Welcome gentlemen and @Wally12 to our first fireside chat. As an intelligent being known for outside-the-box thinking, I have decided that it would do the Corral some good to initiate intellectually-stimulating conversations from time to time as we continue to move forward together as galactic drifters in earth suits.
Today’s discussion focuses on Gary Patterson’s tenure at TCU. How it started. Where it went. And what lessons can be drawn from it.
Like Mike Gundy, Gary Patterson was promoted from coordinator to head coach after the prior head coach left for greener pastures—Patterson replaced Dennis Franchione who left for Alabama. Before becoming head coach, TCU’s previous four seasons had gone like this:
The beginning of the end for Gary was in 2018. Besides winning only seven games that season, Gary was hit with a lawsuit by a player for allegedly threatening the player to play through an injury. Patterson also became a major critic of updated NCAA transfer rules that year stating publicly “as I tell people all the time, at your house, you’re going to allow your 17-year-old, 18-year-old to run your household? Let them pay your bills, that’s what you do? No. You don’t do that. So why are we putting our jobs in jeopardy because of an 18-year-old? That’s stupid.”
In 2018, TCU’s team defense was good—#2 in the league in avg. pts/game—but the offense struggled and finishing second-to-last in the league.
The team returned in 2019 with freshman quarterback Max Duggan. Although they went 5-7, six of their seven losses were by a combined 30 points—the “Cardiac Horned Frogs…who always end up dead on the operating table” if you will.
2020 was supposed to be the bounce back year. Due to poor performances on the offensive side of the ball, Patterson hired his friend and former Minnesota coach Jerry Kill as a special assistant for the offense before the 2020 season. He also reunited offensive coordinators Sonny Cumbie and Doug Meacham. TCU’s recruiting class that year was ranked third in the Big XII and No. 24 nationally, per the 247Sports Composite Team Rankings. Still, the situation did not improve. TCU won only 6 games. It was becoming clear that the well was poisoned and culture was approaching an all-time low. The 2021 season was just more of the same. Gary resigned in November before being terminated as head coach.
When you start to think about it, there are many similarities between Patterson and Gundy:
Today’s discussion focuses on Gary Patterson’s tenure at TCU. How it started. Where it went. And what lessons can be drawn from it.
Like Mike Gundy, Gary Patterson was promoted from coordinator to head coach after the prior head coach left for greener pastures—Patterson replaced Dennis Franchione who left for Alabama. Before becoming head coach, TCU’s previous four seasons had gone like this:
- 2000 = 10-2
- 1999 = 8-4
- 1998 = 7-5
- 1997 = 1-10
The beginning of the end for Gary was in 2018. Besides winning only seven games that season, Gary was hit with a lawsuit by a player for allegedly threatening the player to play through an injury. Patterson also became a major critic of updated NCAA transfer rules that year stating publicly “as I tell people all the time, at your house, you’re going to allow your 17-year-old, 18-year-old to run your household? Let them pay your bills, that’s what you do? No. You don’t do that. So why are we putting our jobs in jeopardy because of an 18-year-old? That’s stupid.”
In 2018, TCU’s team defense was good—#2 in the league in avg. pts/game—but the offense struggled and finishing second-to-last in the league.
The team returned in 2019 with freshman quarterback Max Duggan. Although they went 5-7, six of their seven losses were by a combined 30 points—the “Cardiac Horned Frogs…who always end up dead on the operating table” if you will.
2020 was supposed to be the bounce back year. Due to poor performances on the offensive side of the ball, Patterson hired his friend and former Minnesota coach Jerry Kill as a special assistant for the offense before the 2020 season. He also reunited offensive coordinators Sonny Cumbie and Doug Meacham. TCU’s recruiting class that year was ranked third in the Big XII and No. 24 nationally, per the 247Sports Composite Team Rankings. Still, the situation did not improve. TCU won only 6 games. It was becoming clear that the well was poisoned and culture was approaching an all-time low. The 2021 season was just more of the same. Gary resigned in November before being terminated as head coach.
When you start to think about it, there are many similarities between Patterson and Gundy:
- Patterson is the winningest coach in TCU history.
- Patterson Win % = 69.6%; Gundy Win % = 68.3%
- Patterson Bowl Record = 11-6; Gundy Bowl Record = 11-6
- His greatest season (2010) was led by a red-headed senior quarterback eventually drafted by an NFL team located in the nation’s rust belt.
- Patterson fought his own battle of alleged racism in 2020 for pulling what would later be known as a "Cale." In the aftermath, Patterson apologized.
- Towards the end of his coaching tenure, Gary’s defenses—what he had become known for—regressed.
- By the very end, Patterson became known as a coach who lacked the ability, or desire, to form relationships and communicate with his players.
- #1 – Evolve or die. A team who chooses to go about business the same way they always have will be left in the dust. That philosophy is not only a failure in the NIL game, but also on the field.
- #2 – There is Life on the Other Side. Parting with a historically successful coach can lead to success.
- #3 – Where did all of the fun go? Fanbases are fickle. The longer a coach wins 9-11 games a year without playing for "the big one," the less fun it becomes.
- #4 – Two Roads Diverged. Mike is walking down the exact same path Gary Patterson took. The question at this point is “when does it become too late to turn around and go back?” I don’t think we’re there, but it’s much closer than Mike probably believes.
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