Many inside the Longhorn community are fed up with an athletic director who they say puts money above all else
... “He has turned the Horns ‘brand’ into a commodity to be sold.â€
Lehr said she and her classmates, even former football players, were initially told it would be $15 per person before it was upped to $25. They never made it onto the football field at DKR that weekend.
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On March 9, Texas athletics announced its 2015 football season ticket renewal package, including this line: “To help shoulder the increased costs of recent changes in NCAA policy, seat prices across the stadium have increased by an average of six percent.â€
According to numbers obtained by HornsDigest.com through an open records request, football season ticket holders were being handed a cost increase in 2015 by an average of 21.5 percent – with the Longhorns coming off a 6-7 season and a 5-year record of 36-28.
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Along with the ticket increases for 2015, UT athletics also announced a no-resale policy for “grandfathered†season ticket holders – or you lose your season tickets. The result: roughly 10,000 football season tickets were not renewed by an April 10 deadline, multiple sources told HornsDigest.
Parking for football games used to be included with season tickets purchased through the Longhorn Foundation. Now, parking is separate, and costs between $100 and $195 for the season.
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Sources said football coach Charlie Strong, who saw his and his coaching staff’s personal ticket allotment cut from eight to four last year, fought to increase the salaries of his eight quality control coaches from $24,000 to $50,000 after last season.
Texas has the lowest salaries in the Big 12 for its quality control coaches – even behind last-place football finisher Kansas ($45,000).
Strong’s request was denied by Patterson, and six of Texas’ eight quality control coaches who had built relationships with the rest of the staff, left to find better paying jobs, the sources said.
