• The KillerFrogs

Why Does UT’s $34 Million Head Coach Need a “Special Assistant”?

TopFrog

Lifelong Frog
When the “organization” told me I didn’t need to get on the bus because they were not renewing my contract - I still thanked my manager, pitching coach, etc and said goodbye to my now former teammates- they didnt fire me

But I damn sure was fired
Yeah, because all of that is exactly the same thing.
 

FrogByBirth

Ticket Exchange Pass
by Richard Justice

Excerpts:
When it comes to sheer rubbernecking entertainment value, the Longhorns are lapping the field. In this latest installment of the saga, Patterson has agreed to join the Longhorns as a special assistant to Sarkisian, the head football coach. In reality, Patterson is being asked to save UT athletic director Chris Del Conte’s butt.

Around this time last year, Del Conte, who worked with Patterson when both were at TCU, finished a $79 million transaction in which he fired Tom Herman and replaced him with Sarkisian, then an Alabama assistant coach. (For those counting at home, that’s about $24 million to buy out Herman and his coaching staff, plus Sarkisian’s six-year, $34.2 million deal, plus around $21 million in total salary for Sark’s assistants.)

Sarkisian promptly engineered one of the most embarrassing seasons the Forty Acres has ever seen—which is pretty impressive for a program whose recent history has been largely defined by underachieving. In the past twelve seasons, UT has managed only one finish better than nineteenth in the AP rankings.

From a practical viewpoint, Patterson can provide two elements Texas badly needs. First, he’s one of the finest defensive minds in college football. His 4-2-5 setup with two linebackers and five defensive backs is copied in some form by virtually every team. And if teams typically reflect their head coach, the Longhorns would do well to reflect a little of Gary Patterson. When he had TCU rolling, the team’s toughness and consistent effort were the gold standard almost every other program measured itself against.

Patterson does not tolerate fools. At times, he doesn’t tolerate much of anyone. But he’s a great, proven coach, and he loves what he does. TCU fired him after an October loss to Kansas State, but Patterson still showed up the following week to help his former coaches construct a game plan for Baylor.

As special assistant, Patterson won’t be an official member of the coaching staff. That is, he won’t be stepping onto the practice field to, you know, coach players. Will he serve in more of advisory role? Was he given a perch to wait, before eventually taking over as defensive coordinator? Is Patterson UT’s insurance policy at head coach, in case the Longhorns flop again under Sarkisian?

Patterson’s strength during two decades at TCU was a strong-willed, hands-on approach that, at times, put players, staff, and administrators on edge. Perhaps that kind of hard coaching can have diminishing returns over time, but right now, it’s difficult to name any college football program in the nation that needs a kick in the butt more than Texas.

Why does a guy that made $60 million over the last 2 decades need to go be a Special assistant??

No way in hell UT replaces a HC with Gary Patterson
 

Eight

Member
When the “organization” told me I didn’t need to get on the bus because they were not renewing my contract - I still thanked my manager, pitching coach, etc and said goodbye to my now former teammates- they didnt fire me

But I damn sure was fired

been fired twice and in each time we had to turn in our keys, swipe cards, and badges so to get back in the offices we would have to go past security

if they let you hang around a week after you got "fired' you didn't get fired like the rest of the working world
 

Sangria Wine

Active Member
If the manager asked you to change positions or they no longer had a spot for you but you declined to change positions, did you quit or get fired?
I’ll answer my opinion…if you’re asked to move to second base and you’re a shortstop and you refuse then you quit. If you’re a shortstop and they ask you to become a groundskeeper then they fired you.
 

Sangria Wine

Active Member
Actually it is pretty much- he showed up for the guys he loved and supported because it was more important

If you don’t get that - probably says more about you than GP
There are two perspectives to look at this situation from. One is from the perspective of somebody who understands what it’s actually like on the inside of a major sports team/program. The other is from the perspective of a jock-sniffer fan viewpoint where none of those guys on the field are real people with real relationships. And it is pretty much that binary. You don’t have to have been inside the machine to recognize and see that’s the situation. You just have to be a rational human who can realize what they all have gone through together.

