UT-Austin footballers say donor anger led to “Eyes of Texas” mandate

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In October, athletic officials at the University of Texas told footballers in Longhorn that they had to stay on the field after the game for “The Eyes of Texas” to sing along with fans because donors were upset by them. athletes protesting the game-day tradition, two Longhorn football players told the Texas Tribune.

Previously, some student athletes had chosen not to participate after multiple games as the song had become a flashpoint over the summer – especially for black student athletes – given the song’s historic ties to alma mater. with the campus minstrel shows.

Soccer players said athletics officials, in a meeting with the players after the Oklahoma game, referred to emails from donors who said the protests could impact their players. employment prospects after graduation. At least one other player, former defensive linebacker Caden Sterns, made a similar claim in a tweet Monday but declined to be interviewed.

“They said you didn’t have to sing it. But you all have to stay on the ground. You all have to go out there and at least show your fans that you appreciate going out and watching yourself play, ”said junior linebacker DeMarvion Overshown in a phone interview Tuesday.

Sporting director Chris Del Conte said on Wednesday he had not heard from donors or alumni threatening job opportunities, adding that he was concerned the players would get that impression. He denied that the players were forced to stay on the pitch.

“We just asked for their help – no one has been forced or forced to do so,” he said in a statement.

But the players said the tenure showed them university officials were prioritizing the wishes of donors over team members, some of whom had spoken out in opposition over the summer and had fallen on their rejection of the song.

“It was really telling,” Overshown said. “They are very powerful people who come to see you play and can prevent you from getting a job in the state of Texas. It was shocking that they said that. To this day, I still think back to the present moment. They really used that as a threat to get us to try and do what they wanted us to do.

A second player, who was part of the squad during the 2020 season, shared a similar memory of meeting with the Tribune. This player asked not to be named, for fear of reprisals from the university and donors. He said it was Del Conte who told players the donors were unhappy and threatened to withdraw financial support.

“He kept saying these guys provide this for you. … He mentioned: “ We have donors talking about withdrawing money from the southern zone [stadium addition project], stopping their donations, ”said the second player.

Overshown declined to name sporting officials, but the second player said it was former head coach Tom Herman and Del Conte who relayed the feelings of the donors.

Del Conte denied making such a statement or that donors relayed the comments.

“I never said that, nor would I say it to a student-athlete, and I’ve never heard it from donors or alumni. My message has always been about unity. I’m disappointed if anything else said to our student-athletes made them feel this way. It concerns me, ”he said in an emailed statement. “I have told several student-athletes about this and I am happy to speak to anyone to let them know that it is not true. I only saw our alumni working to support our student-athletes.

Herman, who left college after being fired in January, could not be reached for comment.

The Dallas Morning News previously reported that the students were asked to stay on the field for “The Eyes” during the meeting with Del Conte and Herman after the Oklahoma game, when former quarterback Sam Ehlinger was made headlines for being alone on the pitch during the post-match game. tradition when players usually sing the song alma mater with the fans.

At the time, Del Conte said he was clarifying his expectations of players.

“I want to clarify that I have had many conversations with our head coaches to explain my expectation that our teams show their appreciation for our university, our fans and our supporters by standing together as a unified group for ‘The Eyes ‘, while we work on this issue. Del Conte wrote in his weekly message to fans at the time.

Sterns, the former defensive back, tweeted Monday that donors threatened the players’ future employment prospects.

“My teammates and I have been threatened by some former students that we have to find a job outside of Texas if we don’t participate,” he wrote.

Sterns declined to comment for this article, saying he was focusing on the NFL draft.

“I have nothing but love for UT and Texas, I just want to help make it a better place as much as I can,” he told the Tribune via a message. direct on Twitter.

His tweet was in response to a Tribune article that revealed that at least 75 alumni and donors had emailed UT-Austin president Jay Hartzell, threatening to get financial support if the university ended up. got rid of “Texas eyes”.

The song has been at the center of a firestorm since last summer, when athletes and students asked the school to stop singing it after games. The song – played to the tune of “I Worked on the Railroad” – has historically been performed in campus minstrel shows, and the title is linked to a saying by Confederate Army Commander Robert E . Lee.

Overshown, who has been among the more outspoken players, briefly boycotted team training in early July but returned after UT-Austin announced a series of changes in response to calls from students to improve training. racial equality on campus.

Emails obtained by the Tribune in a public records request showed many alumni, donors and fans outraged by images of Ehlinger alone after the Oklahoma game for the post-game song. The rest of the team had withdrawn from the field. (Ehlinger later said he was only left on the pitch to speak with the coaches.)

“The photos I see on social media of Sam Ehlinger standing alone after the game with his horns up to the fight song made me sick,” wrote one person identified as a 25-year subscription holder to Hartzell. Their name was redacted by UT-Austin, citing open registration laws that protect certain donor identities.

“These young men came to college knowing full well what was expected of them ….. one of those things has ALWAYS been respecting the university and its traditions. Love it or leave it. How dare they accept scholarships and disrespect this university with their smallness… ”

Numerous emails sent to the president from June through the end of October insisted that university officials penalize students who broke tradition.

“You tell those ‘students’ who don’t want to play that they’re out of the band and let the others play,” Linden R. Welsch, class of 1969, wrote to Hartzell after announcing that the Longhorn Band wouldn’t. play alma mater after the football game against Baylor University. “It’s the same problem you have with the football team. You let the detainees run the asylum. You let political correctness / social justice or whatever take over and have lost control. It’s stupid and it shows a total lack of leadership.

Welsch, whom The Alcalde alumni magazine calls a “life member” university donor, told the Tribune that the email summarized his concerns and that he had no further comment.

On Tuesday morning, Hartzell released a statement in response to the Tribune article on donor emails.

“People who target our students with hateful opinions do not represent the values ​​of the Longhorn community,” he said. “A few extremist views in the sample of emails the Texas Tribune reported on do not speak for the 540,000 Longhorn alumni who actively support our students and our university. Of the many emails I received this fall, a very small number contained truly heinous and hateful comments. I categorically reject them and they have no influence on any aspect of our decision making. “

“Just because we don’t all agree on our school song doesn’t mean we don’t all belong.”

Of the 300 emails sent to the president’s office between June and October, only 11 explicitly urged Hartzell to rid the school of song. Some 70% pleaded and demanded that the song stay. The rest did not express an opinion to remove or keep the song.

UT-Austin senior Connor O’Neill, co-director of the Longhorn Athletic Agency, a group that gives voice to student athletes in student government, said student leaders were largely dissatisfied with Hartzell’s statement.

“President Hartzell basically said it was just a few thousand fans, but the problem is you know those few people are the ones with a lot of power,” he said. . “It’s the donors who give millions of dollars and those who say, ‘Shut up and dribble’.”

Hartzell said the Texas Eye History Committee, organized to study the history of song, will release its report next week. He said the college community can continue the conversation about the song when it is “endowed with a common set of facts.”

Two weeks after the team reunited last October, the Texas Longhorns played at Baylor University in Austin and won. After the game, the whole team headed over to the fan section to listen to an audio recording of “The Eyes of Texas” being played. The Longhorn Band couldn’t find enough members to play the necessary instruments, another controversy that has sparked a new wave of angry donor emails.

For Overshown, standing on the pitch after the Baylor game was another moment of clarity.

“It made me realize what the money is going to get people to do here,” Overshown said. “The fact that someone says they are 100% behind us, but it’s about the money and the donors and what they want, then that’s a whole different story.”

As the song was playing, he took a knee.

Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin and Baylor University have financially supported the Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and sponsors. Financial support plays no role in the journalism of the Tribune. Find a full list here.