Texas Football: President backs band decision to not play ‘Eyes of Texas’ live

The band reportedly won’t play “The Eyes of Texas” live for Texas football vs. Baylor, and the UT president didn’t contradict them in his response.

One of the bigger ongoing controversies throughout the year for the Texas football program is the situation with “The Eyes of Texas” alma mater. In a very tumultuous year for everyone, let alone just the Texas program, the university’s alma mater is just one of many things caught up in a lot of controversy and discussion.

And the controversy and discussion surrounding The Eyes of Texas only was brought under a brighter spotlight heading out of the bye week and into the Longhorns Oct. 24 home contest against head coach Dave Aranda and the Baylor Bears. A recent report showed that the Texas band is not planning playing The Eyes of Texas at the matchup with Baylor this weekend.

The decision for the band not to play The Eyes of Texas this weekend came after Texas athletic director Chris del Conte stated that he expected the football players to participate in the playing of the school’s alma mater after games for the remainder of the season. And the Texas school president Jay Hartzell reportedly came out with a statement in response to The Eyes of Texas controversy, after the news dropped that the band wouldn’t be playing it this weekend against Baylor.

The response from Hartzell didn’t say too much that was out of the blue. He looks to expect Texas to continue to play the alma mater at future games for the rest of the season. But he also backed the fact that the band wasn’t expected to perform The Eyes of Texas live at this weekend’s game against Baylor.

Here’s more on what the University of Texas-Austin president Hartzell had to say on this matter.

"“The Eyes of Texas will be played this weekend as it has been throughout this season — and it will continue to be played at future games and events. While we would love the band be with our fans at all our games, we never planned for them to perform live this Saturday. We knew this summer that, as we make our campus a more welcoming place, we would face many hard conversations. I remain truly optimistic the we will find ways to join together around our song, which has been so positive for so many Longhorns over the past 120 years.”"

In the statement from Hartzell, he acknowledged that the school’s administration didn’t expect the band to play the alma mater live this weekend, and mentioned the inclusive changes made to the campus over the summer. But it is also important to note that his statement doesn’t contradict the point that the alma mater will at least be played this weekend (not necessarily by the band live), and throughout the rest of the season.

Texas is set to kick off against Baylor at home at DKR this weekend on the afternoon of Oct. 24, at 2:30 p.m. CT. The Longhorns enter with a record of 2-2 (1-2 Big 12) after falling short against the Oklahoma Sooners in the annual Red River Rivalry game back on Oct. 10, by the final score of 53-45 in four overtimes. Meanwhile, Baylor comes in with a record of 1-1 (1-1 Big 12), after a delayed game last weekend in the midst of a COVID-19 case outbreak among the players and staff.