SAN ANTONIO — There may not be a finalized roster. The uniforms have yet to be unveiled. They're still two-plus years away from their first game.
But excitement is nonetheless starting to ripple through football fans in the Rio Grande Valley, where Texas's newest college program is nearing kickoff.
"We have done a tremendous amount of work," said Chasse Conque, the athletic director at University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). "We have a tremendous amount of work in front of us."
UTRGV, located in Edinburg – 300 miles away from its parent university in Austin – is launching a college football program slated to hit the gridiron in September of 2025. The Vaqueros' first recruits report to campus in the summer of 2024... until then, the clock continues to tick.
"People ask me what I'm working (on) right now," said head coach Travis Bush. "It is like 1,000 things at one time."
Bush is a Coastal Bend native and embracing the challenge of not only being a first-time college head coach, but starting this program from scratch. So far, he's got the endorsement of UTRGV leadership.
"I told somebody that he checked so many boxes that we had to add some boxes," said university President Guy Bailey.
This being the literal birth of the program, everything is temporary right now at UTRGV. Big visions are slowly coming into view, including the program's future home, the Vaqueros Performance Center.
It's an empty piece of land at the moment, but UTRGV officials hope for it to be operational by the summer of 2025.
"You feel like you're still under a time crunch," said Bush. "Looking at these buildings, a multimillion-dollar facility, hopefully getting built in right around two years."
All of the above is being made possible by the kids on campus; the students gave their seal of approval for a football program in 2021, when they voted to increase their athletics fee to cover the addition.
"It starts and stops with our student body, so having their support was really important," Conque said.
"We had more students voting than you have people voting in mayoral elections in the Rio Grande Valley," Bailey added.
Two years later, those students are hungry to have a team to cheer on.
"It has been a long time coming and we've been waiting," said a group of three female students.
A senior volleyball player who spoke with KENS said she wouldn't be here to see the program start, before added she would return down the road to catch some games at her alma mater.
Bush told us walking into his office each day and seeing the countdown clock that hangs on his wall is a reminder to get to work. But he's been in this position before, having helped launch the UTSA football program more then a decade ago with some of his UTRGV assistants.
"There were challenges we learned from," said John Simmons, director of operations for the forthcoming program. "Very simple challenges, like getting the comradery."
When it comes to the hidden potholes and pitfalls of trying to launch a new program, offensive line coach Jeff Bowen says they have the benefit of experience.
"Now we get to say, 'Oh hey, do you remember this?'" he said.
"There are some things that we are trying to do better because of the experience that we had before," Bush added.
Other sports fans are generally in the support of the new football program, including the baseball aficionados we talked to at an UTRGV baseball game.
But they weren't so confident that fans of other teams, like the Longhorns, will switch their allegiances that quickly.
"That will (be) hard to do," one fan told us.
"It's a Texas thing! It's what we do!" another said, excitement in her voice.
Bailey says he believe the RGV is hungry enough to give a football team the support it needs to succeed.
"You see the support from all corners of the Rio Grande Valley, and that is very promising," added Conque.
"This is something we've wanted down here for a long time," Bush added.
They'll play home games starting in fall 2025 at Edinburg's H-E-B Park. Like San Antonio's Toyota Field, it's a soccer-first stadium, but is easily modified for college football on Saturdays. As of now, a little more than 1,900 season tickets have already been purchased for the inaugural season.
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