 During his tenure in Pecan Gap, Mayo earned a reputation as a disciplinarian, but also as a sympathetic instructor.Later in 1889, Mayo founded ETNC in Cooper as a private teachers' college, although it was built on property that he purchased from the public school and was operated in connection with the existing public elementary and secondary education system.Mayo vowed that ETNC would be "a first-class private college, based on Normal principles", although at the outset it was a modest endeavor