AD Patter$son Facing Heat

Godz40acres said:
A very long article at HD concerning the increasingly concerning $teve Patter$on. Some portions below...​

Sally Lehr, one of 158 members of Texas’ class of 1964 back on campus for their 50th reunion last September, asked athletic director Steve Patterson why he wanted to charge them $25 per person to go stand on the football field at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

Just to relive some memories.

“He said it was expensive to allow people on the field. They had to turn on the lights. They had to have people leading the tour and a groundskeeper,” Lehr recalled. “He said if athletics had to pay for all of that, they might have to cut the donation they made to the UT library.

“I was stunned by his arrogance and avarice,” added Lehr, whose stepfather was Jones Ramsey, Texas’ sports information director from 1961-83.

“I was raised in a household where you did everything you could to promote the Longhorns any way that you could. I was dumbfounded he thought that was a good public relations move - to charge $25 for people to step on the football field.

“He has turned the Horns ‘brand’ into a commodity to be sold.”

Lehr said she and her classmates, even former football players, were initially told it would be $15 per person before it was upped to $25. They never made it onto the football field at DKR that weekend.

Before Patterson took over as athletic director in November 2013, reunion classes were taken through UT’s football stadium free of charge as part of their weekend by the Texas Exes (UT’s alumni association).

More than 18 months after Patterson’s hire to replace 32-year Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds, Patterson is credited with making solid hires in football coach Charlie Strong and basketball coach Shaka Smart.

But more and more inside the Longhorn community are fed up with what they say is an athletic director who can’t or won’t relate to people and who puts making money or saving money above everything – even Texas student-athletes and coaches, who have seen cuts by Patterson impact them directly.

After more than three dozen interviews with those connected to Texas athletics, Patterson, who spent most of his career in the front offices of pro teams (Houston’s Rockets, Texans and Aeros as well as president and GM of the Portland Trail Blazers), is being blamed for misleading football season ticket holders, being disingenuous about funding for a new tennis facility (leading to a coach’s resignation), alienating longtime donors as well as faculty and staff, running off UT’s band director, defying former school president Bill Powers, planting a vicious press leak targeting former basketball coach Rick Barnes and of being more loyal to Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott than to those at Texas or the Big 12.

Matt Herring, who owns a commercial real estate company in Dallas and ranks in the top 8 percent of Patterson’s new Loyalty Points program that ranks donors, said Patterson is hurting the very coaches he’s credited with hiring.

“There is a total disconnect between this AD and the rest of the university,” said Herring, a former president of the Dallas Longhorn Club and an eight-time member of the advisory council to the Longhorn Foundation, UT athletics’ fund-raising arm.

“At a time when the football program needs all the support it can get, the program is receiving the opposite – all because of the athletic director.”

***

Herring said he thinks Patterson’s pro sports background, including owning a company called Pro Sports Consulting, LLC (still listed as active on Patterson’s Linked In profile), has contributed to a cold, distant approach that has turned UT faithful into “mere customers” and negatively impacted coaches, student-athletes and the morale in and around Longhorns’ athletics.

“Once you start alienating the very coaches you’re praised for hiring, it’s unacceptable,” Herring said.

“Obviously, when 10,000 season ticket holders do not renew, when most of them are probably excited about the football coach and recruiting, there is a problem.

“And it is much more than just raising ticket prices. It’s talking down to the fans and faculty about not reselling tickets. It’s not being honest about numbers. It’s about not settling a lawsuit (filed by Oklahoma State against Texas assistant Joe Wickline) that puts your football coach in a compromised position.”

***

On March 9, Texas athletics announced its 2015 football season ticket renewal package, including this line: “To help shoulder the increased costs of recent changes in NCAA policy, seat prices across the stadium have increased by an average of six percent.”

According to numbers obtained by HornsDigest.com through an open records request, football season ticket holders were being handed a cost increase in 2015 by an average of 21.5 percent – with the Longhorns coming off a 6-7 season and a 5-year record of 36-28...

... Of the 57,233 season ticket holders in 2014, 59 percent (33,695) experienced a season ticket cost increase for 2015 of between 25 percent and 50 percent, records show.

***

While there have been tens of thousands of dollars spent by Patterson on fact-finding trips to places such as Shanghai, China, and Dubai to increase UT’s marketing profile, there has been broad cost-cutting within the department that has directly impacted student-athletes and coaches.

