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Bubba Thornton is retiring as the head coach of Men's Track & Field at Texas, effective August 31st.
Texas will then move to restructure into a unified Men's and Women's Track integrated program. The efficiencies and savings from the move should allow the Longhorns to free the money sufficient to hire a prominent replacement.
Thornton spent 18 years at Texas (coaching 31 years in all) and led the Longhorns to 12 conference titles. During his reign, Texas produced 26 different individual NCAA champions. He was also the coach of the 2008 Men's Olympic Team. Despite these honors, there are some who believe that the Track & Field program was underachieving nationally relative to its potential and that a new integrated structure is needed to revitalize the program.
Don't be surprised if Texas A&M's Pat Henry gets a phone call.