas A&M of a Michigan uh those those alumni bases are bigger and better and have more dollars and I think he got out while the getting was good um is it slimy um it’s it’s not it’s not exactly the most honorable era we live in but I think that the uh NCAA and the athletic directors and the president opened up this can of worms when they didn’t put restrictions on nil and all it’s happened now is it’s trickled down to the coaches and it’s also made it to where coaches are getting fired a lot quicker because they know that another coach who might be able to uh make better deals with these players is they’re waiting in the wings so um I I think that um you know I’ve written I’ve written some some um less than flattering pieces about Chris Del Conte I called him a liar when he fired Tom Herman and hired sarkeesian after saying Herman would be his coach there next year um we had a not so civil discussion after that uh I also wrote that that the Oklahoma move with Texas to the SEC was a back alley deal that was handled poorly um there’s a way to do things and I didn’t think that was the way to do it uh they haven’t broken any rules it’s Cutthroat it’s not pretty but it’s the world that we live in now yep so in July of 2021 when Texas and Oklahoma when that story by Brent zerman shocked everybody shook college football’s landscape even College athletics um I would think at that time Oklahoma was still ahead of Texas in a lot of ways not maybe not overall athletic department but in football which is really what matters yes sir and then about that time you start to see changes in college athletics with the nil transfer portal Etc do you feel like the timing of that could not have been more perfect for Texas to perhaps be in a better spot now on July 1st than people thought when that’s story became real it’s a great question and I think you’re I think you’re spot on David I think I think that Texas when they hired Sark uh hired hired a guy that they hoped would lead them in special places but he had a checker history I mean he it didn’t end well in USC for well documented reasons um he was a good assistant but uh he had he hadn’t set the world on fire just yet and so when when um they went by and seven the question mark started but then but then nil shows up and all of a sudden the the one of the most richest athletic departments in all of all of College athletics had free reign to spend what they wanted to spend to get the athletes they needed to team with the coaches and I think in that in in in essence that’s where they passed Oklahoma and that’s why I think that they’re going to be a force to be reckoned with in the SEC are they going to go in there and set that on fire I don’t know but they’ve got a coach with three straight top five recruiting classes and they’ve got four knocks at their disposal and kids like money and guess who else likes money guys the parents of the kids many of whom are not from great backgrounds uh financially so to be able to help Mom and Dad out and play at Texas and know you’re going to be in the SEC um I I think that the timing could not have been perfect um I don’t know that it’s lightning in a bottle but I think a lot of things are falling into place for Texas and they’re going into the SEC totally they’re going to be respectful of who they’re playing you can’t help but be it’s Georgia it’s Alabama it’s LSU it’s A&M is Florida it’s tenness but they’re not afraid because because they’re good in recruiting and they’re and they’re good at the bank and right now in 2024 those are the two most important parts of building a winter thanks for your time Cedric appreciate it great stuff uh maybe tomorrow will be a little more normal see but of course we’ll watch how the transfer portal lights up everyone’s roster anything else craigger Paul thanks for your time we appreciate it have a great day Cedric golden Austin American statesman with us here on