The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Transcript: Steve Patterson introductory press conference [Nov. 7, 2013]
11.07.2013 | Texas Athletics
President Bill Powers' opening statement: Good morning, everyone. Thank you so much for being here. This is a great day for the University of Texas, and it's my great pleasure to introduce our new director of men's athletics, Steve Patterson. Steve, welcome. Hook 'em. Let me also give a warm welcome to Steve's wife Yasmin. Hook 'em, welcome. Welcome back home.
Jim Collins famously said that the key to an organization's success is to get the right people on the bus and get them in the right seats. Well, we had the right person on the bus with DeLoss Dodds. We have the right person on the bus with (women's athletics director) Chris Plonsky, and now we have the right person on the bus with Steve Patterson.
There's a seat on the UT bus that's been occupied by legends, Dana X. Bible, Darrell Royal, and of course DeLoss Dodds, and now that seat is occupied by Steve Patterson.
Steve was born and raised in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, but as I say, he got here as fast as he could. He graduated from the University of Texas with honors in 1980 with a bachelor's degree in business administration, and then earned his law degree from the UT law school in 1984. By 1989 he had become general manager of the Houston Rockets, where he was a primary architect of the first championship team in franchise history, signing and trading for all of the players and coaches.
Moving on to hockey, he served as president, general manager and governor of the Houston Aeros, and in 1995 he was the IHL's executive of the year.
From 1997 to 2003, he led a successful effort to acquire an NFL franchise for Houston and became senior vice president and chief development officer for the Houston Texans. Steve oversaw the development, design, financing and construction of Reliant Stadium, and he also brought Super Bowl XXXVIII to Houston.
In 2003 he became president of the Portland Trail Blazers, and was responsible for all the business and basketball operations for the team and for the arena.
He served as president of Pro Sports Consulting, which advises companies, government entities, universities and individuals operating or seeking to acquire sports properties or facilities to maximize their revenue.
And in 2012, he became vice president and athletics director at Arizona State University. And it is there where he absolutely demonstrated the characteristics that we were looking for and are looking for in an athletic director.
He ran a program that, yes, valued winning, but also students graduated on time, playing with integrity, and honoring tradition, all values we hold dear at UT. We see in Steve's career a pattern in which he immediately earns the trust and respect of the organization that he's leading.
Thanks to his predecessor, DeLoss Dodds, Steve inherits one of the most marquee programs in all of college sports.
For 32 years DeLoss has guided our way, has broken new ground, and along with Chris Plonsky, has made UT in the words of Sports Illustrated the best college sports (program) in America. So to DeLoss, I say thank you. To Chris, I say thank you. I'd also like to thank a stellar search committee that helped in this effort. Pam Willeford is with us today. Thank you, Pam. The other members of the search committee had other commitments. They did a tremendous service to our University to make this happen.
And so with that, I want to introduce the perfect man to continue the tradition here at the University of Texas, our (seventh) director of men's athletics, Steve Patterson. Steve, welcome home.
Director of Athletics Steve Patterson's opening statement: Thank you, Bill. It's nice to be home. It's really great to be here. I want to thank Bill and the committee for putting their faith in me. I graduated twice from here. I've been impressed with the job Bill has done all these years, growing this great University into a greater University year by year by year. It's a great brand. It's a great life-changing place. To be able to follow DeLoss Dodds in this role is something I never really thought about, because how do you follow somebody like DeLoss who's really built this program. I remember when he came here and I was a student, and he said this morning there were 30 people in the department when he started, and I remember the scale of the department then, and he's built it into the envy of college athletic departments across the United States.
I look forward to continuing that tradition with DeLoss, working with Chris Plonsky here and working with Bill and all the folks that are here at UT. This is a premier program. It has been for decades. We want to compete for championships day in and day out. We want to continue to graduate our students and do it with great ethics and follow the rules.
I was really attracted to come here. I had a great experience at ASU. (ASU President) Dr. Crow was tremendously supportive. He could have kept me from coming home, but he's a good man and he wouldn't let that happen. So I'm happy to be able to be here with my family, my wife Yasmin and my son Austin.
Austin has been lobbying me the last week or so, and just so you understand, when he was born, I was thinking that we ought to name him Bevo. My wife didn't quite think that was appropriate. She had some other ideas, so we settled on Austin. It's great to be back in Austin with you, Austin.
