Think of Them as the Anti-AIG

Get your pitchforks ready, mighty Texas populists!

With America's attention fixed upon a crisis abroad, Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds and president William Powers Jr. used the opportunity Monday to sneak through more than $40,000 in unearned bonuses to the football team's assistant coaches. The performance measure the coaches supposedly met? Winning the Big 12 championship.

Head coach Mack Brown did not receive his bonus, but it's unclear whether his assistant will follow their boss' lead. Next week, Dodds and Powers are scheduled to meet to rubber stamp men's basketball coach Rick Barnes' bones for reaching the Sweet 16 in 2009. The Longhorn hoopsters lost to Duke in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, but Dodds said it was clear that Barnes was denied the opportunity to earn the bonus by some borderline officiating that went against his team in the last minute of the game.

*In other news out of Austin, Kirk Bohls is reporting that the 'Horns have decided to remove their asterisk-ensconced claim to the 2008 Big 12 championship. Apparently, Brown was unaware of the placard and asked to have it removed. Seriously, though--who thought that was a good idea?