Building a National Reputation Through Athl

Victor J. Boschini, Jr., remembers when TCU’s reputation barely reached beyond Texas and the surrounding states.  

Boschini became the university’s 10th chancellor in 2003, long before football won the Rose Bowl or a College Football Playoff game. Baseball had not yet reached the College World Series, women’s basketball was still two-plus decades away from an Elite Eight run, and a Big 12 Conference invitation felt like a pipe dream. 

“My first five years, I could wear all my TCU gear in any airport, nobody would ever stop me,” Boschini said in early June, days after finishing a 22-year tenure as chancellor. “Or people would say to me, ‘Is that a Bible college,’ or ‘Do you have 1,000 students or 1,100?’”

The Horned Frogs competed in Conference USA when Boschini arrived and their last national title came 20 years earlier in women’s golf. 

Fast forward to 2025 and Boschini’s trips look quite different. 

“Now, you cannot go anywhere without somebody making a comment,” he said.  

Reaching all those previously unmet milestones plus national championships in rifle (4), men’s tennis (3) and beach volleyball (1) – among other accomplishments – will have that effect. 

Boschini will continue feeling this evolution’s aftershocks in his new role as chancellor emeritus, focusing on fundraising and enrollment. Similarly, his impact on TCU over the last two-plus decades reverberates across campus through updated infrastructure, an increased endowment, a growing student body population (8,275 in 2003 to 12,938 in fall 2024) and the establishment of an MD-granting medical school in Fort Worth.

That athletic success is also inextricably linked to Boschini. 

He oversaw the hiring of four directors of intercollegiate athletics, helped TCU move conferences twice, approved numerous coaching hires, and attended countless games. 

Picking a favorite athletic memory is a nearly impossible task, but Boschini notes joining the Big 12 and winning the 2011 Rose Bowl and 2022 playoff game brought significant national attention, which increased TCU’s visibility.  

“[Athletics] became the front door,” he said. “And once we got [people] in and they saw the great things here, and the people and all that; it just solidified it.”

The Horned Frogs encountered their fair share of adversity during that time, from losing seasons to personnel openings to teams barely missing out on NCAA tournament bids. Even the Big 12 move had several bumps along the way. 

TCU had joined the Mountain West Conference in 2005 and were becoming a midmajor football powerhouse. When conference realignment started in 2010, several conferences needed to restock, most notably the Big 12 and Big East. 

By late November 2010, the Horned Frogs had accepted a Big East invitation, finally getting into the exclusive power conference club. The Big East’s future grew fuzzy, though, in September 2011 as mainstays Pittsburgh and Syracuse announced a move to the ACC.  

TCU declined the Big East invitation about a month later as a new offer surfaced. The Horned Frogs officially joined the Big 12 in July 2012. The Big East split into the American Athletic Conference (football-playing schools) and the Big East (non-football playing schools).  

“Everything changed like every 20 minutes,” Boschini said. After talking about it a little more, he laughs, adding “But, you know, that’s funny ’cause I think that’s what we have again now,” referencing Name Image & Likeness (NIL) and the transfer portal.

It’s impossible to know where TCU would be now if the Big 12 invite never came, but one thing is certain: Being in a power conference altered TCU’s future. 

The television payout alone immediately impacted the university’s budget, as Big 12 teams received more than $20 million per year versus $2 million for Mountain West members. 

Any other necessary adjustments took time. 

“The thing is we still had the same coaches, the same people, the same players,” Boschini said. “But [the move] made a world of difference from people looking outside-in.”

Former director of intercollegiate athletics Chris Del Conte guided TCU through this historic change. When he left for Texas in 2017, Boschini tapped TCU’s deputy athletics director, Jeremiah Donati. Donati’s departure last year brought in former Army athletics director Mike Buddie, who started at TCU in January. 

Boschini feels Buddie’s approach aligns perfectly with the university’s values and vision. 

“You want somebody who has that burning desire to win but also wants to do it within the rules,” Boschini said. “And that’s hard because when you get more successful, it almost works against you because in your mind, it’s almost easier to cut a few corners because you have to stay on top … And when we met [Mike], we’re like, unless we’re totally wrong on this, this person has it all.”

In some ways, hiring an director of intercollegiate athletics got easier as the Horned Frogs gained national prominence since the candidate pool grew, Boschini said. But, that also meant he had to sift through additional resumes. 

The searches required an immense amount of time and trust from everyone involved. Boschini logged many miles visiting candidates since final interviews were done away from campus. 

“I always joke how much secrecy it’s shrouded in because the candidates, they don’t want to let anybody know they’re interested,” he said.

Each search Boschini conducted, dating back to Danny Morrison (2005-2009), Del Conte (2009-2017), Donati (2017-2024) and Buddie (2025-present), brought in “the right person at the right time.”

Collectively these individuals plus Eric Hyman, director of intercollegiate athletics from 1998-2005, directed TCU through arguably the best nearly quarter-century stretch in athletics history. 

As Boschini shares more stories entrenched in those years, it’s clear each person involved holds a special place. Lessons learned from head coaches, especially those whose TCU careers span multiple decades, stick with the self-described worrier. 

“All those people taught me that you just have to keep being positive and keep moving forward,” Boschini said. “Things will fall in place and that 80% of the stuff you worry about will never happen.”

Boschini smiles when talking about watching soccer games with the players’ parents or how he knew nothing about equestrian when TCU added the sport in 2006. 

An hour-long conversation hardly scratches the surface of these seemingly endless memories, serving as a good reminder that Boschini’s time as chancellor brought TCU unprecedented growth and success, both on and off the playing field. 

“I knew we could do a lot,” he said. “But I never thought we could do this.”  

Next week, TCU on SI will share some of Boschini’s favorite sport-specific moments and stories from his time as chancellor.