Report: ASU AD Steve Patterson turned down the Texas job

As the athletic director search heats up for the Texas Longhorns and the interview process begins to find the replacement for DeLoss Dodds, one report emerging from Arizona on Wednesday holds that one candidate has already turned down the job.

Steve Patterson, who has been the athletic director for the Arizona State Sun Devils since March 2012, got his undergraduate and law degrees from Texas, but reportedly declined an informal job offer made during a meeting with school representatives, a source told FOX Sports Arizona.

A former general manager for the Houston Rockets who also worked as an executive with the Houston Texans, Patterson's name has been one of those batted around in recent weeks, though he has not received the buzz that currently surrounds West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck.

So how believable is this story? The fact that there is only one source attached to the report in and of itself reduces the credibility. There's also the fact that two Sun Devil athletic directors have departed the job in recent years for better positions at other schools, so this is hardly a destination job.

And why would someone with the ties of Patterson to Texas turn down what would likely be a lucrative contract to go to a bigger school?

It is of course impossible to answer that question, but suffice it to say that if Patterson did indeed turn down the Longhorns, it would be extremely surprising.

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