Strong was a major contributor to the anger that cost Patterson his job, even though Texas still owes him $5.6 million on a contract that extended into 2019. And there’s a stockpile of reasons the school to justify the firing.
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Can not be Mack Brown.
Patterson also refused to engage in a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed by Oklahoma State against Texas offensive line coach Joe Wickline.
It doesn’t mean Charlie Strong is doing a bad job.
Patterson said in a statement, “As a Longhorn myself, a graduate of the University and its law school, I want nothing but the best for my alma mater, and I wish President Fenves and everyone at UT-Austin well as we continue the journey”.
Since news broke this morning of Patterson’s removal, a number of prominent media personalities have made supporting comments of John Bianco on Twitter, using the hashtag #BringBackBianco. In his short time as AD, Patterson got crossways with donors, fans, the City of Austin, university officials, and the Longhorn coaching staff. A plane flew over DKR before the Rice game on Saturday, dragging a banner that read: “Patterson Must Go”. The relative ease of entering into any relationship, job, athletic role, etc.is tethered directly in some way to who you’re replacing. LAFC has plans for a 22,000-seat, soccer-specific stadium on the site of the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, which will be demolished.
Instead, Patterson just repeated them all, even failing to listen to Hicks when the former owner of the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars told him that he needed to hire a right-hand man to communicate with the important constituents at Texas. Former Longhorn linebacker Mike Perrin is reportedly expected to get the interim job as athletic director, according to Davis and Bohls. In a company setting, you exclusively need to reply to your board and shareholders, who’re completely happy so long as there are income.
The move comes just two games into the football season and with Texas in the midst of negotiating a new equipment and apparel deal.
Patterson Out, Brown In?
Longtime athletic department employees start to exit, some by choice, some not.
Fisher, who is 70, was hired by San Diego State in 1999, two years after he was fired by Michigan because of the program’s involvement with booster Ed Martin. They will look for someone with a personality to schmooze the boosters; a politician with a rich history in athletics.
Patterson joined the Longhorns in November 2013. “Steve is a talented sports executive and brought many good ideas to UT Athletics”. All of these are significant efforts. That man is Mack Brown.
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Texas wasn’t the right fit. He would give killer campus tours and his fundraising would be top notch. He had thoughts on obvious inefficiencies in the current administrative structures, offered his blueprint for consolidation, wowed them with his capital projects bona fides, and expressed not caution, but genuine excitement that he’d be picking new head coaches in every revenue sport early in his career. And people are already chiming in. People seem to like this guy a lot. For many, it couldn’t have come soon enough. Brown hasn’t actually been an AD, and it’s significantly more than hugging donors and kissing babies.