[The article continues with many more sections. Headings include:
  • LIST OF COMPLAINTS GROWING
  • FLEXING TO FLEX?
  • FACULTY AND STAFF BLINDSIDED
  • PATTERSON ALIENATES POWERS
  • COACHES SUFFERING UNDER PATTERSON?
  • WHERE’S THE $15 MILLION?
  • CAN PATTERSON RAISE MONEY?
It concludes with the following]​

Sally Lehr, whose 50th Texas reunion last year included a confrontation with Patterson, said UT’s athletic director doesn’t act like a graduate of Texas.

“Longhorns don’t treat other Longhorns the way he does,” she said. “But I’m not sure he sees himself as part of the university. I think he sees himself as superior to the university.”
Click to expand...

----------------

Email StevieP at either of these email addresses and tell him what you think of him:

PieceOfTotalShitProBasketballFacilitiesGuyWhoWasFiredByPortlandBecauseHeISSuchAPieceOfTotalShit@StevePattersonScumBag.com

or

[email protected]

Hint: one of those is his actual email address . . . .

He doesn't have a single friend in Austin -- not one, and he may not be there very long -- only until he collects that bonus that Powers guaranteed him if he gets UT to $200 million in annual revenue or some net profit margin that's as yet unspecified.

BTW, to understand his base motivation, all you need to understand is that he only cares about his bank account. Other people, even those who have supported UT athletics for 50 years, they mean absolutely nothing to this ************.
 
Last edited:
Patterson just doesn't do himself any favors. They ask him if he thinks he has alienated anybody and he says he doesn't know, perhaps?

The new President is meeting with you, with one of the major topics being just that, still you don't know if you have? Patterson could go a long way to helping his cause, by at least showing a little contrition.
 
For me, I don't quite understand the outrage with Patterson. He was obviously brought to Texas to do exactly what he's doing. There is a reason the university decided not to hire Luck and go with Patterson. In my opinion, an athelitic directors main job is to hire the right coaches to be successful. According to all the fans, he did that when he hired Coach Strong and Coach Smart. And let's just be honest, if the program was winning, alot of the people would not have a problem with him.

Patterson took over a program and athletic department that was mediocre when he showed up. So I think he should be cut a little slack. But I also understand, if Coach Strong doesn't start winning soon he nor Patterson will be at Texas. Because at the end of the day, that's what really matters is winning, so I don't really have a problem with him. Now, the only problem I might have with Patterson is if he decides to leave Nike and go to Under Armour. To me it's and easy decision, you stay with the premier company that 99% of the current men and women student athletes and potential recuits love. In my opinoin Under Armour is nothing more than high end Russell Athletics.
 
This keeps being said, but winning still doesn't make up for bad policies toward alumni, donors, and supporters. His job is also to make the environment a good one for all Longhorns, not drive them away. Why is this so hard to understand? If this is just a cold non caring corporation, then he is just great. This is why many Longhorns have a problem with him.

Winning and what he has done is apples and oranges. They are separate things. That would be true honesty from Bellmont. So if UT is winning then anything can be done, I don't accept that and expect more from my University. Again it's the University of Texas, not UT Inc.

President Fenves sees this and is not happy according to the article and he should be upset.

Powers was very involved in the hiring of Coach Strong, I believe.
 
NBHorn7 said:
This keeps being said, but winning still doesn't make up for bad policies toward alumni, donors, and supporters. His job is also to make the environment a good one for all Longhorns, not drive them away. Why is this so hard to understand? If this is just a cold non caring corporation, then he is just great. This is why many Longhorns have a problem with him.

Winning and what he has done is apples and oranges. They are separate things. That would be true honesty from Bellmont. So if UT is winning then anything can be done, I don't accept that and expect more from my University. Again it's the University of Texas, not UT Inc.

President Fenves sees this and is not happy according to the article and he should be upset.

Powers was very involved in the hiring of Coach Strong, I believe.
Click to expand...
I get what you're saying, but we all know how the world works. Whatever Patterson is or isn't doing would not be viewed the same way if the football program was humming along like it was under Mack Brown for about a ten year period. Do you really believe that he would be getting called into the office if that was case, I doubt it.
 
I am very aware of how the world works.

I also see two head coaches in Strong and Smart that promote high morals, strong work ethics, and morality.

I see an AD that will do just about anything to make a buck, no matter the consequences to a large portion of fellow Longhorns.

I see a very obvious disconnect there. I would very much like to think that a UT President would be calling Patterson in, no matter the team's record.

I will type this till my fingers will no longer function, it's the University of Texas, not UT Incorporated. What happened to all the Texas family values? So they are just empty slogans, with no merit?

