Texas AD going, going, gone...
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Steve Patterson is out at UT. Who’d a thunk it? Probably not Shaka…
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Leading candidates right now are current Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby, Mack Brown, current Louisville AD Tim Jurich, and former WVU AD Oliver Luck (Andrew Luck’s dad). Part of me hopes that it’s Bowlsby just for the hope that the Big 12 hires a new commissioner that realizes the Big 12 needs to get to 12 programs. Of those 4 names, I think Oliver Luck would probably do the best job in that role considering how good for WVU he was in his 4 years in that job.
This is a big deal for the Big 12 and something everyone needs to pay attention to because as much as we don’t want it to be true, Texas does hold the most power in the Big 12 and whatever the new AD’s stance on expansion is will be one of the most important issues going forward for the Big 12. If the new Texas AD is pro expansion (I think Oliver Luck would be, along with Jurich), then I think we see the Big 12 add 2 more teams in the next 3 years. If it’s Bowlsby or Brown, I think we see the demise of the Big 12 once the current TV deal is up as the SEC, Big 10, ACC and PAC 12 will all scramble to get to 16 members from the scraps of the Big 12 and AAC which means that Big 12 schools would likely get relegated out of the power conferences.
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Mr Strong better get it in high gear or he’ll be right behind him. Lose 3 games at Texas and you are history. Just like here. Wait…
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@globaljaybird
Hunch: the Sasha hire was driven by the same folks that sacked the AD. No way did this catch Sasha by surprise. If it did, then he will likely be gone himself shortly. But that just seems far fetched.
It would be interesting though if Adidas bought its way into Texas and aims to make the B12 it conference. Probably not, but money talks in Texas.
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He raised the ticket prices, changed things up to much too fast and the stadium wasn’t even full Sat. night. Barely 75,000 people. PLUS there is a brand new president and he didn’t like Patterson. Then he allowed beer sales and that really pissed a lot of people off. Charlie Strong could really be gone if they lose their next 4 games, which is a real possibility. The new AD would have to be prepared to do that.
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@RockChalkinTexas who do you think is a strong pick?
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@Crimsonorblue22 Mike Perrin, a linebacker from the 69 team “The Game of the Century” where they beat Arkansas, is an attorney in Houston and is the interim for now. The $$$$$ guys at UT like him. Mack Brown was in town last week meeting with the new president. My boss saw him shopping for clothes at Dillards! Mack was always supposed to be AD after DeLoss Dodds retired but they forced him out b4 that could happen. It depends on who the Regents want. It is a real shock that Patterson was fired but nobody liked his taking away a lot of the traditions. He made the tailgaters move from their spots and charged a ton of money for them to end up w/o a guaranteed spot because of all the construction for the new UT medical school and Patterson said last weekend that he didn’t want to shut down the Erwin Center w/o any one agreeing to that.
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@RockChalkinTexas thx! Keep us posted.
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@Crimsonorblue22 Patterson has no buyout. He gets $5.6 million.
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Just in:
AUSTIN, Texas (AP/KXAN) — Texas athletic director Steve Patterson has resigned after two rocky years on the job, pushed out after clashing with fans and donors upset with his aggressive push to raise money for the nation’s wealthiest athletic department, a person with direct knowledge of the decision said Tuesday.
The university says a severance and transition agreement is pending approval by The UT System Board of Regents. Patterson had a guaranteed contract through August 2019 worth at least $1.4 million annually.
“Steve Patterson is a talented sports executive who brought important ideas and changes to our athletics program,” said Gregory L. Fenves, president of The University of Texas at Austin in a statement. “We appreciate the good things he accomplished in his time here and wish him the best in future endeavors.”
In statement, Patterson said, “Accordingly, I have agreed to step aside effective today. I am very proud of what we have accomplished in a relatively short period of time, including the historic addition of coaches in football and basketball, improvements to ticketing operations, facilities and other initiatives that will greatly benefit our Longhorn student-athletes and the many fans who care deeply about them.”
Since Patterson’s resignation is effective immediately, Fenves has named Houston attorney Mike Perrin to serve as Interim Men’s Athletics Director at least through August.
“For many, athletics is the front door to the university. The excellence and integrity of our program shines a bright light on all we do. Mike Perrin will solidify strong relationships with and among our student-athletes, faculty, students, alumni and coaches, building morale for student-athletes and staff,” continued Fenves.
