Better communication skills may not have saved him, but he was given a task of making the most profitable athletic program more profitable. Probably should have started somewhere besides cutting perks for donors and coaches...
As it was put:
"In Texas, how you sell the story is just as important as the story," Ryan said. "You've got to know how to communicate to good ol' boys, and you need to have allies and you need to get friends in place, especially at a time when people are looking at their oil wells being worth half of what they were worth eight months ago.