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A Texas A&M University official was forced to admit he had bashed the school's president, R. Bowen Loftin, in what he thought were anonymous postings on an Aggies fan message board, the San Antonio Express reported Wednesday.
Jeff Toole, Texas A&M athletics' chief financial officer and senior associate athletic director, admitted Tuesday he had called Loftin a "putz" and a "hopelessly underqualified puppet" using the screen name UtayAg.
A fellow poster on the site, TexAgs.com, looked at UtayAg's previous posts and found one from May 2010 in which Toole identified himself as the school's CFO for athletics.
Toole told the paper that crucial fact had "slipped his mind," adding he believed he was posting anonymously.
In another post Tuesday on the website, Toole acknowledged his criticism of Loftin could get him fired.
"The opinion expressed was mine and not that of the AD or the department. Nor do my personal opinions affect my work or the quality thereof. I do of course fear that I will not long be employed. There is freedom of speech, but not freedom from consequences."
He also cautioned others not to "mix beer and typing."
Loftin's spokesman, Jason Cook, said the president was aware of Toole's comments.
"President Loftin is aware of the posts and discussed the situation with athletic director Bill Byrne [Tuesday] afternoon," Cook said. "At this point, we are handling this situation as a personnel matter, and we will decline to comment further, in accordance with our standard practice."
Byrne said in a statement Tuesday that "disciplinary action" was taken, but said the matter was being handled internally.