Texas thought it hit a home run when it hired Patterson in November 2013 from Arizona State. The school had put together a star-studded search committee to find a replacement for DeLoss Dodds. Former West Virginias Oliver Luck was considered the front-runner until Patterson impressed the committee with his final interview.
Patterson has overseen two popular hires at Texas — football coach Charlie Strong and men’s basketball coach Shaka Smart, both now in charge of underperforming programs — but has been unable to win over fans and university donors and has had several meetings with Fenves to soften his approach to business.
He also pushed and won approval for alcohol sales at athletics events, scheduled a men’s basketball game in China for next season and talked of someday taking the football team to Mexico.
But Patterson raised football ticket prices after a 6-7 season in 2014, and instituted a “loyalty” program for tickets that rewarded some long-time donors. It also pushed some long-time season ticket-holders out of their seats.
Most of Patterson’s career was spent as an executive in professional sports, notably the NBA, and he struggled to connect with university officials and supporters in the same way as Dodds.
One of his first missteps was an awkward public push to have the city of Austin help finance a new basketball arena after having not “invested a nickel” in the current Erwin Center over the previous 30 years. Those comments caught city officials off guard and forced the school to backtrack.
And several actions raised questions of whether he connected with his coaches.
At his exit news conference, former basketball coach Rick Barnes accused Patterson of leaking private conversations and demands that Barnes shake up his staff before he was ultimately fired.
Patterson also refused to engage in a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed by Oklahoma State against Texas offensive line coach Joe Wickline. Texas was not named as a party in the case, which is still on-going, but led to Strong and his staff being subjected to embarrassing depositions to describe who calls plays. By last weekend’s home-opening game against Rice, a plane flew around the stadium with a banner “Patterson Must Go.”
Firing Patterson is a bold move for Fenves, who been on the job since June and admitted early that he had a lot to learn about the business of athletics. Now he must find a replacement to run an athletic department with an annual budget of approximately $160 million.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 We need to drop k-state and add 4 other good schools with an intelligent, non inbred fan base.
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@Lulufulu I wish the Big 10 would add KU. Mizzery and Colorado!
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@RockChalkinTexas Hell, I don’t mind being fired for $5.6 mil. The contracts and money these coaches get are insane. Giving people this kind of money when you fire someone is outrageous.
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@truehawk93 we should know!(puke)
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@RockChalkinTexas said:
Patterson has overseen two popular hires at Texas — football coach Charlie Strong and men’s basketball coach Shaka Smart,
This sounds like it was written by a pretty astute politician. I know you live in Austin and I would like your take on it. My dad also lives there and he said the vibe he got from the Charlie Strong hire was it was Bullpoopoo. Nobody he has ever talked to thought it was a good fit for Texas. And while we KU fans are well acquainted with Shaka Khan Smart, the general consensus in Austin (according to my dad) was “who the hell is Shaka Smart?”.
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@nuleafjhawk There’s people ready to fire Charlie Strong today and if the Longhorns don’t have a winning record this year, there will people lining up outside Strong’s office ready to pack up for him.
It’s also true a lot of Longhorns don’t know who Shaka Smart is, but that’s also because most Longhorn fans don’t even know that UT has a basketball team. KU is the only game that’s a guaranteed sell out on there schedule and that’s even with them removing the KU game from the single game ticket packages and either having to buy season ticket plan or off the secondary market.
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@Texas-Hawk-10 Had to lol about “most Longhorn fans don’t even know that UT has a basketball team.”
But it’s not a false statement - I lived in Austin for a year, in Houston for almost 10 and, like I said, my dad has lived in Austin or the surrounding areas for almost 30 years. Basketball is to them what football is to us. Well, that’s not totally true because they’ve had some awesome talent and very good teams over the years in basketball. Still, never the fan support anywhere near what we have in basketball.
It really baffles me when I tune in to a Big 12 basketball game (ANY game that we’re not playing in…) and the stands are practically vacant. Even some of the good OSU teams over the years - a typical OSU - Texas Tech game might have 5,000 or so fans there. ?
I was pleasantly surprised to see how full the stands were at the last home football game. There will be half of that there for the next game and half of THEM will leave by halftime.
