Larry Templeton was an excellent administrator, but lacked vision and leadership skills. He was a top down authoritarian administrator, with little use for any ideas but his own. In my many conversations with both people inside and outside of the Athletic Department, I heard over and over that nothing got done unless it was "Larry's idea." I also heard that from a department head in the College of Business at State.
Larry had a rigorous hierarchical organization chart with any ideas coming up the organization having to pass through several layers of filters, before they got to him. He installed "Yes men and women" all along the way to ensure that he dealt with very little change. There was virtually no teamwork. Most decisions were made by fiat by Larry. If someone had a good idea, it would die on Larry's desk, and several years later, would be surfaced again by Larry so as to be his idea.
Thus far, Greg Byrne has empowered the thinking and ideas of the Athletic Department. He got rid of a few of the "Yes people," but what he brought to the table in leadership and teamwork has made most of the people there realize they can think on their own and get credit for their ideas. I think there will still be a few people in the AD who will eventually be given the old heave ho, because they had their creativity stifled so long, they can't break out of the obedience cycle for which they had been programmed. I think that is a shame, because some of these people have given many years of loyal, obedient service, and never been asked to use their minds. Now that they are, some are having a problem breaking open that narrowed vision.
