According to the Twitterverse, A&M has fired AD Bill Byrne

[The30YardSlant]

It looks like the rumored resignation/firing of Byrne (who developed many enemies after his outspoken criticism of certain A&M officials and unwillingness to accept the move to the SEC) that has been going on since September has finally come to fruition.

If true, I can't really complain too much. Under his watch every sport but football has improved, but football pays the bills.

 

[Cythim]

I will complain, the athletic department was headed in the right direction under Byrne but a handful of stooges want to be involved when they have no idea what they are doing. Winning in those other sports that "don't matter" puts the school in the spotlight and makes it more attractive to top recruits. Texas has 46 national championships but only a handful are in football. Stanford is the best athletic program in the nation and their football program isn't great but has the capability to compete at the national level. Vanderbilt better make room for A&M at the bottom of the SEC.

 

[Biggems]

I will complain, the athletic department was headed in the right direction under Byrne but a handful of stooges want to be involved when they have no idea what they are doing. Winning in those other sports that "don't matter" puts the school in the spotlight and makes it more attractive to top recruits. Texas has 46 national championships but only a handful are in football. Stanford is the best athletic program in the nation and their football program isn't great but has the capability to compete at the national level. Vanderbilt better make room for A&M at the bottom of the SEC.

I agree.....A&M made a huge mistake.....but I am ok with that....since I hate the Aggies.....and once again, the school officials live up to those classic Aggie jokes we love to tell all over the state of Texas.

As far as struggling in football.....their biggest issue was getting rid of Slocum. Yes he had a rough season in his final one, but they replaced him with garbage...then they replaced that garbage with more garbage. You would think they would be able to go out and hire a top coaching prospect, but nope.

 

[joseephuss]

I agree.....A&M made a huge mistake.....but I am ok with that....since I hate the Aggies.....and once again, the school officials live up to those classic Aggie jokes we love to tell all over the state of Texas.

As far as struggling in football.....their biggest issue was getting rid of Slocum. Yes he had a rough season in his final one, but they replaced him with garbage...then they replaced that garbage with more garbage. You would think they would be able to go out and hire a top coaching prospect, but nope.

I disagree. Getting rid of Slocum was not the problem. I agree that who they replaced him with was garbage, but they had to move away from Slocum. It is similar to the Cowboys. It was time to move away from Parcells as coach(would have liked him to stick around as GM, but that is another issue), but they needed to do much better than choosing Wade Phillips.

 

[The30YardSlant]

Apparently he wasnt fired, just informed that his contract would not be renewed and it would be "in his best interest" to step down sooner rather than later (his contract expires next year). Most everyone expects him to announce he is leaving sometime in the next month or two.

Sounds a lot like waht happened with Franchione in 2007, retire/resign or we'll fire you.

 

[The30YardSlant]

I agree.....A&M made a huge mistake.....but I am ok with that....since I hate the Aggies.....and once again, the school officials live up to those classic Aggie jokes we love to tell all over the state of Texas.

As far as struggling in football.....their biggest issue was getting rid of Slocum. Yes he had a rough season in his final one, but they replaced him with garbage...then they replaced that garbage with more garbage. You would think they would be able to go out and hire a top coaching prospect, but nope.

The problem is that Byrne pumped up other sports at the expense of football and, more recently, men's basketball. It's why he went for the "cheap" hires in football and basketball recently.

Meanwhile, we have the highest paid track coach in the country and a our women's basketball staff as a whole makes more than our men's staff. It sounds bad, but nobody cares about championships in track or equestrian or golf, people care about football and MBB.

Here's a breakdown of our expenditures this past year for every sport and where it ranks among all programs...

#1 budget in the country for Tennis (men & women combined)
#1 budget in the country for Soccer (women's only)
#2 budget in the country for Track (men and women combined)
#5 budget in the country for Volleyball (women's only)
#6 budget in the country for Golf (men and women)
#6 budget in the country for Swimming (men and women combined)
#7 budget in the country for Women's basketball
#10 budget in the country for Baseball
#11 budget in the country for Softball
#30 budget in the country for Men's basketball
#47 budget in the country for Football

Sorry, but that is unacceptable at a school like Texas A&M. We spent just slightly more on our football program than Kansas State did last year.

And for the record, is Byrne not in charge of MAKING those hires?

 

[Cythim]

The problem is that Byrne pumped up other sports at the expense of football and, more recently, men's basketball. It's why he went for the "cheap" hires in football and basketball recently.

Meanwhile, we have the highest paid track coach in the country and a our women's basketball staff as a whole makes more than our men's staff. It sounds bad, but nobody cares about championships in track or equestrian or golf, people care about football and MBB.

Here's a breakdown of our expenditures this past year for every sport and where it ranks among all programs...

#1 budget in the country for Tennis (men & women combined)
#1 budget in the country for Soccer (women's only)
#2 budget in the country for Track (men and women combined)
#5 budget in the country for Volleyball (women's only)
#6 budget in the country for Golf (men and women)
#6 budget in the country for Swimming (men and women combined)
#7 budget in the country for Women's basketball
#10 budget in the country for Baseball
#11 budget in the country for Softball
#30 budget in the country for Men's basketball
#47 budget in the country for Football

Sorry, but that is unacceptable at a school like Texas A&M. We spent just slightly more on our football program than Kansas State did last year.

And for the record, is Byrne not in charge of MAKING those hires?

Byrne and Franchione came in nearly simultaneously, that was not his hire. The board of regents has shown that they will go over the AD's head to make decisions they want to be made so I can't blame him for Sherman (who I wanted to keep around for at least one more season) or for the mess that Sumlin is going to create before he gets canned in 3 years.

For that list of expenditures, where are you finding this information? You are looking at a snapshot of one year and any number of things can alter these expenditures. Fact is A&M typically ranks near the top in the nation on football spending, and top in spending across all programs. Pat is doing a heck of a job for the track team, making a whopping $250k. I think the school can handle that.