Professor Elam

Monday November 21, 2106

I am not a big football fan but I do teach the required accounting ethics class here at TAMUSA. I am a graduate of UT Austin, three times over.

I sent them this short letter but doubt it will appear on the athletic website.

UT Administration and Other Sore Short Term Frustrated Fair Weather Fans

There is only one way to avoid losing at any game, don’t play. So if you just cannot stand the thought of losing on the scoreboard, perhaps we would start playing soccer or some other sport on Saturdays.

But there is more, much more, going on here than the score at the end of the game. Just look one hundred miles north for an alternate reality.

Sure that school won more games but the record also includes

the resignation of the coach, athletic director, and President

players on the way to jail, literally

a long established tradition of integrity lost in two short years

and no doubt a few alums wondering if that school is really the place for their daughters.

None of hat happened at UT Austin, thanks for Charlie Strong’s efforts to root out the ‘deplorables’ his first season

Shame on the officials who announced Strong’s removal before the season was even over, how tawdry, and unappreciative.

Darrell Royal advised one to 'dance with the one that brung you.'

UT could not even wait another six days, they had to suggest they were looking for a new dance partner before the TCU game. Just how does that improve the situation, not for Charlie, not for the team, not for the fans, just for the administration flexing its muscle, without of course, offering a solution.

If you had to choose between the end results of the two programs, I would go for the Strong result every time

Integrity and a class act with no need to apologize for player behavior is a winner in the Game of Life,

And that is something to put first, before the team takes the field.

Dennis Elam
Class of 1970, 1972, 2003