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Texas will LOVE its next AD—Patterson made sure of that

COMMENTARY

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Given the damning stories pouring out at Texas, can we assume Steve Patterson will have a cameo in Horrible Bosses 3?

His 22-month tenure as the Longhorns’ AD left a swath of bruised feelings, disrespected constituents and in-house turnover. While Texas, like most athletics departments, probably needed to lose some fat, Patterson tried to go lipo/lap-band/starvation in Austin.

Chip Brown’s latest story for HornsDigest.com revealed that in August, Texas president Greg Fenves took the unusual step of meeting with football coach Charlie Strong and basketball coach Shaka Smart to investigate their relationships with Patterson.

These two splashy hires had been brought to Texas by Patterson within the past 20 months. They, more than anyone, should’ve had the AD’s back; but according to Brown’s sources, they didn’t feel Patterson had theirs.

“I think (Fenves) was mystified at what he was told,” Brown said.

Told, for instance, that the coaches didn’t communicate with Patterson directly. Instead, their concerns had to be routed through associate AD Arthur Johnson—a bit of God/priest role-playing in the workplace.

Patterson infamously rankled coaches by capping their number of free lunches in the dining hall at 30 per year. He earned more bad press upon canceling charter flights for the women’s basketball team. Brown’s story portrayed a coarse, bottom-line CEO who prioritized revenue over relationships. Heck, every story portrayed this.

When 10,000 season ticketholders declined to renew this year, it was either an indictment of Patterson or the 21-percent price hike he initiated coming off a 6-7 season. The dropoff looked even worse compared to Texas A&M enjoying a three-year run of record sales and finishing a $450-million project to make Kyle Field the biggest, baddest stadium in the state.

Brown’s sources also described a scenario by which Patterson lied to Strong, claiming it was Fenves’ decision to move the football program’s academic support center. The president, according the story, told Strong he “had not been involved in any discussions about that and was appalled.”

That may have been one of the reasons Fenves reportedly threatened to fire Patterson for cause if the AD rejected a $1.4 million buyout. Patterson cashed out and made the right choice, one of the few times in his tenure he could say that.

Finally, from a West Virginia angle, Brown’s story points out Oliver Luck was the preferred candidate of a UT search firm during the fall of 2013. Then-president Bill Powers vetoed the recommendation and chose Patterson based on the advice of a Pac-12 media consultant who graduated from Texas and had contracted with Powers previously.

There’s a chance Luck might be reconsidered this time around, though he’s barely eight months into his post with the NCAA. A more capable, proven leader like Louisville’s Tom Jurich would have been the best option two years ago and nothing has changed. What has changed is the culture at Texas, where the bitterness Patterson generated—and the relief his exit brings—should make life wholly hospitable for the next AD.





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