I guess Coach Strong and Smart, should change to cheating, lying, whatever it takes to win. We don't care, all that matters is the bottom line.



 
NBHorn7 said:
I am very aware of how the world works.

I also see two head coaches in Strong and Smart that promote high morals, strong worth ethics, and morality.

I see an AD that will do just about anything to make a buck, no matter the consequences to a large portion of fellow Longhorns.

I see a very obvious disconnect there.
Click to expand...
I respect your point of view, but I will just repeat what I posted early. If Coach Strong doesn't win, Patterson won't be at Texas. If Coach Strong wins, Patterson will be the athletic director as long as he wants. This is big business, these universities including Texas sold their souls a long time ago once they found out there was a lot of money to be had in collegiate athletics. Don't believe me, look at how all these universities lower their academic standards so the money making players in football and basketball could get in. Look at the easy classes that they are put in, not to get an education but to stay eligible.

And why do these universities including Texas do it, because of the money and the millions of dollars of free advertisement these universities get when the football or basketball program is winning. Look at the enrollment numbers before a school wins a national championship in football or basketball and after. You see huge jumps in enrollment, which equals money.
 
Last edited:
NBHorn7 said:
it's the University of Texas, not UT Incorporated
Click to expand...
It has been UT Incorporated since the arrival of Mack Brown, but to be a top level program you have to exploit all revenue areas. It is not the best of situations for everyone, but the alternative is not being competitive due to lack of funds to properly fund and mange a top program. Patterson has zero personality which isn't helping, but way to early to be on his case like some are.

Right now the killer is the Drum replacement project. It will be expensive and, unless Texas can trade some land for land adjacent to the campus the land cost alone will probably be greater the total cost of the Drum. Is it Patterson's fault that there is no land for the replacement and he has to raise double the funds?

We went through all of this on a smaller scale when Dodds was hired. However Brown fell into Dodds' lap (Dodds wanted to hire Barnett) and things were better from then on.
 
You defeat your own point. The only reason Texas is losing money is because of the cycle of mediocre results on the field, court, etc. Winning cures everything. Ticket sales increase, fan interest elevates, etc. And in turn revenues climb.

It doesn't take a cut-throat AD to begin turning a big profit once winning returns. But it does take quality fan relations and mutual respect. Ultimately, the success of his job is tied to elevating the results of the athletics teams and keeping fans connected to the team.

However, when attendance is already down and results are scarce, you don't come in and excessively squeeze more juice from the already thinning orange crop. It's putting the cart before the horse. In any facet of life consumers will be pissed if you demand much more money while products remain poor quality. 6-7 is poor quality and far below UT standards. Promises of improvement are nothing but words.

You can disagree all you want, but the fact is coaches, faculty, students, and 1,000's of loyal donors feel grossly disrespected by SP's harsh new policies at a time of continued athletics failure. Raising costs without proven product improvement is one thing, but Texas has never charged for parking and banned resell.

So it boils down to many loyal donors paying much more (25%+) for a struggling product, paying for once included perks, and losing money through inability to recoup ticket costs for a game you can't make. All when your team is admittedly a failure...which CS called last season. And that just scratches the surface. Nevermind charging coaches for the cafeteria, charging alums to be on the field, requiring teams to bus when other programs fly, and a litany of other complaints.

It all combines into a huge problem regardless of who wants to downplay it. The President apparently has been forced to take notice, which further proves there really is fire where the smoke is coming from.

Whether some agree or not, there is a huge disconnect stemming directly from SP. Feel free to watch what happens to ticket renewals in 2016 if Texas loses 6 games and SP's harsh policies continue. The fallout that has occurred now is just the initial, knee-jerk response. Many more loyal donors are sitting on the fence in a holding pattern to see if UT will straighten this out and not force us to take action.
 
Again, ticket sales are going to be down if they don't win anyway. Like I said in an early post, Patterson was brought here to do what he's doing. In my opinion the president meeting with him is just pr. Why did the board of reagents go in a different direction by not hiring Luck, because they wanted Patterson to do exactly what he's doing. If the football team wins 10 games this year, come next year a lot of this won't even be a discussion. If the team goes 7-6 that drum beat will get louder. I totally agree with ViperHorn, the thing that hurts Patterson is that he has no personality. A lot of people compare him to Dave Brandon of Michigan, but the reason he got fired by them wasn't because of what he was doing, it was because they weren't winning. If Michigan was winning he would still be the AD.
 
Patterson has a history of bad actions throughout his career. Why did he need to hire 40 cronies to add to the bloated budget at Bellmont?