But I just want to tell you how excited I am to continue to build on the tradition that DeLoss and all the people here have developed over the years. I couldn't pick a finer institution to work for, and I'm really excited to be able to roll up my sleeves and get started working with all these great folks to continue to grow this brand and grow this program looking forward for many, many years to come.
On what separated Patterson from the rest of the candidates: (Powers) I was very impressed. There had been a lot written in the papers about his varied backgrounds with a lot of different kinds of organizations. I was most impressed when we first started the interview, and I of course had heard a lot about Steve. We had not met before. But he started with some stories about the transformative effect being at Arizona State had on athletes, the growth they had, the opportunities that it opened up, and it really was a while before we got into his sort of more résumé experience. So that was very impressive.
As you can tell, you recruit for what's in here, too. Steve has the right values, stand-up person. Everybody speaks so well of him, and he's been very successful. That was what we were looking for, and that's what we found. As I said, we've got exactly the right person on the bus.
On what he sees as his biggest challenge as he starts this new job: (Patterson) Well, I've been here, what, 15 minutes now? I think when you come into any organization you want to take some time to evaluate the culture, the people that are here, and where the organization is heading. I want to help extend the brand of UT throughout the United States and internationally. We talked a bit about that over the last few days when we've been talking. I think we want to continue to support our coaches and student-athletes and try to compete for championships every single day. We want to make sure our student-athletes graduate, and not just graduate but go on to great things when they get out of here.
I don't see this as an organization that's over in the ditch. It's a place that has had tremendous success for many years. It's got all the resources it needs. It's got some great people that have been working in it for a long time, and I just hope to continue to grow that.
On what are his fondest memories of the University as an undergraduate and law school: (Patterson) I came here not knowing -- we'd moved from Wisconsin, I'd lived three years in Sugar Land, Texas, and I came here with some friends trying to figure out what you're going to do after you graduate. They said, well, come on, let's go on up to Austin. They'd all been here and I had not. From the minute I got here I fell in love with the place, and I think anybody that's lived here or gone to school here or spent much time here loves the place. It's a great city, great culture, great music, great arts, great food. It was really great to get off the plane last night and walk through an airport where you can actually smell barbecue in the airport. There's not a lot of places in the world you can do that.
I had a lot of fun, made a lot of great friends here. We were looking at a picture earlier, Nick and I, of when we ran 'Hank the Hallucination' for student body president and beat Paul Begala. He's (Begala) gone on to a pretty great political career. I promised him after he ran Bill Clinton's campaign that we wouldn't run Hank against him in four years, and he continued to win with all his candidates.
The great games when Earl Campbell and that crew was running roughshod over the nation were a great deal of fun. Enjoyed Abe Lemons when he was coaching here and had a lot of great professors both in the undergrad school and in law school.
On what he learned at Arizona State from everything, from hiring June Jones and then ultimately Todd Graham, changing the culture there: (Patterson) I think it was interesting to see the difference between the professional world and college sports. We are in college sports, we're not in a professional world. I think the biggest difference there was really the multigenerational attachment that people have to their universities and their teams. Sports is the sort of front porch of the university, to be able to grow and maintain those relationships day in and day out. We have to work at graduating our student-athletes and growing young men and women into successful careers after they leave here.
But that emotional attachment where you go to school, you get your degree, you meet your spouse, your kids go there, your grandkids go there is a very different kind of emotional attachment than you have in the professional ranks, and I came to appreciate that. And I think just the different work that you have to do to help support young men and women to grow into what they're going to be as opposed to in the professional ranks where they've already come out of school and in many respects they're quite well formed and on their way.
On if he's purchased a burnt orange and white checkered suit yet: (Patterson) No, but that's up next.
On what was so hard about leaving Arizona State: (Patterson) I think Dr. Crow has done a tremendous job there, forging a unique university that's grown dramatically over the last decade since he's been there. He was very supportive of athletics and what we were trying to do. I think the cliché about ASU is it's this slumbering giant. I think that we were awakening that giant, and I think they're on a great path. There's going to be a lot of success.
Everybody is replaceable, and I appreciate all he did for us, for me personally, for my family, and what he does for the university there. He was a great guy to work for.
On during the recruiting process did he and the committee talk specifically about the athletic programs here and what may be involved: (Patterson) From my standpoint I've got to come here and meet these folks. I haven't worked with them, and what I've found whenever I've taken over an existing organization is the world often looks very different inside than it does outside, and I think we've got some very talented folks that have been here working for a long time, and I look forward to sitting down and working with them.
