AUSTIN - Retired Adm. William McRaven met with Gov. Greg Abbott last fall in the storied, ornate conservatory at the Texas Governor's Mansion. It was a big moment for McRaven, the University of Texas System's chancellor.

He wanted Abbott's support for the huge development UT had brewing in Houston. The $215 million land acquisition near the Texas Medical Center, planned largely in secret, had deeply divided constituencies inside and outside of Austin. Publicly, Abbott had stayed out of the debate.

During the meeting, Abbott counseled the chancellor to back off the deal. McRaven held firm, emphasizing what he thought were the benefits of the project, according to people familiar with the conversation.

At one point, McRaven said he was acting in the best interests of Texas.

"I believe that's my job," Abbott replied bluntly, underscoring the unspoken tension in the room.

In the end, neither side budged. The pair hasn't had another one-on-one meeting since.

Without Abbott's support, momentum for the Houston venture withered, and McRaven officially ended it last month. The reverberations of that failure have eroded support for McRaven among several state lawmakers and the governor's office, according to various state officials.

McRaven's political strife is playing out as he tries to navigate high-profile challenges across the UT system. MD Anderson's president was forced out in early March after the celebrated institution suffered operating losses of $460 million in 16 months. The University of Texas at San Antonio president had resigned just days earlier as allegations of sexual harassment became public.

McRaven told the Chronicle on Friday that he remains confident that he can lead the system moving forward. He emphasized that he has "tremendous respect for the governor," and they are "absolutely" on the same page. Abbott, however, declined to comment for this story.

"The silence by the governor, and a growing number of problems under McRaven's watch, speak volumes about the challenges that are ahead for the chancellor," said a UT official with knowledge of the matter. "There is definitely tension. I'm not sure of a solution at this point."

At the Capitol, UT has struggled to fight off budget cuts and defend big-ticket spending like its new system headquarters during the legislative session. So far, it hasn't been easy. The Senate abruptly voted to pull the UT System's ownership of a golf course in Austin earlier this month, an embarrassing defeat for the flagship.

Kevin Eltife, a UT regent recently appointed by Abbott, said the Houston land project "hurt relationships at the Capitol, where relationships mean everything."

"I've never seen the UT System relationship with the Legislature in worse shape," said Eltife, a former longtime state senator.

McRaven acknowledged that he should have better communicated his Houston plans with lawmakers. Still, he says his relationships with Texas leaders aren't permanently damaged.

"I accept responsibility for the fact that we could have done a better job of pulling people together."

Abbott 'not on board'

McRaven made his first big move as UT chancellor in November 2015, less than a year on the job. A large swath of land was available in Houston, enticingly close to the Texas Medical Center.

McRaven took need-to-know precautions while negotiating the deal, keeping most state officials in the dark.

Abbott learned of the purchase only days before the UT System regents voted to begin buying the parcels, according to two officials who spoke to the governor about it at the time. Immediately, Abbott had doubts about the deal and was irked that he had not been told sooner.

"It was like they had already decided to do this, no matter what anyone on the outside thought," said one official, who asked not to be identified to avoid compromising political relationships. "That's not the way things are supposed to work, especially if the governor says he's not on board."

With McRaven still pushing the deal months after his last meeting the governor, Abbott took action. In January, he appointed two UT regents who were openly critical of the project as well as another who offered no support - a blow to McRaven's ambitions.

Even today, state leaders from the Houston area continue to criticize McRaven's approach. Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican, said the proper course of action would have been to get Abbott's public approval before making the deal.

"It's a textbook case of how not to do a major project like this," he said.

Houston Sen. John Whitmire, a Democrat, scolded McRaven during a January legislative meeting, telling the chancellor that he needed to "learn the legislative process."

"Would you figure out a management style that involves the Legislature?" he said. "I'm terribly disappointed in the whole process, your governance and specifically (the Houston) site."

When McRaven canceled the Houston deal in early March, he said he realized it was diminishing support from UT System's other institutions. He denied that the reversal was because of outside pressure.

McRaven cancels expansion into Houston by Lindsay on Scribd

Though some McRaven supporters concede the Houston project was a misstep, they say one failed mission won't prevent McRaven from pushing other initiatives for UT.

"He's had to have his humble pie, but I don't think what he has done is irreparable," said John Massey, the president of the University of Texas at Austin alumni group Texas Exes.

