I’ve had the displeasure of dealing with him personally, and the fact that it took that long is what is surprising to me.
Pat is all about Pat. He doesn’t play well with others and will not hesitate to take his ball and go home.
I also don't understand (and this is not directed at your post, just building off of it) why a guy with no history of doing that job was given the job off a dinner with the owner and then people circle back to his departure as being a problem. Hiring him was the problem. Putting him in charge of hiring the GM that was looking at a different path forward is certainly on him too.
Loved Pat as a player but his tiny body of work as a franchise exec leaves a lot of chaos and no gain. He was another person who was inexperienced and not right for the job.