(Powers): Well, we did not discuss plans or make plans for any program. That was not part of the interview process. We certainly discussed the history of some of these programs. We talked about athletics and these particular teams are part of them, but we did not have any discussions about programs in any specific sense.
On if there was any concern that Patterson had only been an AD for a year and a half: (Powers) No. The sort of experience in the field he'd had in a variety of ways, including at Arizona State; if he had not been an AD, we would have spent a lot of time about his fit on an athletic campus. You've heard him speak about that. As I said earlier, that's where he went with the first part of our discussion. It was so clear to me, not just from what he was saying, but from what he had done at Arizona State, bring the Lettermen back, focus with Dr. Crow's help on graduation rates and personal stories about how people have been transformed by the university.
At that point I had no questions at all about the sort of character and fit with not just being in the pro world but in the academic world.
So at that point the -- if he had been two and a half years, five years, it would all be the same.
On did it concern him taking over for a guy that had been here for 32 years: (Patterson) Well, first of all, anytime you follow a legend and probably the premier practitioner of his art, you have a little trepidation. Those are big shoes to fill. You know, I've looked at DeLoss for years as really the great AD in the business and somebody who had a very high-profile job, has performed at a very high level under great scrutiny, under good times and bad. And so you admire somebody's very good work in their craft.
In terms of the time I spent there, you know, my background is different than a lot of guys in professional sports. I come from a family of educators. My parents ran a prep school in Wisconsin. All of my mother's family came from a very small town of 900 in northern Wisconsin, and all of her eight brothers and sisters and she all graduated from college, and it was very much a rarity in those days and it was something that was expected as I was growing up.
I'd also been working with ASU in a different capacity for about a year, year and a half before taking over the AD role. Mike asked me to do that a year and a half ago. Hopefully I think they all thought it was a good fit.
On when he went into the interview on Sunday, what was the thing he wanted to get across the most: (Patterson) I think it was an interesting conversation. I think the search committee, comprised of some very talented, dedicated people that love this university, it was great to hear their vision and view of the university and the athletic department. And Bill, it was great to see their support for Bill. So I went into it very relaxed, as hey, this is who I am.
Like any job, people look at what are the characteristics. I think most successful ventures between employer and employee really are all about fit; is it a good fit. If it's not a good fit, you can be tremendously talented and it can be a disaster. But I think it was a great fit. I've lived here, I know a lot of the people around, I know a lot of the people around the department, have had business and personal relationships with them for decades, and when the call came and Bill asked if we could get together for breakfast, it was a great opportunity and a great conversation. I hope it's as great a fit for as many decades as it was for the last guy who was here.
On if there is a sense after 32 years under one person that certain things need to be changed: (Patterson) I met with the staff this morning, and what I tried to communicate to them, and I would continue to communicate, is that this is the premier athletic department in the country; tremendous success, tremendous revenues, tremendous graduation, great facilities, great support from the alums and donors, very successful coaches. That's something that we want to continue and grow. I don't see this as I have at other places where taking over organizations that needed a dramatic turnaround. I don't anticipate monstrous changes to the department. I think we need to keep doing what we do well and find places where we can grow and do a better job with things that we can improve on.
That'll take a little time. It'll take some evaluation of who all is there, and hopefully we can continue to find new and interesting and different things to do, like the Longhorn Network is here that other schools don't have that can grow the brand and grow the business and grow the exposure and help the university reach its overall goals.
I think some people look in too small a way at athletics on college campuses, but I think our role hopefully is to grow the institution and help it meet its needs overall beyond just winning ballgames and graduating students.
On his thoughts about where a new basketball arena might be built: (Patterson) It's too early. I haven't really had time to have any discussions about that. As I look at buildings, I think they have to reflect the needs of the different consumers, those consumers meaning coaching staffs, student athletes, fans, donors, the community as a whole, and so I think you look at these facilities as really representations of the needs of a community. And hopefully you turn that into glass and concrete, and steel and some wood on the floor and a great experience for folks when they come there to really interact with UT in a great branded experience.
On if he has any thoughts on Texas's future in terms of conference affiliation and where it might go: (Patterson) I don't. I haven't had a chance to sit down and talk either with Bill or any of the rest of the ADs or presidents. I think you have to have a group of like-minded individuals in terms of what they want to represent in their conference, and it seems at this juncture that's where this conference is. If situations change in the future, we'll deal with that as it comes.
