Texas-Size Ambition

The UT Tower is the most prominent building on the University of Texas campus, a 27-story landmark visible from many parts of the city, so it should come as no surprise that its shape resembles the numeral 1.

At least that’s what the success of Texas sports programs might lead one to believe.

The tower was constructed in 1937, and 12 years later Texas won its first national championship, in baseball.

Since then, Longhorn sports teams have added 44 more in 11 sports.

That number lags behind USC’s all-time mark of 84, but it’s among the top 10 and a state source of pride.

“Winning attitude is just a part of Texas,” said DeLoss Dodds, men’s athletic director at Texas. “If you’re in Texas, people want to win.”

The Longhorns have done their share of winning in recent history.

They are ranked second in football and will play USC in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 4 for the national championship.

The men’s basketball team, a Final Four participant in 2003, started the season ranked second. The women’s basketball team is ranked in the top 20.

The softball team finished third at the 2005 Women’s College World Series.

The baseball and women’s track and field teams are defending national champions. The men’s swimming team has won three national tiles since 2000.

“We like to say that you have to be No. 1 or better here,” said women’s basketball Coach Jody Conradt, who has been at Texas for 30 years.

“But at the same time there are some high standards, and nobody wants to be the team or coach that is not meeting that standard.”

Texas’ list of famous alumni includes Roger Clemens, Tom Landry, Ben Crenshaw, Earl Campbell and Tom Kite.

Olympic swimmers Ian Crocker, Aaron Peirsol and Gary Hall Jr. recently left Texas; and current Longhorn standouts include softball pitcher Cat Osterman, quarterback Vince Young, this year’s Heisman Trophy runner-up, and Wooden Award candidate P.J. Tucker of the men’s basketball team.

Texas was a pioneer in women’s athletics. Donna Lopiano, executive director of the Women’s Sports Foundation, was the athletic director there from 1975 to 1992, and under her guidance the Longhorns promoted and marketed women’s sports.

Erika Arriaran is a freshman from Norco who was regarded as the top girls’ high school basketball player in the nation last season.

She had her choice of schools but said Texas was the leader from day one of the recruiting process.

“As soon as you get here, you understand how huge sports are at this university,” she said. “It makes you want to be a part of it.”

The Longhorns have made seven consecutive men’s NCAA tournament appearances and advanced to the Sweet 16 or beyond four of the last five years. Coach Rick Barnes, a native of basketball-crazy North Carolina, left his job at Clemson in the basketball powerhouse Atlantic Coast Conference to coach Texas in 1998.

“I look at the university and the tradition and the product and the league we’re in and I feel that we should be a big player in the basketball world,” he said. “I think people probably wondered why I left the Atlantic Coast Conference for Texas. But I do think that the University of Texas is one of the top basketball jobs in the country.”

Dodds said the athletic department has an annual operating budget of nearly $75 million. The school fields 20 sports, far fewer than the NCAA maximum of 37, but every sport is fully funded.

Baseball Coach Augie Garrido won three national titles at Cal State Fullerton and took the job at Texas one year after winning the title in 1995.

“It’s unlikely I would have left Southern California for any other job,” said Garrido, who has won two national titles at Texas.

The school is in the middle of a nearly $200-million renovation project for its facilities. The 6,600-seat baseball stadium will be rebuilt, and the 17,000-seat basketball arena is undergoing a $55-million upgrade.

There is a new 20,000-seat track and soccer stadium, a 4,400-seat volleyball gym and a 2,600-seat swimming and diving arena. And the football stadium is getting a $100-million renovation that includes adding 10,000 seats to the 81,000 already there.

“As a coach, you are given every thing you need to operate a successful program,” Garrido said. “But the flip side of that is that the expectations are high. You can’t be a coach there and lose.”

Mack Brown, the football coach, understands. He took over in 1998 and has won at least nine games each year since. Even so, there were calls for his firing because his teams lost four consecutive games to rival Oklahoma, a streak the Longhorns ended this year.

Brown said his wife “says 50% of the teams lose every week. I say, ‘I won’t be here long if I’m in that group.’ So, let’s understand, this place is different.”

Especially when it comes to football, the No. 1 sport in Texas. The Longhorns haven’t won a national title in football since 1970.

Dodds, the athletic director since 1981, has overseen 10 national championships during his tenure. In 2002-03, Texas became the first school to have a top-10 football team, a Final Four men’s basketball team and a College World Series baseball team in the same academic season.

But, Dodds said, “Football is king at Texas. I can’t retire till we win a football championship.”