Days after McRaven called off the Houston plan, his board chair said the chancellor retained regent support. House Speaker Joe Straus continues to support McRaven, telling the Chronicle in a statement Friday that McRaven is "doing an outstanding job."

Foster assures McRaven he has the board's support by Lindsay on Scribd

Deputy higher education commissioner David Gardner said recently that UT's relationship with the higher education coordinating board has strengthened since the Houston deal was first announced.

"I believe that there's been an attempt to learn from this situation," he said.

As far as McRaven's future, a statement of support from Abbott would be "a good salve" to the "bruise" of the Houston mistake, said Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, whose district includes the UT-Austin campus.

Still, Watson said, he doesn't think McRaven's job is in jeopardy. "I think we're moving forward."

Learning the landscape

On paper, McRaven and Abbott seemed a potentially strong team when they began their jobs in January 2015.

Both are UT-Austin alumni; McRaven graduated in 1977 and Abbott in 1981. Each had distinguished careers. Abbott was a lawyer, judge and attorney general. McRaven was a naval commander credited with orchestrating the secret mission to kill al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

But McRaven's military background was far removed from Texas politics, unlike his peers at Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University and Texas State University systems, who each held state elected office before assuming their current roles.

During his interview Friday, McRaven acknowledged that he needed to "learn the landscape" when he arrived.

"I joined the Navy and went away for 37 years," he said. "I didn't know any of the players at the Capitol."

McRaven says he has held dinners and meetings with state politicians throughout his tenure and will continue to do so.

"I'm not naive to the importance of relationships," he said.

But the UT System hasn't been able to shake other challenges throughout the legislative session.

Sen. Kel Seliger, an Amarillo Republican who leads the Senate's higher education committee, became a prominent critic of the system as the session began. He questioned the UT System's plan to spend $1.46 million on marketing as state finances were tight.

"The chancellor does not need any burnishing to his image," Seliger said during a January hearing. "It looks to me like an entity has more money than they know what to do with."

Both House and Senate budget proposals cut several million dollars from the budget of UT-Austin. More budgetary pressure would have come from the House if McRaven hadn't canceled the Houston project, said Rep. Garnet Coleman, a Houston Democrat. "This is when we make the rules."

Meanwhile, the Texas Senate voted on April 11 to strip the UT System of its ownership of a historic 141-acre golf course in west Austin that UT had once explored developing commercially, a plan that has been the focus of local protests that predate McRaven's tenure. The bill's author said the proposal aimed to preserve a piece of history, as the course was one of the first in the nation, south of the Mason-Dixon Line, to be voluntarily desegregated in the 1950s. UT had been given the land by a longtime former regent decades earlier.

Difficult issues

When McRaven first took office, he said his "primary role" was to support UT System's academic and health institutions.

Less than a year later, however, McRaven said his outlook had changed as he unveiled initiatives including a new leadership institute for students and business executives, as well as the Houston land purchase.

"It is not about us. It is about Texas - about improving the human condition in every town, every city, for every man, woman and child," he said in November 2015. "That's what great institutions must do for their state."

Janiece Longoria, a new UT regent appointed by Abbott, cited concerns with new spending as UT regional institutions had competing needs.

"There are a lot of demands at our component institutions for dollars," she said during her confirmation hearing. She did not respond to interview requests.

The president of MD Anderson left abruptly in March amid faculty unrest and operating losses. The University of Texas at San Antonio's former president acknowledged that he made female employees uncomfortable with hugs as he stepped down. Late last year, accreditors put UT's newest campus in the Rio Grande Valley on probation because of concerns with how the university merged separate schools.

Some supporters of UT's universities see a tension between the institutions and the system, which politicians call bloated.

McRaven acknowledged Friday that the system's institutions are facing "difficult issues" that he pledged to work on with UT regents.

"Of course, this is what CEOs do," he said. "They have to handle difficult issues. There are always difficult issues."

Meanwhile, the effects of the Houston land purchase still linger at the Capitol.

During a higher education committee meeting weeks after McRaven's reversal, senators considered an unrelated land transfer involving the Texas Tech University System. The bill's author said he liked overseeing university property deals "so we don't get a rogue group."

"Are you saying that some boards of regents might do something somewhat … inexplicable regarding the transfer or acquisition of land?" Seliger quipped.

Lawmakers chuckled, and the debate moved on.