When these policies actually go in effect and people experience them first hand this football season, the complaints will increase.
 
Or we could have the greatest season in Texas history. Might as well throw that out there while we are speculating.
 
Season Tickets purchased will increase next year regardless of this years record. ND is coming to town and their fans will buy season tickets, for one season, sell all the other games and go to the ND game.
 
So all the off the field policies that Patterson has implemented will make for a great Texas football season?

I see nobody saying that, all I see are posts saying that winning will make people forget what these policies will bring.
 
rattfatt said:
Again, ticket sales are going to be down if they don't win anyway. Like I said in an early post, Patterson was brought here to do what he's doing. In my opinion the president meeting with him is just pr. Why did the board of reagents go in a different direction by not hiring Luck, because they wanted Patterson to do exactly what he's doing. If the football team wins 10 games this year, come next year a lot of this won't even be a discussion. If the team goes 7-6 that drum beat will get louder. I totally agree with ViperHorn, the thing that hurts Patterson is that he has no personality. A lot of people compare him to Dave Brandon of Michigan, but the reason he got fired by them wasn't because of what he was doing, it was because they weren't winning. If Michigan was winning he would still be the AD.
Click to expand...

So, to distill to its most basic element, it is YOUR contention that $P was brought in to destroy game-day atmosphere in every sport that had tailgating going on and to alienate the loyal fanbase...have I got that right? Because if so, then (and ONLY then) are you correct that he is doing what he was brought in to do...
 
mb227 said:
So, to distill to its most basic element, it is YOUR contention that $P was brought in to destroy game-day atmosphere in every sport that had tailgating going on and to alienate the loyal fanbase...have I got that right? Because if so, then (and ONLY then) are you correct that he is doing what he was brought in to do...
Click to expand...
No, Pattersons main and most important job was to hire the right coaches for football and basketball, by all accounts he's done that. The second most important thing was to make the athletic department as self sufficient as possible. He's not destroying the game day atmosphere, the losing is destroying the game day atmosphere. All the other stuff in my opinion is just petty in the grand scheme of things. Just like me being mad at Patterson if he decides to leave Nike and go to an inferior brand in my opinion which Under Armour.
 
rattfatt said:
No, Pattersons main and most important job was to hire the right coaches for football and basketball, by all accounts he's done that. The second most important thing was to make the athletic department as self sufficient as possible. He's not destroying the game day atmosphere, the losing is destroying the game day atmosphere. All the other stuff in my opinion is just petty in the grand scheme of things. Just like me being mad at Patterson if he decides to leave Nike and go to an inferior brand in my opinion which Under Armour.
Click to expand...

I guess you missed his brilliant ideas that are screwing up tailgating for both football and baseball...or is that not taking steps that have the very real effect of destroying game-day atmosphere in your book?
 
I just think the guy really has faith in the coaches that he has hired to get football and basketball back in the right direction. He knows once the wins start rolling in so will the people, so he isn't to concerned with the people who choose to back out now, because he feels in the long run it will be their loss. Only time will tell if he is right or wrong, but the question is does he have time on his side?
 
Wideawake said:
The Austin American Statesman posted a 5 page report from UT covering some of the criticism.
Click to expand...

40 percent of parking permits at FB games were unused? Just under 4000 of 10,000 spots unused? wonder where all those people parked? Or did they not come to the games? Of course, they did pay their LHF fees, so does it matter if they did not use their parking spot?

Of course, if it was decided in 2013 that there would be a fee for parking starting in 2015, did I miss the release about that? Or was that just a oversight on UT's part to not bother informing their fans about that and just spring it out of the blue? Poor PR if they had made the decision two years ago to start charging for parking.
 
No this isn't just pr, the President meeting multiple times shows it's more than just pr. It's about people being genuinely angry about things that matter. The President recognizes this and responds and now a third meeting is scheduled.

Contrary to what you say this isn't the Oakland Raiders. It never will be. Since you insist though, then here is something for you to ponder.

When people ask you about the game atmosphere and how it has been greatly diminished, you never address it. You just refer to it as petty and unimportant, well maybe it's unimportant to you, but it means a lot to others. All you talk about is winning and coach hires. Do you have any real interest in what goes on before and after games at all? It sure doesn't seem you do, that would explain a lot.

Patterson had little to do with hiring coach Strong. Those Regents you spoke of had a running battle with President Powers for a long time, they wanted him gone. They couldn't get it done though and settled for a compromise where Powers would leave after a year.

