The end of Huffines’ tenure is a significant loss to UT. First, Huffines shared and supported the vision of the UT leadership for the university’s future. Second, Huffines’ relationship with the governor was unique, a friendship of equals and mutual respect. Huffines had a lot of influence with Perry. Too often, where Perry appointees are concerned (and especially with universities) the influence goes in the other direction. I viewed him as a “stopper,” someone who could talk the governor out of his bad ideas. I can’t envision anyone else on the board being able to do that. It’s not even clear that Paul Foster, of El Paso, one of the candidates for chairman mentioned by the Statesman, owes his first loyalty to UT, rather to Texas Tech.