Randolph Duke
THE DUKE
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2012
- Messages
- 2,484
Expectations are not "stupid high." I know few Horns fans who want more than for the team to be competitive against teams we have no business beating at this stage, to not lose against teams we have no business losing to, to win more of the toss-ups than we lose and to not have multiple humiliating losses. At this point, we are legitimately unsure how we will come out against Rice. That says a lot.
Successful organizations operate in a coordinated fashion. Leadership offers a vision, people understand their responsibilities and authorities and leadership hold team members accountable. That does not define Texas athletics. Steve Patterson has squandered an immense amount of alumni good will. Charlie Strong's struggles will be conflated with the alumni revolt against Patterson's "leadership." That, combined with an utter failure by the AD to support the head football coach has created a somewhat toxic atmosphere. It will get worse before it gets better. Charlie Strong needs to make changes, but Patterson needs to make changes, too. Patterson will never change. The toxic atmosphere isn't going to be cleansed by the football team getting turned around. The older alumni will change their habits and will not be coming back to claim season tickets if and when the football team starts winning.
Wow! How does this asshat still have a job writing for a major newspaper? The short version of his statement is that UT alumni are racist and only willing to tolerate an inferior human being to have a position of leadership in the athletics program if the porch monkey dances their tune. That's not an indictment of UT alumni, that is an indictment of the Star-Telegram's sports editors.
Charlie Strong came from a mid-major program where expectations were lower, the glare of the spotlights wasn't as bright and where the competition was of a lower quality. In coming to Texas he has been burdened with an AD who is way in over his head. The media group inside Bellmont has not helped Coach Strong on his presentation before the press (a fact painfully obvious from his last two press conferences). Patterson is not avalible to play the role Jurich did while Strong was at Louisville in helping the head football coach deal with problems surrounding the program (as shown by how Wickline is being treated and how the lack of any semblance of a marketing plan has created a game day atmosphere is increasingly toxic with each game). Charlie has been thrown to the wolves by an AD who is in over his head, understands little of running a major college athletic program outside facilities construction and whose personality simply doesn't lend itself to collaborative problem solving.
The problems of the UT football program will not be solved by Coach Strong changing his OC. They will be changed by Coach Strong's entire staff making changes as well as by Steve Patterson making changes. And Patterson will never change.
Racism on the part of UT alumni isn't the problem. The problem is that UT athletics doesn't have the leadership necessary to bring the organization together to solve problems and work as a successful organization should.
