Texas must do right by fans in AD search: Look at Byrne, Mack Brown
CBS Sports senior columnist Dennis Dodd believes Steve Patterson's ouster is an opportunity for the Texas Longhorns to finally do right by their fans and hire a capable replacement, such as Mack Brown.
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Dennis Dodd
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3 min read
All Steve Patterson had to do was not be a jerk.
Shake hands, smile, raise money. It’s written somewhere in the athletic director handbook. Those are the main duties of an AD. Well, that and having great business, personal and financial skills.
Patterson, Texas’ now-ex-athletic director, couldn’t come close. By several accounts, he was that jerk who alienated the very folks who were going to sustain him and his department. Yeah, a lot of Tuesday’s upheaval -- first reported by the Austin-American Statesman and confirmed by the Associated Press -- was on him.
Patterson probably deserved to get fired. But the question still persists: How did he get to one of college athletics’ most powerful positions in the first place?
How did the best and brightest at Texas -- regents, politicos, search committee -- not know Patterson was an unlit M80? The answer is buried in another question. Hook ‘Ems everywhere love their university, for good reason. But is their school doing right by them?
Patterson leaving after less than two years is as much a Texas culture thing as it is a Patterson thing. The power brokers -- both legitimate and cloying -- can’t screw up this next hire.
By screwing up, I mean not considering Arizona’s Greg Byrne because of his bloodlines. His dad, Bill Byrne, served as Texas A&M’s AD for 10 years.
Greg Byrne, 43, is one of the best young college athletic administrators in the country. His next move will be away from Tucson to a power school in the Big 12 or SEC, it would seem.
Texas can’t discount TCU’s Chris Del Conte. The quirky CDC may not fit the culture -- the Cal-Santa Barbara grad has a surfboard in his office -- but he’s a tireless fundraiser.
The case can be made: Del Conte literally got TCU into the Big 12. He picked up a bunch of binder one day, drove down to Austin and met with then-AD DeLoss Dodds. Dodds mistakenly called him “Del” but basically gave TCU the rubber stamp on the spot.
If Mack Brown shows an interest, then by all means listen. Brown, the former and longtime Longhorns coach, is happy at ESPN and still wants to coach again if the right job comes around.
Mack, however unlikely that move could be, may just be the type of unifying force that Texas needs at the moment. Talk about shaking hands …
Meanwhile, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby is not believed to be interested in the opening.
Texas athletics continues to be a roiling political cauldron. Oliver Luck would have a been perfect replacement for Dodds when the job was open two years ago. Luck is a former NFL quarterback, Texas law school grad, father of Andrew Luck, former West Virginia AD. He was the front-runner for the job three years ago. Then he was passed over.
We’re talking about a place where a couple of rogue regents went after Nick Saban -- while Brown was still coaching. More than that, they screwed it up. If you read Saban by Monte Burke, Bama's coach would be Texas’ coach right now if the situation was handled properly.
Now Saban looks like a lifer at Alabama.
We’re talking about a place that didn’t seriously consider Baylor’s Art Briles when replacing Brown. Briles is one of the nation’s most innovative coaches. But Briles is also at Baylor, still a place that is looked down upon by Orangebloods.
How many good candidates are you going to box yourself out of, Texas? Texas Exes deserve better. They deserve the best, the brightest -- at least the most competent to manage a $168 million athletic budget.
The truth is that Texas football has been lapped in its own state by Texas A&M, TCU and Baylor. The last time that happened was never. Texas’ athletic department still prints money, but hasn’t had many trips to the jeweler lately to order championship rings.
Charlie Strong’s job security is another matter. Hopefully, the new athletic director will calm the waters and give Strong the three or four years he needs to turn over the roster.
As it stood, Strong’s boss couldn’t so much as issue a vote of confidence. Tuesday proved Patterson had run out of influence he could leverage.
But how did he ever get to be Texas’ AD in the first place?
