And here I thought I was special. I sent the following to CDC on Saturday (edited for brevity - skip pas the italics if you don't care what my email said said) and accidentally picked up when he called me today because I thought it was my kids' school or something:
I’m a member of the University of Texas’ Class of [a long time ago]. I emailed your predecessor, Mike Perrin, about the hiring of Casey Horny. I’ve been with our school’s team through great, good, bad, and miserable times. However, the hiring and retention of Casey Horny is more upsetting to me than any loss to Kansas (or Iowa State). I was also extremely upset when our current coach’s response to criticism on the issue was essentially “I just know more than everyone else.” That kind of arrogance (and standing behind a rape apologist) has no place at the University of Texas. Especially given the Longhorns’ special teams' abysmal play this season, since that is Mr. Horny’s unit.
I’m very concerned about the current direction of the football program. I think we have now seen enough to know that Tom Herman is simply not the right person for the job. His insistence on the Horny hire told me a great deal about his moral makeup. I am also concerned that he is unwilling to make obviously necessary changes to the coaching staff, as the results over the past few weeks have been unacceptable - and not even necessarily because of the outcome. Instead, I am concerned with the obvious disadvantage the Longhorns seem to have in terms of coaching and adjustments every Saturday. The team just seems to regress with every game. I’m not a multi-million dollar donor, but I will tell you exactly what I told your predecessor, Mr. Perrin: the University of Texas will never receive another dime from me - whether it is for merchandise, tickets, or donations until - Casey Horny is no longer employed at the University of Texas in any capacity. Although I do feel that Tom Herman is not the right man to be our coach, the dismissal of Casey Horny would be an excellent starting point for a more moral University of Texas.
In sum, I love the University of Texas. I would very much like the chance to donate some of my disposable income towards making it an even better, more exceptional place for our diverse student body. However, I simply cannot justify doing so until Mr. Horny is no longer an employee of the university.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.
Regards,
[CampCrunk]
[CampCrunk's phone #]
And then CDC called me late this morning and I picked up by mistake. He talked about how they will sit down and evaluate every member of the staff at the end of the season. One thing he did say that I liked quite a bit was: "I was not athletics director when we hired that guy [Horny]." I hope I interpreted that (and his inflection when he said it) correctly and he's going to do something about the situation. He said that it's a tough situation because, although he understands the concerns, he's worried about "throwing the baby out with the bathwater." He mentioned that we've had three coaches in the past seven years and said that he doesn't think that just chasing a different new hot name every offseason is a recipe for success. He did not bring up Dabo Swinney, like he apparently did for some other folks. I'm sure I'm missing a few points, but I think that's the gist of it.
Overall, he struck me a genuine, good, smart guy who is very concerned about the athletics department even though he (obviously) couldn't go into much detail with me. It's very clear that he wants to win and win big. I came away very impressed with him. Like my email said - I'm a nobody - and the fact that he took time out of a doubtlessly hectic schedule to call me up and discuss my concerns speaks volumes about how much he cares about the fans. Maybe I'm not a big Mensa supporter (and I'm certainly a Casey Horny hater), but I will definitely be pulling for CDC.