Patterson Out

[Danny Hale]

Anyone who has seen Texas play sees that the best player at plenty of key positions were signed by Charlie either in 2014 or 2015 classes. QB,2 WR`S,LT,RG,TE,DT,2 LB`S,2DB`S ,P , ,then key backups make up the entire roster were signed by Charlie.

 

[texbound]

Anyone leaving the Texas job for Miami would be potential career suicide.  "The U" isn't what it once was, and I'd expect a whole lot of crazy rumors to start flying from multiple sites.

I heard this on the Jack Arrute (sp) show on Sirius XM.  They asked the question of would Charlie Strong consider leaving Texas for Miami and they both said absolutely not.  It was something they brought up out of thin air.  Nothing at all to back it up.   They also said they were going start a social media rumor that Nick Saban was going to take the AD job for 20 million a year.  So, wait for that rumor to catch fire as well.

 

[TeamMayhall]

Too much drama lately.

Can we just play Cal already?

 

[primal defense]

Sad day for our great University.

This whole scenario reminds me of nothing so much as the rift created when DKR stepped down and the BMDs insisted on Akers over Campbell. The original "spilling of the BBs."

It lead to a 20 yr. wander in the desert.

Happy day for our great University. It was a sad day when we hired Patterson.

 

[CharcoalPuppy]

Happy day for our great University. It was a sad day when we hired Patterson.

At least Patterson got the heavy lifting out of the way for the next AD in replacing Brown and Barnes. 

 

[primal defense]

At least Patterson got the heavy lifting out of the way for the next AD in replacing Brown and Barnes. 

That's true and at he was well compensated.

 

[primal defense]

I agree

Be bold Texas, pay Tom Jurich whatever it takes

Now is not the time for Texas to tread lightly. Now is the time to make bold, daring moves.

Like hiring Tom Jurich away from Louisville.

MORE: Top 15 programs since 2000 | Big 12 conference rankings

There’s little question football makes everything run at Texas, and when everything is running smoothly, football success makes every problem seem less daunting.

Steve Patterson never got that concept, never embraced the beast that is Texas football and alienated too many big-money donors with his combative management style.

Texas doesn’t need someone with Texas roots, it needs someone who knows the value of football over all else — in every manner possible — and who has the personality and temperament to make the biggest of donors feel like God himself made the sun burnt orange for a reason, you know.

That guy is Jurich, the AD who took a basketball-fueled athletics program at Louisville and turned it into a football beast. Hiring Jurich would also reunite him with Texas coach Charlie Strong, who Jurich hired at Louisville, and together they brought the Cardinals to a BCS bowl and the elite of the nation.

But that reconnection is a small part of what makes Jurich the bold choice.

When he was hired at Louisville in 1997, he was told football was a way to pass the time until Midnight Madness opened the doors to all things roundball. Instead of shying from the monster that is basketball, he embraced it — but also convinced the community (and big-money donors) that an elite football program would bring Louisville from minor conference purgatory to major conference heaven.

MORE: Top 70,000-or-less seat college football stadiums

Make no mistake, the ACC added Louisville because of the football program — not the basketball program. The ACC added Louisville because of Jurich and his relentlessly positive approach, and how he raised millions of dollars for new facilities all over campus and made little ‘ol Louisville look and feel like an SEC school without ever offending the deep, passionate basketball fan base.

He somehow got Rick Pitino to take the basketball job in 2001, and he poured money into the football program, upgrading recruiting budgets and expanding the stadium. Louisville recently announced the initial stages of another stadium renovation, and state-of-the-art football facilities.

Two years ago, Texas made a bold move when it hired Strong from Louisville. One more bold move — paying Jurich whatever he wants to run Texas athletics — would bring everyone back together and on the same page.

Like it was before Patterson arrived, when Texas was dictating college football realignment and when ESPN was falling over itself to land the Longhorn Network.

When football made everything better.

http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2015-09-15/steve-patterson-fired-texas-should-hire-louisville-ad-tom-jurich

 

[primal defense]

Pat Forde

Steve Patterson era at Texas can only be described as an epic failure

Texas athletics is too big to fail. It’s a fiscal gold mine, a competitive juggernaut and a traditional icon.

Yet the school somehow managed to fail with the hiring of Steve Patterson as its athletic director. The failure was so complete that Texas corrected its error Tuesday, firing him after just 22 months on the job. When the guy in charge has alienated almost everyone in less than two years – big-money donors, common fans, coaches who work for him, those above him in university administration – that’s a disastrous hire

As a result, Texas is on the hook for nearly four full years of a guaranteed contract that pays Patterson $1.4 million annually. Fortunately for the school, as noted above, it sits on a pile of athletic cash.

But being rich shouldn’t excuse being dumb, and Texas can’t say it wasn’t warned about Steve Patterson. Certainly in the process of vetting Patterson, someone at the school came across the many scorching columns John Canzano of the Oregonian wrote about his interactions with Patterson when he was general manager of the Portland Trail Blazers. They have Yahoo and Google search engines there, right?

