Craven: Patterson's stubbornness cost him Texas AD job

[caption id="attachment_18643" align="alignleft" width="300"]Photo by Will Leverett Photo by Will Leverett[/caption] Nearly every outlet that covers Texas Longhorn sports, including the Austin American-Statesman who had it first, is reporting that Texas athletic director Steve Patterson won’t make it through today with his job intact. Patterson made two really good hires – Charlie Strong and Shaka Smart – in his short tenure as athletic director. However, Patterson also alienated major boosters, cleaned house in the athletic offices and increased prices to football games during a down-time for the football program. Patterson is a business man. He knows how to limit costs, increase revenue and manage a budget, but that are not the only requirements to being an athletic director at a school like Texas. My grandfather, Charlie Craven, worked for the University of Texas football program for about 50 years. He retired as the head of sport rehabilitation at the end of the spring semester, but there are only two men I’ve ever heard him speak badly about in my 30 years of life and one was Patterson. The guy just isn’t good with people, and anyone who was around Longhorn football for the last 50 years will tell you that if my grandfather can’t get along with you then there is probably something wrong. Patterson doesn’t seem like a bad person. There wasn’t scandals going on during his time, but he also isn’t the type of person who makes alumni and boosters feel welcomed around the program. At its core, being an athletic director at a school like Texas takes some politicking. Many give millions of dollars to the Longhorn program over the span of their life and Patterson seemed to disregard that commitment and take it for granted. He did do things like add beer sales to football games this fall, but he did so to add money to his budget and not because the fans wanted it. A delicate balance must be walked to excel at a job like Patterson’s, especially early on and when replacing someone as beloved and successful as Deloss Dodds. It is important to make your own mark and do things your way, but an awareness of how things were done before you is a huge piece. Patterson wanted to treat Texas’ athletic department like a business, and while at its core athletics is business, it also requires making people happy – the right people happy. Patterson failed to make those people happy and now he’ll be out of a job.