Was Texas Tech Chancellor Duncan Pushed Out By The Governor?

The smart money out there says yes.

I've been following this Texas Tech story for the last week or two and things keep getting stinkier by the minute. Let's back up and look at what we know for certain.

Texas Tech Chancellor Robert Duncan resigned after being given a vote of no-confidence by the Texas Tech Regents.

So that's pretty simple, but let's ask ourselves, "who are the regents?" First and foremost, to land one of these six-year terms, one pretty much has to start by being a big money donor to the governor. Let's say that again: you give him money and he gives you a high-profile, powerful appointment. Now, I'd love to hate on our governor for that, but that's kind of what politics is-donate to someone, get a gig, get paid, rinse and repeat.

So while I have no insight into the behind the curtains skullduggery here, I think any reasonable person would assume that it was likely that an extremely engaged, well-liked chancellor was pushed out because he made one or more political enemies, and chief on the list of possibilities is other school chancellors who have the governors ear.  In short, some have claimed that Duncan was pushed out because the A & M folks didn't like the idea of Tech pushing for a veterinary school, and/or someone didn't like Texas Tech expanding it's footprint in Amarillo. Then again, who knows if that was just coincidental?

All of this is speculation that is sweeping across the media, but logically it adds up. Then again, you could just believe that one faction of Texas Tech supporters have a chip on their shoulder and we're not being led around on a leash by the governor's office. What I would hope is that Duncan, now that he's out, would drop the veil on this political nonsense and tell us what really happened. If Texas Tech is being pushed around, we need to know.