Good Lord Duke. You're gonna get the drizzles worrying about what you're NOT getting from spring ball reports. These things are the quintessential 'take it with a grain of salt' kinda things.
For such a long time we saw performance on the field, facilities upgrades, innovative things like LHN and now it seems the program is hitting on zero cylinders. A losing season in football with, frankly, inept coaching on special teams and offense, an AD who cares nothing about a large majority of the fans and instead looks to China and Mexico for fans that he is shunning at home, a home schedule that has "no way am I paying even higher prices for this" written all over it... Where is the leadership?
Today we get yet another self-inflicted blunder with Charlie Strong getting cozy with Kevin Sumlin (of all people) to go in a direction he, quite frankly, should stay out of. Coaches who deliver losing records don't get to decide who gets scheduled. Losing coaches at Texas need to start worrying about keeping their jobs and not about making headlines with coaches who are well known for running un-ethical programs and pissing off the alumni. We had Rick Barnes and now Augie get contract extensions from Patterson and then fail miserably. I don't mean to go out on a limb here, but maybe Patterson isn't the guy Texas needs to be evaluating coaches. Quite frankly, not a single contract he has approved has proven to be a winner so far.
When are we going to see the painfully obvious bad marketing decisions take a break? The fans deserve an AD who actually cares about the relationship between the rank and file alumni and the university. We hear a lot of talk about players being held accountable, but when are the coaches going to start being held accountable (and no, getting retained on the payroll as a "special assistant" after being removed from coaching doesn't count as being held accountable). When is the Charlie Strong era going to deliver something other than bad performances on the field and bad headlines about what he and Kevin Sumlin have decided is best for the UT program?
This isn't rocket science. This is the sports entertainment business. Patterson needs to give up on trying to build a Chinese fanbase and start building a Longhorn fanbase. Charlie Strong needs to quit consulting with Kevin Sumlin on what is best for the UT program and start concentrating on doing something about his losing record. When the most encouraging comments from the spring practice are about 2016 recruiting, the fall season looks pretty scary.
I hate being so negative, but there isn't a damned thing in UT's major sports to be positive about (other than possibly 2016 recruiting). Where are the positives anywhere in Bellmont, other than Jerritt Elliott, John Fields and Eddie Reese and maybe Randa Ryan (as long as she isn't approving invoices)? The whole damned department has gotten so fat, bloated and happy that performance is not even a consideration. Patterson wants "an average increase of 6% in ticket prices" for football. An increase of 6% in the performance of Bellmont or his staff seems to be something Patterson obviously never thought about (but "wink, wink" Steve Patterson is going to start getting control of the bloat and waste inside Bellmont any day now. His only detractors are the people worried about keeping their jobs. lol) .
I'm just shaking my head at the current state of UT athletics. The individuals pulling fat paychecks for managing the more public face of the university are failing horrendously. UT needs change in its athletic department.
