Texas Longhorns athletic director Steve Patterson is due credit for bring Charlie Strong (football) and Shaka Smart (basketball) into the UT fold, but that hasn't been nearly enough to deflect the heat from a vocal portion of the fan base that sees him as a money-hungry administrator with little respect for the university's traditions.
Horns Digest's Chip Brown added fuel to that fire with his latest article for Scout.com, "HD EXCLUSIVE: AD PATTERSON FACING HEAT," exposing some very eyebrow-raising truths from Patterson's first 18 months on the job. Here's our list of 5 Shocking Things We Learned From Scout.com's Steve Patterson Article.
1. Patterson Charged Members Of The Class of 1964 $25 To Stand On The Field At Darrell K Royal During Their 50th Reunion
“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,” alumnus Sally 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."
To make matters worse, Lehr says that she and her classmates were originally told the price would be $15, before it was upped to $25 at the last minute.
2. The Athletic Department Misled The Public About Ticket Price Increases
Back on March 9th, Texas athletics released this statement to explain price hikes at Memorial Stadium for the 2015 season: "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.”
However, according to figures cited by HornsDigest.com via an open records request, football season ticket holders were faced with a cost increase in 2015 by an average of 21.5 percent. In addition, parking is no longer included in season ticket packages purchased through the Longhorn Foundation. It will now set UT fans back another $100-195.
All of this appears to be part of Patterson's initiative to increase department revenue to $250 million within five years.
3. Patterson Denied Wage Increases For The Lowest-Paid Quality Control Coaches In The Big 12
Sources cited by Brown indicated that Charlie Strong "fought to increase the salaries of his eight quality control coaches from $24,000 to $50,000 after last season."
Patterson denied the request, even though the coaches' $24,000 salaries are $21,000 less than the second-lowest figure in the Big 12 (Kansas State - $45,000). That led to six of those eight coaches leaving to find better-paying jobs, per the report.
4. Patterson's Budget Cuts Are Forcing Band Members To Pay Out Of Pocket, Miss Key Games
Here's Brown with the report:
Texas band director Rob Carnochan just quit to take another job (at Miami) after Patterson cut $250,000 out of the band budget last year, resulting in less travel for the full band and a first-ever $132 fee charged to members to pay for their own practice and travel gear.
The full Texas band used to go to every in-state football game. But under Patterson, the full band no longer goes to Texas Tech, a longstanding rival of the Texas band. UT now sends only a “pep band” of section leaders. In 2015-16, the full band will go to the Texas-OU game and to either TCU or Baylor – but not both.
5. Patterson Tried To End Longhorn Network Revenue Sharing With The Parent University
Prior to his resignation on June 2nd, former UT president Bill Powers reportedly had a falling out with Patterson over the AD's insistence that Longhorn Network revenues be earmarked for the athletic department alone:
Things got most heated between the two after Patterson, already told no by Powers, tried to convince others in the administration that athletics needed to stop splitting the $15 million annually from the Longhorn Network with the central university, the sources said.
Patterson blamed upcoming annual premiums of $10 million needed for the “full cost of attendance” increase in aid of $4,310 per student-athlete starting in 2015-16 as well as a $5,000-per-year, per-student-athlete stipend for the use of their image and likeness, the sources said. UT has roughly 500 scholarship athletes.
Powers became so irate at Patterson trying to circumvent him, Powers responded by extending the 50-50 split of the money the final 15 years of the 20-year, $300 million contract with ESPN, the sources said. Initially, Powers and Dodds had agreed to split the money the first five years of the deal.
If you want to read the full text of the report, be sure to click this link.
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