Wealthy Texas donors threaten to pull funding over ‘The Eyes of Texas’ | Yahoo Sports College Podcast

Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wetzel and Pete Thamel, an Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde discuss the nasty situation at Texas between many of the players and students at UT-Austin and some of the wealthy donors to the football program over whether or not to continue singing “The Eyes of Texas,” despite mounting support to scrap the song with racist origins.

Video Transcript

[CHEERING]

PETE THAMEL: Chris Del Conte had to make a choice at some point this fall. He had to either side with his players or side with his boosters. And in this time of athlete empowerment, in this time of Black Lives Matter, in this very fraught times with raw feelings, I thought it was significant-- and I pointed this out all the way through the fall-- that Del Conte sided with the boosters. That, first of all, gave us a window into the fact that he was going to need their support to fire Tom Herman, which was his plan and hope all along.

PAT FORDE: Yeah.

PETE THAMEL: But the second part is, once you sided with those boosters and once you've done that, like, the toothpaste is out of the tube here. So it's going to be interesting to see how going forward-- and I thought some of the comments that some of the former players-- I think Caden Sterns was one-- made just about boosters saying they'd have to go another state to find a job if guys did that, like-- there is going to be-- this is not over and it's not going to be over for a while. There's going to be lasting implications from this. And so by taking this job, Steve Sarkisian has inherited this problem.

DAN WETZEL: These emails make it less likely that Texas keeps the song. These morons-- again, I don't even want to give the attention for this stuff. But it's so obviously ignorant-- these emails-- and preposterous that I think it becomes more pressure. Also, I would say this. It's not just-- and I know you weren't implying this. But it's not just Black athletes who are offended by this.

PAT FORDE: Sure. Of course.

DAN WETZEL: It's athletes of any race. And it's many, many, many other alums--

PAT FORDE: Sure.

DAN WETZEL: --both young and old who will look at this and go, that's not what I want out of my University. And I'm sure as hell not siding with someone who's still referring to them as the, quote, "the Blacks." I mean, my God. Right?

PAT FORDE: Yeah. [LAUGHS]

DAN WETZEL: I want him gone. And I don't really care if he's got a million bucks. We need this booster money. Do you really?

PAT FORDE: Well--

DAN WETZEL: Are they not going to play football in Texas--

PAT FORDE: --that's the question.

DAN WETZEL: --if all the old racist guys go? Or are we not able to pay Chris Del Conte as much money? Because that's really what we're talking about with budget. They got a budget at Texas to field a football team. It's all the bells and whistles that these guys need. So, I would say that the athletic department could quite easily say beat it. We're going young. We're going to go different. This is the future. This is not the past. It's not just that you don't want-- you want the song to stay. Your argument is clearly ignorant and racist.

PAT FORDE: Yeah.

DAN WETZEL: That's your problem.

PAT FORDE: The thing that Texas has done here, I mean, they have drawn a line that says you do not have any personal choice in this. You will stand there for this fight song-- or the school song. Whereas the perfectly logical alternative is, if you don't want to, you don't have to. If you do, go ahead. But that's-- and the point that-- the tell from these emails is, you know, it's not-- with at least some of them-- it's not, hey, I have pride in my school and that song fills me with pride. It is, no. If you don't like it then the hell with the Blacks. I mean that's-- that's where they've gotten themselves a real issue here.

PETE THAMEL: Yes. The lack of option is really the most stunning part of this. Like, you would think in the modern environment we're in, if there has been that much blowback from your players, be they minority players, be they white players, whatever, like, that the school would stop. But not only have they decided to not stop the song, but they're also demanding that everybody stands there for it. I mean, it's like-- like, I mean the optics of it are preposterous.

PAT FORDE: Yeah. It's ridiculous.

DAN WETZEL: If I was in college in that, I would have never stood. I was always non-- I'm too nonconformist. Like, when I was in, like, the fourth grade or something and I first learned that you are allowed in America to burn the flag, I loved that concept. What made me more patriotic about America was that I didn't have to be patriotic. Like, that concept to me is one of the best things I ever heard my entire life. I've never burned a flag. I'm never going to burn a flag. But the fact that I'm allowed to burn the flag makes me like the country more. Why the hell do I-- would I have to ever stand for whatever the hell the alma mater of my University is? What? I didn't go there? No, I went. I graduated just like you. You're no better than me. I don't-- I mean, how would you possibly have to stand for a school alma mater? It's like, again, it's the electric company, man. It's a college. You pay them-- you do-- you get a service back. I don't salute the electric bill when it shows up every month.

PAT FORDE: [LAUGHS]

[MUSIC PLAYING]