Whoever ends up being the next Texas athletics director, he or she probably doesn’t live in the state of Texas at the moment.
Moments after word of Steve Patterson‘s ouster broke, anyone and everyone started running through their list of candidates to ride the burnt orange monster - even though the Austin American-Statesman‘s Kirk Bohls and ESPN’s Brett McMurphy reported it could be a while before the search gets going in earnest.
Among the commonly suggested names were TCU athletics director Chris Del Conte, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby and former Texas head coach Mack Brown. Del Conte is a heralded fundraiser that spearheaded TCU’s efforts to massively renovate Amon Carter Stadium while taking on no debt in the process, and famously worked to get his Horned Frogs into the Big 12. Bowlsby was a successful AD at Stanford before landing the Big 12’s top job and Brown.... was a successful football coach for a long time? I’m still not exactly sure why a career coach with no administrative experience is being pushed to lead one of the biggest athletics departments in the country.
Anyway, all three declined to campaign for the job Tuesday.
Paul - Like I've said many times I'm yours as long as you'll have me ... I have the best job in America 🐸⬆️ https://t.co/HOFYkbegJ8
— Chris Del Conte (@_delconte) September 15, 2015
Cross Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby off list of possible Texas AD. Says he'll help Fenves, "but I am not a candidate for the position."
— Brian Davis (@BDavisUT) September 15, 2015
Mack Brown: “I hate this for Steve, he was good to me. I’m really happy at ESPN/ABC. I have had no discussions w/anyone about the AD job"
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) September 15, 2015
Read between the lines and you’ll note Brown’s denial isn’t actually a denial at all. But, then again, he’s the only one of the three without a large group of constituents to answer to at the moment.
In the long run, this was just Day 1 in what will surely be a full calendar of candidates denying they’ll be the next Texas AD, until one of them inevitably becomes the next Texas AD.