Patterson’s Posts | Via TexasSports.com

Every week, our friends at TexasSports.com send out a weekly communication from Men's Athletics Director Steve Patterson. See below for this week's Patterson's Posts. 

On July 1, the Big 12 rolled out its new set of branding and identity standards including a new logo. I'm excited about the new look. You will see the logo represented on our teams' uniforms and in our facilities this next year. Check out the new look on Big12Sports.com.

The Big 12 also announced it is set to host a forum in NYC on 'The State of College Athletics' on Wednesday, Aug. 6. I'm looking forward to joining the panel next week to discuss the important role athletics plays in higher education. Read more about the forum and panel members here.

Many of you have probably noticed news items about rising tuition costs and student debt. As the cost of higher education continues to increase, the work college athletics does to provide as many scholarship opportunities as possible to our student-athletes becomes even more important. At Texas, we are fortunate to have loyal and passionate fans, many who support our student-athletes through contributions to the Longhorn Foundation. One way we can make Texas Athletics financially secure for generations to come is through scholarship endowments. You can listen to an interview I did with Craig Way on "Longhorn Weekly" where I discuss the importance of endowments and fundraising for our future here. If you would like to contribute to an endowment, you can do so here.

A couple weeks ago, some of the Texas Athletics staff headed to Florida to kick off training with the Disney Institute. Over the next year, we will work with them to help build a strong department-wide purpose dedicated to excellent customer service. Disney Institute representatives will help mentor and guide the entire staff to design and shape our culture and practices. All our staff will develop best practices to better serve all our constituents. I'm looking forward to this new partnership and what it will contribute to our team.

STUDENT-ATHLETE UPDATES
Congratulations to former volleyball student-athlete Bailey Webster on her nomination for the 2014 NCAA Woman of the Year. Bailey is an excellent representative of The University through her hard work and leadership on the court, in the classroom and in the community. The winner is announced Oct. 19. Good luck to Bailey.

Congratulations as well to sophomore Courtney Okolo, who is one of three finalists for The Bowerman, an award that honors the top NCAA male and female track and field athletes of the year. Information about how you can vote online for Courtney here.

UT finished sixth this year in the Division I Learfield Sports Directors' Cup standings and ranked tops in the Big 12. Points for the Directors' Cup are awarded based on each institution's finish in up to 20 sports (10 women's and 10 men's). Stanford University won the Cup with 1,482 points. During the 2013-14 season, Texas scored in all nine men's sports and in nine of 11 women's sports to finish sixth with a total of 1,093 points. Full information is available here.

I'm proud of all our student-athletes for another great year. I'm looking forward to welcoming them all back to campus soon and watching them compete for championships.

ACADEMIC HIGHLIGHTS
While our student-athletes were competing at the highest level in their sports, they were also achieving in the classroom. Here are some academic highlights from the 2013-14 academic year:

• The cumulative GPA for all sports was 3.06, including a record-setting 3.10 cumulative GPA for Spring 2014
• 14 teams earned a 3.0 or higher GPA for Spring 2014
• 324 student-athletes (64%) earned a 3.0 or better and were named to the Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll in Spring 2014
• 153 student-athletes (30%) earned a 3.5 or better semester GPA in Spring 2014
• 3,954 hours of community service were completed by student-athletes

Since 2006, 114 former student-athletes have returned to complete their degrees under the consortium degree completion program. Six former student-athletes graduated this year. Providing former student-athletes the funding and resources to come back and complete their degree continues to be an important commitment on the part of Texas Athletics.

OTHER NEWS
Congratulations to two Texas greats -- former running back Earl Campbell and former women's basketball head coach Jody Conradt -- on their recent Texas Exes awards. Campbell receives the Distinguished Alumnus Award and Conradt is honored with the Distinguished Service Award.

A big thank you to President Emeritus Peter Flawn for giving Texas Athletics his 1979 football signed by the entire team. Items such as this football are great reminders of the great history and tradition of Texas Athletics.

Football will start off the 2014 season with the Texas Football Kickoff Luncheon presented by YP on Aug. 14 from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the Frank Erwin Center. Tickets are on sale right now exclusively to Longhorn Foundation members. Ticket information and details on how to become a Longhorn Foundation member are available here. Hope to see you there!

I'll be back with another update Aug. 7.

Until next time -- Hook 'em, Horns!