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@nuleafjhawk Ditto what @Texas-Hawk-10 said. Hate to say there was also that “diversity” factor in the Strong hire. You have to remember that Will Muschamp was tagged “head coach in waiting” and he left because he saw the writing on the wall that Mack Brown wasn’t anywhere near retiring and perhaps the $ Florida threw at him. People did know who Shaka Smart was before the hire only because his name was always mentioned when a head coach job came open. But I have to say that besides his signing ceremony, I’ve heard nothing about Smart or the program all summer except for a report on his trying to bond with players and players with each other. Patterson raised the ticket prices on basketball season tickets as well (when no one even shows up except for KU) and did NOT allow any season ticket holders (regardless of sport) to re-sell their tickets held by long time holding ticket holders. ONLY if you bought season ticket for the very first time could you re-sell them. That was just the icing on the cake.
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@truehawk93 It is outrageous! Anyone else gets fired, they get nothing. Even the President, if he gets impeached and tossed from office does he get his remaining years salary? Dont think so. Its completely mental.
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@truehawk93 @Lulufulu I’m trying to figure out why this is outrageous. It’s just a contract. If Patterson didn’t breach his contract, why shouldn’t he get the money he contracted to get? Remember, negotiating leverage creates these deals. No one is forced to enter them.
The outrage, if there is any, should be with Texas for making a bad deal. Just like with Kansas and its deals with Gill and Weis. Just bad business decisions. But Texas (as well as Kansas) shouldn’t be able to just fire someone who has a valid contract, and not pay them what is due. Otherwise a contract would be worthless.
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@HighEliteMajor Yah, I understand. A contract is a contract. But I just have a hard time understanding why contracts are written the way they are. If you are a terrible coach with terrible social skills that incur infractions against the team and the university why should you get paid a penny more when you get the boot? Why should you get rewarded for such a failure?
Now, conversely if you are a great coach and a great person and role model for the students and university and you take a job else where or retire on good terms with that university then I have no problem with that person getting the remaining income due to them in the contract.
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@Lulufulu Say I’m coach Self’s lawyer and I’m negotiating an extension for Self. Let’s pretend that Self’s contract expires after next season. I’ve got lots of leverage. I might insist that Self will sign an extension if, and only if, there are no conditions on his contacted salary other than performance of his basketball duties. The school may respond and list off a number of items that would constitute a breach. Let’s say the school suggests:
- Being found to have committed an NCCA violation or infraction.
- Having a team GPA below 2.5.
- Making negative public statements about the Chancellor or administration.
- Personal conduct that causes the school significant embarrassment; committing a DUI, assault, battery, or something more serious, or conduct that involves moral turpitude.
- Providing university information to third parties.
- Losing more than 15 games in two consecutive seasons.
- Failing to make 15 appearances per year at university fund raising functions.
- Being sanction by the NCAA or Big 12 more than twice in a season for on-court actions.
- Failing to appear for practices or games in a regular and customary fashion.
- Failing to wear the gear from approved Kansas sponsors.
So let’s say the schools says that.
Self’s lawyer says, ok, we’re good with 3, 7, 9 and 10, but nothing else. That’s it.
Then the university has a choice.
Certainly, most negotiations have more back and forth, but ultimately, deals are made based on leverage.
If KU is hiring David Beaty, who’s got the leverage? Right. A breach might be Beaty farting when Sheahon Zenger is downwind.
Coaches are rewarded for failure (or better, not penalized for failure) because they have leverage to enter agreements that don’t make that conduct a breach or material failure to perform.
Most of the time there is some ambiguity, which leads to buy out negotiations.
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@Lulufulu Here’s an example for you. You agree to pay me $2,500 to paint your house. In our deal, we agree on the color I will use and that I won’t get paint on anything that shouldn’t get paint. I ask you if you want to add a second coat and you say you don’t care so I end up only using one coat because you didn’t say 2 coats. You end up hating the way I do the paint job and hire someone else to finish. I’m still entitled to the full payment of $2,500 because I was meeting our previously agreed upon stipulations and it’s not my fault you didn’t like my methods of paint application and didn’t agree upon a reduced payment if you didn’t like my methods. Steve Patterson was meeting all of his contractual obligations and it’s not his fault UT didn’t like the methods he took to achieve contractual responsibilities and didn’t negotiate a reduced buyout in the event that happened. Almost guaranteed the next AD’s contract will have a buyout plan in it should his methods not be appealing to UT adminstrators.
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@HighEliteMajor Ahhhh ok. That makes more sense to me. Thanks for specifying the specifics of contract negotiations
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@Texas-Hawk-10 Another good example, Thanks guys.