(Powers): I'll just say on the conference, I was chair of the Big 12 conference when Nebraska and Colorado were talking about leaving, and the last round of this, as well. I would say the conference has never been more solid in its leadership among the ADs -- we were talking last night, there's a great group of athletic directors in the conference, a great group of presidents, and so there's always a lot of questions about the conference. It is very, very strong right now.
On the challenges of having to serve so many different factions (coaches, athletes, alumni, donors): (Patterson) It's just part of the job. I mean, the reality is I think most executives in any enterprises have a multitude of constituents to serve, and you have to balance those needs and try to serve them as best you can. Whether you're running a public company or running a charitable foundation or running a university, I don't think that mechanisms are all that different.
On the difference between college and pro sports, and similarities, too, and how much did all his time as an exec at the pro level compare to this job: (Patterson) Well, I think a lot of the business aspects are very similar. You've got to sell some tickets and you've got to sell some media and you've got to service your customers and sell the suites and club seats and make sure you get your message out with the media. You've got to manage a brand. All those are very similar things, which you're probably going to see more of actually in college athletics as we go forward. I think you're starting to see certain people move into the industry who formerly weren't there, a guy like Dave Brandon at Michigan or Pat Haden at USC or some of the other people that have had business training outside of the traditional college path.
But at the end of the day, you have to serve the student-athletes and all the alumni and the donors and all the rest of those folks so that you can advance the university as a whole.
On the Arizona Board of Regents saying his decision to leave ASU was financially motivated: (Patterson) The interesting thing was we spent some time talking on Sunday, and I think we found it was a great fit. Bill asked me, do you want to do this. I told him yeah, and it was -- we had never talked about money or terms or -- and to this day I don't have a piece of paper. I don't have a contract. We've got a handshake. That's how I do business.
There are people that are going to be unhappy with my departure there. I looked at this as an opportunity for me and my family to come home. My wife has got family in Houston. My mother and my brother live here in Texas. I have a lot of great friends here, a lot of great business associates. I'm not going to deny that I'm well compensated. I've been well compensated as an executive for a lot of years. I could have stayed at ASU, but this is really a homecoming.
On the turnover rate and changes in personnel at ASU: (Patterson) I think in any athletic department there will be coaches and their staffs that come and go. In any business there are GAs and folks that come and go. We did make changes at ASU. I think it was a culture that in some respects had to change. We had to awaken the slumbering giant. My approach with people is not to make change for the sake of making change, but when you lay out a vision and you have goals and you have expectations, people in the organization need to meet those expectations. And so we hold people accountable.
Sometimes in this world, this more publicly done and focused on coaches and people say, hey, if you don't win then you're going to move on. I look at it as the only way we're going to be successful at all the objectives that we're going to have is if everybody is pulling in the same direction and doing their job, and that's from the guys mowing the lawn to the guy sitting in the AD seat. If everybody isn't motivated and single-mindedly focused on the objectives day-in and day-out and meeting those objectives in the most efficient and effective manner, we're not going to be satisfied.
On if he has a formal start date: (Patterson) Well, we've got to still go to the Board of Regents and get through that approval. I would expect over the next couple of weeks. I've got to meet with Dr. Crow on Tuesday when I get back to go through a list of items that need to get closed out before I'm done, sort of near-term ones, medium-term ones and longer-term ones. Obviously we want to close out the list of the immediate ones, and I may have to go back for a couple things just to wrap up some things beyond that. But I would expect in the next few weeks.
On what DeLoss Dodds' role will be moving forward and if he is still currently the AD: (Powers) Well, as Steve said, we have to go to the Board of Regents to approve the contract. As you know, there were two regents on the search committee, and I think where we were, the regents have been informed and we've been working with them, I think, very cooperatively both ways.
But it does have to get approved, so DeLoss, I suppose until the Board of Regents meeting, we've got somebody who can act as AD, and he can handle it. And when the board approves it, I think as Steve said, we want to be cooperative with ASU and make sure that whatever they want done Steve has the flexibility to go back and get that done. But on the 13th if the board approves the contract, Steve will be the AD.
On if Dodds remain here through August 2014 or longer: (Powers) Well, DeLoss has a contract this year that will go through August, and then he will also remain as a -- we haven't exactly worked out the title, but assistant to the president on the appearances and fundraising, very much like Darrell Royal did, which I think does keep a certain continuity. He's been here 32 years. I think he certainly deserves to be part of the campus's family. Steve will be the AD.
