Red McCombs says he’s sorry now for the outburst he leveled at the University of Texas’s hiring of Charlie Strong as its next head football coach.

I accept your apology, sir.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/red-mccombs-sorry-0

I’ll stipulate, of course, that I never attended UT. I’ve lived in Texas for just shy of 30 years now, so I consider myself a Texan, given that my wife and I pay our taxes here, our sons came of age here and graduated from college here and I’ve watched a fair amount of Texas football.

McCombs, the zillionaire San Antonio auto dealer and UT booster, popped off about being “kicked in the face” when UT hired Strong from the University of Louisville. He questioned whether Strong had the credentials to be a head coach.

Now he regrets saying those mean things.

http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/10272385/red-mccombs-apologizes-criticizing-charlie-strong-hire

UT has a new athletic director, Steve Patterson, who’s first major hire suggests he isn’t going to listen as intently to deep-pocketed boosters as some of his predecessors had done.

What’s more, as Paul Burka notes in the link attached to this blog, UT has now embarked toward a new era by hiring its first African-American head football coach.

Hook ’em, Coach Strong.