Former Arizona athletic director on the prowl during poaching season | Greg Hansen

Now the AD at Texas, Del Conte last week approved a move that hired highly respected Arizona softball hitting coach Amber Freeman to take a similar role for the Longhorns. Del Conte has always been able to identify top talent and, when necessary, acquire it. His current Texas staff includes:

– Bob Bowman, swimming coach, poached from the Arizona State staff, where he won an NCAA championship.

– Mike White, softball coach, poached from the Oregon staff, where he had been Pac-12 coach of the year three times.

– Sean Miller, men's basketball coach, poached from his role as Xavier's head coach; Miller now has a roster so impressive at Texas that he is likely to reach his first Final Four.

– Laura Ianello, women's golf coach, poached from Arizona's staff, where she won the 2018 NCAA championship.

– Edrick Floreal, track coach, hired after productive stints as head coach at Stanford and Kentucky.

Del Conte has become perhaps the top athletic director in college sports at Texas, which last week won the Learfield Directors' Cup as the nation's top sports department. Warning: If Del Conte ever needs to replace men's tennis coach Bruce Berque, you can almost be sure his first target will be UA coach Clancy Shields.