With the firing of Mike Sherman, despite a possible $8 million buyout the former coach might be owed, it's a new day in the Texas A&M Athletic Department.
Now, there are rumors that the man who hired Sherman, Aggie AD Bill Byrne, might be next:
BrentZwerneman Brent ZwernemanWith events of past week being last straws (Toole as part of that), an A&M insider told me to expect dismissal of AD Bill Byrne soon.#mysa
BrentZwerneman Brent ZwernemanWhat does soon mean? Could be next week, next month ... but certainly before Byrne's contract is up in 2013.#mysa
Since coming to Texas A&M in 2003, the football program has bedeviled Bill Byrne. Now that his two prominent head coaching hires -- Dennis Franchione and Bill Byrne -- have not worked out, many in College Station are wondering whether he should be entrusted with this responsibility a third time.
The Aggies athletic department simply can't afford another botched hire, not when they are about to enter the most competitive division in college football, the SEC West, and especially now that they are on the hook for severance packages to both Sherman and the Big 12 conference.
The school's leadership, including Byrne, has been under an even bigger microscope in recent days after Texas A&M's CFO was caught posting unflattering remarks about President R. Bowen Loftin on an internet message board.