“There was never a hard deadline for when we would make a decision on whether we would have football,” Gonzales said via email. “With that said, over the last two years we had other priorities that slowed our discussions and process regarding the football feasibility study. One of them was unforeseen and was probably the biggest, which was SACSCOC academic probation. The process to resolve and develop a response for SACSCOC’s concerns takes an entire year. That includes preparing for a site visit.
“Most of our 2017 year was focused on ensuring we had an appropriate response to SACSCOC.”
Should UTRGV move forward and a student referendum to add football passes, future steps likely would require the involvement of the Texas Legislature. The Texas legislative sessions, held every two years, determine the allocation of state funding to Texas public universities and play a role in setting the tuition costs and fees of those institutions. The 86th legislative session is set to run in 2019 from Jan. 8 through May 27. The next meeting for the UT System Board of Regents is scheduled for Nov. 14-15, marking the final meeting before January’s legislative session.