So Sorry....Not!

Yea, one of my least favorite people - Bill Byrne, Texas A&M's Athletic Director - was in the news.....again.

Seems everyone has an opinion on the Aggies leaving or staying with the Big 12 and one of them upset our highly paid AD with their comments.  From the Eagle: A profane e-mail to Texas A&M athletic director Bill Byrne prompted him to respond with an angry voice mail.

"Someone who has the guts to write something like that needs to have his [expletive] kicked," the 65-year-old Byrne said in the call, which was posted on Youtube.com. Byrne later issued a 1,700-word statement defending the Aggies' decision to stay in the Big 12 and apologized for the outburst.

Now we all lose our tempers, but someone making the salary that Mr. Byrne's makes should have learned over 45 years of being an adult how to keep it to himself.  But stuff happens and people lash out, so if an apology was needed, it's good to see that he owned up to it.  Well at least that's what the paper says he did.

"After reading over 200 similar e-mails the other night, I finally had one set me off and I called the writer. I'm a very competitive person and like many of you, I was raised not to back down when challenged. I've also got a bit of an Irish temper which came across in my voicemail. I regretted what I said as soon as I hung up. I should have been above that, and I made a mistake. For those of you who were offended by my response, I apologize, and I assure you that it will not happen again," Byrne wrote.

You see, it's not an apology when you state "for those of you who were offended."  You either did the offense or you did not.  How I feel about it has nothing to do with whether or not an apology is appropriate.  If you were truly sorry for your actions you would have just said "....and I made a mistake for which I apologize.

By this statement you are not sorry, only sorry that it ended up on YouTube.  It is tantamount to when as a kid your mom tells you to apologize to your brother for hitting him.  I'm sorry comes out of your mouth but without your mom standing behind you - or YouTube in this case - an apology would never had been forthcoming.

And that's why you are still one of my least favorite people.  Consider this a challenge to your not-so-sincere hands-caught-in-the-cookie-jar apology.  I'm calling you on it.

You Go Girl...please...go

I am no fan of Texas A&M's athletics director Bill Byrne ever since he canceled Scouts day at Kyle Field a few years back so he could sell the seats originally promised to the area youth organizations including the Boy and girl Scouts.

The Eagle has a fairly in-depth article on his department and the financial problems Aggie Athletics are having under his watch. What I found interesting are two of the reasons for the deficit:

"If we had been selling out Kyle Field, you would not be asking me these questions," Byrne told The Eagle last week. "We would be operating in the black."

And if only I could win the lottery all my financial troubles would be over too!

"The department spends $20 million on women's sports for every $1 million those teams bring in. That spending has allowed the department to stay compliant with federal law while receiving national acclaim."

Those gosh-darn pesky woman and their stupid Title 9 law! He would have 19 million extra dollars if they would just go back to the way it was before we were MADE to let them play.

News Flash Mr. Byrne, Woman's Sports has succeeded at A&M because of the woman who participated, not because of you, your new buildings, your loan, or your $690,000.00 salary.

The financial problems any organization is experiencing are the result of a number of things, but failure of leadership is what allows them to manifest. From the "buck stops here" to the "buck is past here."

You've come a long way baby! Now go home

Taking One For The Team

Published Saturday, August 02, 2008 www.Theeagle.com

Texas A&M University athletic director Bill Byrne received a $204,000 salary boost and a 21/2-year contract extension Friday. The increase, approved Friday by the Texas A&M System Board of Regents, brings Byrne's salary to $690,000 annually. His contract now extends through Aug. 31, 2013.

Published Friday, July 03, 2009 www.TheEagle.com

Two of the longest-tenured members of the Texas A&M University athletics department lost their jobs Thursday in a budget-cutting move that eliminated 17 positions from the department.

Billy Pickard and Jim Kotch have a combined 73 years of service in the department. They were casualties of what athletics director Bill Byrne called a reduction in force that was required to complete a $4.5 million budget cut. Byrne said in a statement that the athletics department had to eliminate the positions because A&M officials could make only $3.5 million in cuts without reducing personnel."

Later in the same article we find out:

Four years ago, former A&M President Robert Gates and Byrne agreed that the athletics department would receive a $16 million line of credit from university funds for coaches' salaries and new facilities. The deal allowed the department access to the credit for four years, with 10 years to repay the money without interest. The first quarterly payment is due Nov. 30.

OK, so athletics, which everyone says "supports itself" through ticket sales needs to borrow money. That's understandable, but......

The line of credit was revealed last month in a self-critique of former A&M President Elsa Murano. "The athletics department has been operating in a deficit situation for several years," Murano wrote. "

OK, so you have been operating in a deficit for several year, but one year ago you give the man who is at the helm of the red ink spewing ship a $204,000.00 salary boost.

My question to Mr. Byrne, when you stated:

"This difficult decision [Reduction in Force] came after an exhaustive review of the entire program and with great reluctance."

Did you think about giving back your salary boost to save the jobs of your staff?