Thanks to multiple reports plus the acknowledgement of Arizona State’s president, Texas has been forced to speed up its announcement of the permanent replacement for the retiring DeLoss Dodds.
Expected later on in the week, UT instead announced Tuesday afternoon that Steve Patterson has been hired as the university’s new athletic director. Patterson will be officially introduced at a press conference later this week.
The Board of Regents must still sign off on the hire, although that appears to be merely a technicality at this point.
“Steve Patterson emerged as the perfect candidate to build on Texas’ athletic success and DeLoss Dodds’ legacy,” UT president Bill Powers said in a statement. “Steve helped build an NBA championship team and brought the Super Bowl game to Houston. Far more important, he’s run a winning program at Arizona State that places students first and is committed to their lifelong success
Patterson will take over “later this fall,” Powers said, with Dodds sliding into an advisory role.
One of the most important decisions Patterson will make during his time in Austin will also be one of his first. While the Longhorns have turned things around since an embarrassing start to the 2013 season, there are still questions as to the long-term future of Mack Brown as head coach, questions that will now have to be answered by Patterson -- and boosters and the like -- moving forward.