Then the matter of hiring an AD arrived, one of the big points mentioned for hiring Patterson was that Luck didn't want to get rid of Brown. So Patterson was often called a "hatchet man," he would have no problem doing that. This is what the Regents wanted.

Guess what, Patterson didn't do it. So the Regents are highly pissed, they can't really do anything to their man Patterson, that they just hired, it would make them look bad. So they call in Powers and tell him to either get rid of Brown or they will terminate their deal to let him stick around another year.

So Brown has taken off for Florida and Powers has to call him back and let him go. Powers wants a new coach in as soon as possible. The leader, despite all the hoopla over this coach and that was Strong. Powers interviews him and only him and lets it be known, he will be the next coach. That is exactly what happened and Strong accepted a deal that made him way more money and let him live in Austin too. This was expected and it wouldn't have mattered who the AD was.

Smart was also one of the leading candidates and let it be known, he was more than willing to come to Texas and make way more money than he ever has. It was a step up the ladder for him. Hardly a big negotiations coup for Patterson. You think Luck couldn't have gotten this deal done or any other AD.

If it's all about winning, then there will be no great uprising if Patterson is given a pink slip. The coaches are already in place and if they win, nobody could care less if Patterson was let go for his bad policies. If they fail, they will all be let go. Remember just win baby, there is no regard for Patterson or anybody else for that matter, because winning cures all ills.
 
If you want to say that Patterson didn't have anything to do with hiring Coach Strong, then stop blaming him for all the horse crap that Dodds left for Patterson to clean up. I've heard numerous donors from around the state talk about how even though Dodds was at Texas as long as he was, they had never even met him or had a conversation with him. Those same donors talked about meeting Patterson and having breif conversations with him and they respected that. I talked about the so called issues with the gameday atmosphere, and like I said, in my opinion the only problem with it, is all the losing that's occurred the last 5 or 6 years. In my opinion a lot of the so called anger is do to the mediocrity that's permeated through the football program and athletic department the last 5 to 6 years.

The majority of the mediocrity began under Dodds and Mack Brown. I sure do wish a lot those people that are mad now, would have been this angry when the ship was obviously sinking when Dodds and Mack Brown where there. Maybe the program and the athletic department wouldn't be in the shape that it's in. The great thing about being an adult is that you can do whatever you want to do. No one is putting a gun to your head and making you donate money or buy tickets. If you don't like what's going on don't donate or buy, that's what I think of the situation, we can agree to disagree.














 
rattfatt said:
No, Pattersons main and most important job was to hire the right coaches for football and basketball, by all accounts he's done that.
Click to expand...

So now this is no longer a valid statement. It's about Dodds and Brown and what poor Stevie had to clean up. He had to do this by taking money away from the band and student athletes, but was able to hire 40 of his cronies at Bellmont. UT's athletic department has way more employees than any other major program, but Patterson needed 40 more.

You still just won't admit that Patterson has diminished the activities prior to and after games. Losing didn't cause these policies, Patterson put them in place. Now the new President is having multiple meetings with him about this and his policies.

The great thing about being an adult and alum of the University of Texas is that we can raise our voices in dissent to these policies. We do this to try and have these policies changed or Patterson removed. Having Fenves on the case is a good start. This is what we want. You seem to have a real problem with this.

These policies started with Patterson, not Dodds or anybody else.

 
NBHorn7 said:
You still just won't admit that Patterson has diminished the activities prior to and after games. Losing didn't cause these policies, Patterson put them in place. Now the new President
Click to expand...
There really isn't anything to admit. I've continued to say that the majority of people who have a problem with it wouldn't, if the program was winning. And to be honest, most of the complaints would be ignored just like most things are that may be problems or issues at football programs, when the team is winning.
 
rattfatt said:
he majority of the mediocrity began under Dodds and Mack Brown.
Click to expand...

If it had been up to Powers and Patterson, Brown would still be the head coach. They were suppose to let him go and didn't. The Regents had to force them to let Brown go.

Again there seems to be some large flaws in your statements.

You say a lot of things, then change the subject.

I'm sorry you missed a rather long and ongoing discussion on this forum about Brown and Dodds. It will come as a great shock to many that nobody was upset with what was going on the last few years, before Patterson arrived. I recall those threads very vividly.

They are gone now and these policies that have people upset in the present, are on him and nobody else.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Weekly Prediction Contest

* Predict HORNS-AGGIES *
Sat, Nov 30 • 6:30 PM on ABC

Recent Threads

Prediction Results Threads

2024 Schedules

Back
Top