For whatever reason, Texas skipped past a number of capable athletic administrators who would have brought the right mix of fresh ideas and collegiate know-how to the job. Whether it was former West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck (now high up the NCAA totem pole), Louisville AD Tom Jurich, Arizona’s Greg Byrne, TCU’s Chris Del Conte, in-house director of women's athletics Chris Plonsky or others, Texas certainly had great options. Instead it opted for a bad fit that blew up quickly

Patterson came in with primarily a pro sports background, and his time in college was spent mostly working on the financial side at Arizona State. He was the AD at ASU for less than two years before Texas called him to freshen a department grown stale.

Predecessor DeLoss Dodds was a Texas institution, a 33-year athletic director at a time when Longhorn athletics printed money and piled up trophies. Dodds may have made a lot of enemies within the Big 12 – helping lead to the exodus of Nebraska, Colorado, Texas A&M and Missouri to other conferences – but he had a lot of currency at home. He was a savvy businessman with national clout and connections who also saw the value in personal relationships with his staff.

By all reports, Patterson failed on the relationship side. He fired some popular and loyal staffers, and others chose to leave on their own. Current and former staffers say Tuesday was almost like Bastille Day at Texas, a mixture of joy and relief that a guy described as arrogant and aloof was being forced out.

Patterson infuriated fans with a major football season-ticket price hike, rather poorly timed coming off a 6-7 season. He also raised ticket prices for basketball at a time when the program is far from its peak years earlier this century

Texas coach Charlie Strong wasn't necessarily aligned with Steve Patterson. (Getty)
So his tenure was a remarkable mess, yet it’s possible Patterson will get credit for a couple of coaching hires that work out well. Even if the truth is that those hires were possible because Texas is Texas, not because anyone dreamed of working for Steve Patterson.

The hires are Charlie Strong in football and Shaka Smart in basketball. Smart seems like a can’t-miss heading into his first season. Strong’s situation is a little more complicated.

Some talking heads Tuesday were warbling about Patterson’s firing being a warning shot at Strong, who is a mere 15 games into his Texas tenure. His 7-8 record, including a brutal loss to Notre Dame on Sept. 5, and subsequent change in offensive coordinators show that the honeymoon is almost over.

But Strong certainly was not aligned with his boss in any substantive way – he’s hardly tied to the hip with Patterson. Strong has support elsewhere in the UT hierarchy, and it likely would take a shocking unraveling for his job to be in serious jeopardy in just two years.

The move Tuesday to fire Steve Patterson was far less a reflection on Charlie Strong than a reflection on Steve Patterson. He was a bad fit and a notable failure at an athletic program that is too big to fail.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/steve-patterson-era-at-texas-can-only-be-described-as-an-epic-failure-170325223.html

 

[primal defense]

Chip was just on ESPN radio and he said if CS took truth serum he would be elated. Patterson didn't want to pay for the players to wear suits and ties for games. It cost $ 20,000. Patterson wanted them to wear Nike sweats and Charlie said he would pay for them if Patterson wouldn't.

Mack Brown will not be considered.

 

[primal defense]

Canzano: Don't worry Texas, you'll survive this Steve Patterson thing

Portland isn't perfect. We're shaky when it comes to politics and the NBA playoffs. For example, we opened a $135 million bridge last weekend that looks cool but doesn't allow automobiles and will serve relatively few. Also, we have two functional basketball/hockey arenas on the same city blocks, mostly because we're too sentimental to dynamite anyone or anything that has it coming

But Steve Patterson's implosion at Texas?

Saw that one coming, didn't we?

The University of Texas' president and regents have reportedly ended Patterson's tenure as Longhorns athletic director. He's in the second year of a five-year deal that pays him $1.4 million annually, but the cost to UT was much more.

In 22 short months, the one-time Trail Blazers president and general manager alienated employees, donors and fans in Austin. He raised ticket prices and fired long-time employees, surrounding himself with the usual sycophants and smirking all the while. By the time that airplane banner was spotted over campus before last Saturday's Rice football game, reading, "PATTERSON MUST GO," it was just a matter of when.

I looked closely at the photo of that airplane, wondering how many tens of thousands in Texas saw the thing, smiled, and wished they were the pilot. Unceremoniously fired coaches Mack Brown and Rick Barnes had motive. So did UT's 10,000 football season-ticket holders who didn't renew this season. Patterson nickled and dimed everyone, alienating so many, including those he once charged to take a walk on the stadium football field, that anyone could have been behind it.

How about 23-year university employee John Bianco? Bet he wished he was at the controls of that airplane. When Patterson fired Bianco, it was reported that he gave the media relations director five minutes to access his computer before it was shut off.

The act in Texas was eerily disgusting and familiar to Portland. As president of Trail Blazers, inc. Patterson fired more than 100 employees. During a paranoid snap he ordered computer hard drives searched. Later, he enlisted staffers to stalk local media working at practices and games, recording all interviews, providing him with transcripts.

