re: Let's all take a moment to point and laugh at what is going down on the 40 Acres

If he gets fired, will shaggytexas get their name back?!?!

Wow. Just wow. He was a terrible fit, and I know Longhorn fans and alumni are incredibly happy to get him out of there but he was there for less than two years I believe. Just insane. What an atrocious hire by them.

I just wonder how incompetent you have to be to still get fired even after making a hire as good as Shaka Smart was.

People just seem to hate this guy. I think I mentioned it before, but I wonder what the search committee was thinking when they hired him when he just seems like such a dick.

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I just wonder how incompetent you have to be to still get fired even after making a hire as good as Shaka Smart was.

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Well, if the best thing you have going for you is that you made a hire that almost everyone would make, people will start wondering just what it is you're bringing to the table.

I think this means Strong has at least one more year after this one. After the Patterson disaster, UTx is not going to rush into hiring a AD. It's going to be a months long process, at minimum. By the time the new guy gets to Austin, there wouldn't be enough time to make a coaching change, even if the new AD was so inclined.

But yeah, I'm disappointed UTx wised up on Patterson--though not half as disappointed as the legions of football fans in Dubai and Mexico. Small chance the next guy will be quite the entertaining clusterfrick.

I can see a lot of the biggest donors pushing for this, but there would be a huge backlash from all but the highest level.

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Would probably be a good move, but don't tell them that. He was the one holding them back and all.

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I really disagree with this and think Mack would be a terrible AD. He can't handle criticism at all which every AD gets to an extent, and he has an incredibly tough time making tough decisions (i.e. firing Carl Reese, firing Greg Davis, starting younger players). He could talk his way around with the boosters, but being a good AD is about way more than that. If I were Texas I'd probably try and go after Jurich or Luck like they should have done the first time.

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I just wonder how incompetent you have to be to still get fired even after making a hire as good as Shaka Smart was.

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He's not a likable guy but their AD job isn't that great right now. Patterson innocuously dropped the bomb that fiscal 2014, despite enormous revenue numbers, the Texas AD lost about $5m. He explained it away that they had $50m in reserve and it was related to the buyout of Mack Brown so no big deal. But, since then...

- they lost about 10k season ticket holders. The official tickets sold vs Rice was 86,458 (their lowest paid attendance in 2014 was 92,017 vs ISU)
- they fired Barnes and hired Shaka including a buyout for both. Not sure the numbers but they also increased their ongoing coaching salaries
- they have now fired Patterson to the tune of $6m

So let's say they average 6k below last year's attendance (which is probably generous as UNT was their opener last year and it outdrew ISU plus this season may get ugly) with price of ticket $500 and an average donation of $500 that's $6m. Add in the $6m for Patterson and let's say $5m for the Shaka/Barnes buyouts. That's about $17m. Plus whatever ongoing increase for Shaka and his staff. Suddenly that $50m reserve is $25m with an ongoing operating loss around $5-10m annually.

Strong's contract is guaranteed. If they have a subpar season like it appears they will, it will still be very difficult to fire him. But season tickets aren't exactly going to fly off the shelves if Strong returns. All the while, fan expectations remain that they can money whip anyone they want. That's what the next AD is walking into.

This tweet has me all kinds of confused

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@BradenGall
Patterson's firing has nothing to do w/ football struggling. All about 20,000 empty seats v. Rice, 8,000 unsold tickets v. Sooners.

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And that's crazy.

I know Patterson raised ticket prices and parking, and instituted some other unpopular measures, such as no re-entry, but if UTx had won at Notre Dame, all those tickets would have been snatched up. The truth is that after the debacle in South Bend, horn fans were wondering if they could even beat Rice (and they almost didn't), much less OU.