Texas AD Chris Del Conte explains why the Longhorns scrapped Arizona State in 2032-33, citing playoff uncertainty and saying “Everything is fluid.”
Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte isn’t interested in locking the Longhorns into the past - or the distant future.
In a revealing appearance on the On Second Thought podcast, Del Conte pulled back the curtain on why Texas football canceled its non-conference home-and-home series with Arizona State scheduled for 2032 and 2033. His explanation? The series was never supposed to exist in the first place.
“It was not even supposed to be scheduled,” Del Conte said.
The roots of the agreement date back to a scheduling shuffle years ago. Texas had a sudden opening and didn’t want to dip into the FCS ranks, which has long been avoided in Austin. Arizona State agreed to help fill that gap, and in return, Texas agreed to a future series.
“We agreed, okay, we’ll play you down the road. Let us play Monroe right now, knowing that we’re never gonna play that game. So we actually canceled that game six, seven months ago. It just hit the newspaper now, but it was a mutually agreed upon thing,” Del Conte said.
The cancellation, while only recently publicized, had already been settled behind the scenes.
“This past year, we started, hey, man, that game doesn’t make sense for either one of us, so we had a discussion. It was a mutually agreed upon. We’re not going to play that game so far out, and from my perspective, I never intended playing the game the first time anyway.”
Del Conte’s larger message centered on flexibility. With the College Football Playoff expanding and conference realignment constantly reshaping the sport, long-term contracts no longer feel like safe bets.
“What does our new ecosystem look like? So instead of being like it used to be, let me schedule teams 10 years out, let’s be a little bit more nimble right now because of the unknown,” Del Conte said.
That uncertainty extends even to marquee matchups. When asked twice whether Texas still plans to honor its 2028-29 home-and-home with Notre Dame, Del Conte didn’t offer guarantees.
“Everything is fluid.”
For a program navigating the SEC era and an evolving playoff structure, the Longhorns appear determined to keep their options open — even if that means erasing games once circled on the calendar.