People didn't matter to Patterson. Decency didn't matter. What mattered to Patterson was that he was in charge and would be making decisions from a table for one. As cities go, Portland is a tolerant place for a bully to do business. Patterson made a nice life here, berating his office staffers, insulting fans and running the NBA franchise into bankruptcy and Draft Lottery hell.

Longhorns fans, an important note here -- you'll survive this. UT is a proud place with great tradition and loyal stakeholders. It will be back. Be sure, when it happens, Patterson will reinvent history and take credit. He's the quintessential "I'd have taken Kevin Durant," guy.

You must know Charlie Strong and Shaka Smart didn't come to coach Texas because of Patterson. They came because it was Texas. You must know that the correction here, unless UT's administration is tone deaf, will be one of common sense. The new athletic director will be greeted at functions with the warmth of an American Idol winner. The brand is weary and damaged, but not totally broken.

The Blazers organization was so splintered by the time Patterson left that nobody trusted it. Still, the fog lifted and the days felt sunnier. I imagine Austin is walking a little taller and some of the 8,000 unsold Texas-side tickets for The Red River Shootout (Oct. 10) against Oklahoma will be snapped up today as a show of solidarity.

Nobody in Oregon is celebrating Patterson's firing. It's sad stuff all around. And we remain puzzled why Texas didn't bother to ask what happened here before it handed him the keys to the ranch.

All these years later, Portland still hasn't fully recovered from Patterson. Don't let that frighten you, Texas. The city survived. The Blazers are better off, but still wobbling.

For Portland, Patterson's tenure was a symptom of a deeper, trickier issue. UT athletics has stronger ownership than the Blazers, ranging from billionaire booster Joe Jamail to rabid alumni to the children who will throw footballs in the Longhorns' tailgate parking lots the rest of this football season.

Texas got out alive.

Someone fly that on an airplane banner this weekend.

http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/index.ssf/2015/09/canzano_dont_worry_texas_youll.html#incart_2box_sports_oregonian_john_canzano_index.ssf

 

[TeamMayhall]

On Inside Texas Radio; Jesus Shuttlesworth said that Patterson was tasked with raising 600k for Wickline.

Patterson raised $0

 

[utparothed]

Time to rally around the flag, boys. We may be about to get our swagger back.

I don't agree with you on much but you hit the nail on the head with this one!!!!

I think I may have defended Patterson in response to one of your posts....you were right, I was wrong.  Glad the guy's gone!

 

[primal defense]

Post-Patterson era, Texas employees say he put them through hell

http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2015-09-18/steve-patterson-texas-longhorns-athletic-director-charlie-strong-shaka-smart

 

[streettopeschel]

Sad day for our great University.

This whole scenario reminds me of nothing so much as the rift created when DKR stepped down and the BMDs insisted on Akers over Campbell. The original "spilling of the BBs."

It lead to a 20 yr. wander in the desert.

it led to an 11-0 season. There were hard feelings no doubt, but Fred's first 7 years had 3 top-5 finishes and another in the top-10. The 'wandering started when Fred ran out of gas and two bad hires after that.

 

[Etex Horn]

Akers' demise began with the disappointing loss to Georgia in the Cotton Bowl at the end of the 1983 season, early in 1984 Texas was

briefly ranked No.1 only to finish badly...bad losses to A&M in 1984, 1985 and 1986, coupled with Texas having a losing season in 1986

sealed his doom. That and Jackie Sherrill was kicking his butt in recruiting. Fred coached UT into two NC games, at the end of 1977 and

1983, only to lose both. That loss to Georgia still stings like a bitch! Fred won 74% of the games he coached at Texas, but couldn't close

the deal in the NC games. He was close to greatness as a Texas Head Football Coach, but it wasn't meant to be. I will always wonder,

had Texas defeated Georgia, would Miami have played so tough that night against Nebraska in the Orange Bowl. When Texas lost earlier

in the day, Miami sensed they could take the NC by beating Nebraska. Which they did, as we know. Speaking of that Orange Bowl, Nebraska

scored last and could have tied it with the extra point...but they went for two and the win. It failed and I admire Osborne going for the win.

Nobody likes Osborne (including me), but he went for the win, which I admired. 

 

[primal defense]

Mack Brown was on ESPN radio and was asked about the Patterson situation. Mack said the fan base was divided and used the Darrell Royal BBs in the box story. No way the fans were divided. The fans were united in they wanted Paterson out. I guess if someone paid for a vacation in Dubai for me I wouldn't criticize him either.

 

[J.B. TexasEx]

UT goes from being able to fire Patter$on for cause to buying out half of his remaining contract. Outstanding 

— Twitter API (@twitterapi) November 7, 2011

 

[tejasrulz]

Well they haven't changed the policy of leaving the stadium except through 1 gate yet. I was talking to some workers at the Ex-Center and they said it's killed their business. They wouldn't say it but you can tell they're glad he's gone.