Texas president Greg Fenves fires AD Steve Patterson

Just a day after multiple reports indicated that president Greg Fenves was still considering firing Texas Longhorns athletic director Steve Patterson, the Austin American-Statesman broke the news that Patterson's termination appeared imminent on Tuesday morning.

According to the publication, Fenves was holding a key meeting with Patterson when the story broke just after 8:30 a.m. CT.

Here are some further specifics:

Former Texas linebacker Mike Perrin, a member of the 1968 team that started the program's 30-game winning streak in the late 60s and a member of the UT Men's Hall of Honor, will be named the interim athletic director, the Houston source said.

A loss of confidence from the coaches underneath Patterson helped prompt the change, according to a Houston source quoted by the Statesman. When will it become official? The two sides were apparently negotiating a buyout as of Tuesday morning, but the deed is done.

Roughly two months ago, Fenves asked Patterson to change his personal style, one that many inside and outside of the athletic departmnet considered "impersonal or even arrogant."

According to a Monday report from Horns Digest, Patterson hasn't succeeded in those efforts and Fenves was considering removing Patterson from his position less than two years into his tenure replacing DeLoss Dodds. In fact, ever since meeting twice with Patterson in the middle of July, Patterson has been in trouble, according to the Statesman.

A week ago, just as Patterson was touting the economic impact of Texas sports on the city of Austin, Fenves declined to publicly express support for the embattled athletic director, saying only that the two are "continuing to work through the issues," a strong signal that Patterson has not changed his personal style as requested by his new boss.

The handling of the uproar over Texas charging the Texas Tech band $100 for tickets hardly went well -- it took two days for the athletic department to release a statement detailing the changes in policy. And a plane bearing a banner that read "Patterson must go" appeared over Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium for Saturday's home opener:

"Patterson Must Go" banner flying over DKR before the Rice game. @statesman pic.twitter.com/rrKCKxAVkM

— Jay Janner (@jayjanner) September 12, 2015

Though it's unclear who paid for the banner, it's a strong vote of no confidence from someone with money to burn.

In the lead up to that Rice game, the school revealed that there 15,000 unsold tickets and the sparse crowd at kickoff provided further evidence of declining fan interest amid rising ticket prices. One fan who declined to renew his season tickets for the first time in more than a decade told the San Antonio Express-News that he "got tired of being treated like a wallet." Even though his season ticket prices increased only marginally, the decision not to renew was one made on principle.

In an opinion piece for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram back in June, Texas communications professor Rick Cherwitz admitted that he didn't renew his season tickets this year for the first time in 36 years:

It was clear to us that the Athletics Department no longer considers faculty and staff to be members of the "family" and "community" — the very people who educate and serve student athletes. Instead, we became another one of the institution's many "corporate customers."

It's not just the season tickets holders or the faculty who don't care for Patterson -- what really concerns Fenves is the poor relationships that Patterson has with many donors, who essentially feel the same way about Patterson as the season ticket holder quoted by the Express-News.

As a result, Patterson's wife has taken a leading role in donor relations, but it's not clear whether that will be enough to repair those relationships. Horns Digest reports that mega-donor Joe Jamail declined to renew his suite this year, though Jamail denied that rumor back in July and did not provide any confirmation or denial for Chip Brown's story.

Throw in further turnover in the athletic department and Patterson's inability to create allies increasingly left him isolated and at odds with Fenves, who quickly tired of the consistent complaints from all corners.

At some point on Tuesday, the move will become official once and for all, though it will be expensive for Texas -- Patterson's five-year contract is guaranteed at $1.4 million annually.