Will Baizer
Staff Writer
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2015
- Messages
- 890
Just a real quick note. I was talking with a friend who works on the 40 acres. He let me know that despite the small majority of boosters to be openly opposed to Strong after the loss, the vast majority of the big money boosters have come to back up Strong and the athletic department.
I was told that they are putting together an investigation to find out what happened with the officiating crew on Saturday as it appears that foul play could have actually been a factor (not Vegas, but bad intentions from outside parties). Boosters as big as Red McCombs will be backing up Charlie Strong during this investigation.
In fact I asked him if he was being serious that Red McCombs likes Charlie Strong, as you can all remember what he had to say about Strong after the hiring. He told me, "Red has come around to Charlie... He has really taken a liking to Coach Strong."
Bowlsby should expect a new report to come out of Bellmont this week.
We'll see if this goes anywhere, but right now it's nice to hear that the majority of the big time boosters are behind Charlie Strong.
Side tracking real fast:
It is really awesome to hear that they are starting to support the athletic department again. Steve Patterson really severed some connections there. What Patterson did with tickets made sense if you see University of Texas Athletics as a completely separate entity from the University of Texas. Patterson didn't care that he was upsetting the guy sitting on the 38 that donates a minimal amount because he was grandfathered in. The guy on the 38 not replacing his tickets didn't really affect his balance sheet because he made a minimal contribution to the bottom line, where he could find some one else who would take that seat and donate a lot (or so he thought). It actually made a lot of sense, but once again, if you only look at the athletic department as a separate entity.
What he didn't realize is that while the guy sitting on the 38 may not donate a lot to the athletic department, this guy has a sister that makes donations to the athletic department or he makes donations to the Engineering school. So when Patterson pisses him off he cuts off his donation to the Engineering School because he's upset with the University, and then Fenves gets a call from the Dean of Engineering.
Lets take the chairman, president and CEO of Exxon, Rex Tillerson, for example. Mr. Tillerson is one of the biggest donors to the University, and his sister (Renda) has a high position in the alumni band. So when Patterson started messing around with the band, cutting the funding, trips, and making students pay out of pocket for trips because it saved him money on the balance sheet at the end of the day, Renda made a call to Rex and Rex went to Fenves. Multiply this a bunch and Patterson cooked up a recipe for disaster. A sour one at that.
Mike Perrin has done a wonderful job building the relationships back up. He's done a good job, so far...
As I was told, people in the office knew Patterson was gone in July, but it took... well... my misinformed article (which I have been told was right and wrong) to be the straw that broke the camel's back.
So yeah... I side tracked a ways off.
I was told that they are putting together an investigation to find out what happened with the officiating crew on Saturday as it appears that foul play could have actually been a factor (not Vegas, but bad intentions from outside parties). Boosters as big as Red McCombs will be backing up Charlie Strong during this investigation.
In fact I asked him if he was being serious that Red McCombs likes Charlie Strong, as you can all remember what he had to say about Strong after the hiring. He told me, "Red has come around to Charlie... He has really taken a liking to Coach Strong."
Bowlsby should expect a new report to come out of Bellmont this week.
We'll see if this goes anywhere, but right now it's nice to hear that the majority of the big time boosters are behind Charlie Strong.
Side tracking real fast:
It is really awesome to hear that they are starting to support the athletic department again. Steve Patterson really severed some connections there. What Patterson did with tickets made sense if you see University of Texas Athletics as a completely separate entity from the University of Texas. Patterson didn't care that he was upsetting the guy sitting on the 38 that donates a minimal amount because he was grandfathered in. The guy on the 38 not replacing his tickets didn't really affect his balance sheet because he made a minimal contribution to the bottom line, where he could find some one else who would take that seat and donate a lot (or so he thought). It actually made a lot of sense, but once again, if you only look at the athletic department as a separate entity.
What he didn't realize is that while the guy sitting on the 38 may not donate a lot to the athletic department, this guy has a sister that makes donations to the athletic department or he makes donations to the Engineering school. So when Patterson pisses him off he cuts off his donation to the Engineering School because he's upset with the University, and then Fenves gets a call from the Dean of Engineering.
Lets take the chairman, president and CEO of Exxon, Rex Tillerson, for example. Mr. Tillerson is one of the biggest donors to the University, and his sister (Renda) has a high position in the alumni band. So when Patterson started messing around with the band, cutting the funding, trips, and making students pay out of pocket for trips because it saved him money on the balance sheet at the end of the day, Renda made a call to Rex and Rex went to Fenves. Multiply this a bunch and Patterson cooked up a recipe for disaster. A sour one at that.
Mike Perrin has done a wonderful job building the relationships back up. He's done a good job, so far...
As I was told, people in the office knew Patterson was gone in July, but it took... well... my misinformed article (which I have been told was right and wrong) to be the straw that broke the camel's back.
So yeah... I side tracked a ways off.
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