I’m certain that TCU was a willing participant in letter Gary “wind down” after firing him. They didn’t want to alienate the many who were not in favor of firing him. They didn’t want to alienate the players on the team who loved the guy. They didn’t want to lose their position that they had mutually respect even in firing him. I can go on with many more reasons they’d want to let him linger for a couple of weeks and have him on the field for recognition, etc.

I can’t believe some of this storyline is even an argument. Gary was fired. The people who fired him certainly would rather that perspective be adjusted to some BS grey area just in case this decision blows up in their face. Those defending this grey area BS are just trying to pre-set the stage in case it blows up in my view. It’s a self preserving angle that takes the blame away for the firing. And that position is weaker than cat [ Finebaum ]. People in charge made a decision to fire GP and they are dang well in the position to make that decision. Now the program moves on in a new direction. But don’t reinvent what happened to fit some BS narrative.
 

OmniscienceFrog

Full Member
curious why no one writes these articles about Saban when he is the king of the Special Asst of the HC....
Probably because everyone compares the track record of Saban to the UT head coaches.

Saban hires his special assistants, to help both himself and them.

UT's AD hires special assistants to the head coach, that he likely had very little to do with hiring in the first place, to try to cover his own a** a little from the inevitable cratering of said head coach.

Going to guess the formula in Tuscaloosa continues to outperform the one in Austin.
 

FrogBall09

Active Member
been fired twice and in each time we had to turn in our keys, swipe cards, and badges so to get back in the offices we would have to go past security

if they let you hang around a week after you got "fired' you didn't get fired like the rest of the working world
GP didn’t work at McDonalds

Senior Executives “leave to pursue other opportunities after a transition period” every day- because it takes longer than 5 mins to hand over the keys when you are more than a desk jockey
 

FrogBall09

Active Member
interesting how this story line has gone from they parted ways mutually, to gary quit before he got hired, to know tcu straight up fired gary
Was GP planning on retiring this year? No he wasnt

So there was no parting ways and only the ADJD propaganda machine and his golf buddies were ever trying to make it sound like it was anything other than a firing
 

Eight

Member
Was GP planning on retiring this year? No he wasnt

So there was no parting ways and only the ADJD propaganda machine and his golf buddies were ever trying to make it sound like it was anything other than a firing

so gary wasn't going to retire, thought he and the staff of his choice could turn this around, was going to ride this into the ground but the admins got it all wrong?
 

TopFrog

Lifelong Frog
GP didn’t work at McDonalds

Senior Executives “leave to pursue other opportunities after a transition period” every day- because it takes longer than 5 mins to hand over the keys when you are more than a desk jockey
You don't get fired at McDonald's and be allowed behind the counter the next day.

It was a parting. GP was asked to do certain things, he declined, so they agreed to "part ways." GP was allowed to stay part of the program through the end of the season, helping game plan Baylor and greeting seniors in the tunnel on Senior Day. Period.
 

FrogBall09

Active Member
so gary wasn't going to retire, thought he and the staff of his choice could turn this around, was going to ride this into the ground but the admins got it all wrong?
What does GP not being able to turn it around have to do with your argument he wasn’t fired?

Guess when you realize your argument is stupid - you move the goal posts

GP was fired - he didn’t mutually agree to part ways, he didn’t retire, he didn’t leave to pursue another job

No idea what the PR game is to somehow spin it differently - you would think if you want to say our AD is qualified to be an AD than you would want to act like he had the balls to fire him
 

FrogBall09

Active Member
You don't get fired at McDonald's and be allowed behind the counter the next day.

It was a parting. GP was asked to do certain things, he declined, so they agreed to "part ways." GP was allowed to stay part of the program through the end of the season, helping game plan Baylor and greeting seniors in the tunnel on Senior Day. Period.
When you are a nobody and screw up - they send the security guard to escort you out

When you have a buy out parachute - you don’t get walked out of the building - because you have incentive to not cause problems and they need something from you

The fact that many of you are football fans at watched our “dead man walking” coaching staff finish the season knowing they were all fired - but think that doesn’t happen is ludicrous

And your fantasy of what happened in that meeting is some good propaganda- you getting a kickback for that story? Amazing how all that happened in 15 mins….
 
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