Texas Longhorns

Report: Texas AD Patterson alienating virtually everyone

Published Jun. 19, 2015 3:03 p.m. ET

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Texas Longhorns athletic director Steve Patterson has been praised for the hirings of football coach Charlie Strong and basketball coach Shaka Smart.

But that's where the positivity apparently ends regarding the overall view of the job Patterson is doing since taking over the position for longtime athletic director DeLoss Dodds. According to a report by Chip Brown of Horns Digest, Patterson is taking heat from multiple directions for placing a price tag on just about everything, while also alienating those in and around Texas athletics, from coaches to donors to former president Bill Powers.

"There is a total disconnect between this AD and the rest of the university," Matt 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 told Brown.

"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."

The list of grievances against Patterson, according to Brown's report, is long and seemingly growing. He has upset football season-ticket holders, of which 10,000 did not renew due to drastically higher ticket prices than even Patterson had initially said.

According to Brown, Patterson's has shown arrogance in leadership, and made examples of some to show he is in charge.

Just this week, Patterson fired longtime sports information director John Bianco, who had been at Texas 23 years and was trusted by football coach Charlie Strong. Patterson, according to Horns Digest, fired Bianco without consulting Strong.

To read Chip Brown's full report click here.

Photo Credit: Jack Plunkett

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