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AD DeLoss Dodds on Texas athletics: ‘I worry more about basketball’

CBI Texas Houston Basketball

AP Photo

AP

Texas head coach Rick Barnes is on the hot seat.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. The Longhorns have struggled mightily in the past two seasons, getting knocked out in the Round of 64 in the 2012 tournament and missing the NCAA tournament all together last season after finishing the year 16-18.

Barnes hasn’t been able to recruit the state of Texas despite the fact that there has been a talent boom in recent years. He lost Myck Kabongo, Ioannis Papapetrou (both went pro), Julien Lewis and Shelden McClellan (both transferred) this offseason. Current Texas athletic director and Barnes supporter DeLoss Dodds will be stepping down soon.

There’s a valid reason that he found himself at the top of this list.

But apparently we’re not the only ones that feel that way about Barnes. Earlier today, Pete Thamel of SI.com published a story on the downfall of Texas athletics, and buried on the second page were some pretty harsh words about the Longhorn’s basketball coach:

“I worry more about basketball,” Dodds said. “If I were going to pick one [program] to worry more about, I worry more about basketball.”

Added the high-ranking Texas official: “I can’t imagine [Barnes] turning it around.”

[...]

“I can’t put my finger on it or pinpoint exactly, but we’re not getting Texas kids,” Dodds said. “We’ve had a lot of kids come into the program that are pretty good players that have left, not to go to the NBA.”

[...]

“They were the least competitive Texas team, in terms of winning and competing, that I’d seen,” said a veteran Big 12 coach of the Longhorns’ performance last season. “They used to have rugged, physical dudes who playing for Texas mattered to them. Last year, they just folded, like a lot of guys on the team didn’t care if they won or not.”


When the administrators at a football school with a struggling football program are more worried about the basketball coach, well, that’s not a good sign for Barnes.

Follow @robdauster