Jim Shofner

[Prince of Purpoole]

I was very sorry to hear that Coach Jim Shofner died Saturday morning. I had the good fortune to meet him a few years ago and watch several TCU games with him. He was such a nice guy and probably knew more about the game than anyone I have ever met.

He had a ton of stories about the Cowboys and the NFL in general. May his memory be a blessing

 

[Paint It Purple]

Rest peaceful Coach Shof. A very nice man indeed.

 

[Hoosierfrog]

If I recall, Shofner (165lbs) stuffed Jim Brown in the Cotton to keep him out of the end zone.

 

[Pure Purple]

In 1955, I roomed a few doors down from Jim in old Tom Brown Hall.

He was a nice, quiet, unassuming guy and one hell of a football player.

RIP

 

[East Coast]

Rest in peace Coach!

 

[4 Oaks Frog]

Good Man
RIP Coach
GO FROGS!
BEAT EVERYBODY!
Spit Blood ~~<~<and fornicate baylor!!

 

[Frogs1983]

Great Frog but as a HC not so good. Teams were pretty bad. RIP.

 

[Jared7]

Great Frog but as a HC not so good. Teams were pretty bad. RIP.

"Pretty bad" is an understatement - his teams were terrible. (But Mike Renfro was a great receiver and if they had just played Elzner at QB...). RIP Coach.

 

[ShreveFrog]

If we coulda had someone bigger than Elzner that could block.

 

[westtexfrog]

If we coulda had someone bigger than Elzner that could block.

Isn’t that the truth. I remember watching our line back in those days lineup against Ark and Ut, and our boys looked like midgets. Not trying to criticize our kids, but our line on both sides of the ball were tiny.

 

[WIN]

Not so sure the problem was Shofner, thinking it was the administration's lack of spending on facilities.

 

[Brog]

How do facilities help the size of linebackers?

 

[FrogAbroad]

How do facilities help the size of linebackers?

Many birds are attracted to bright, shiny objects. Many sought-after student athletes are attracted to bright, shiny facilities.

 

[westtexfrog]

Not so sure the problem was Shofner, thinking it was the administration's lack of spending on facilities.

Coach Shofner was a good man, a good coach and a heck of a player; but I disagree. I remember hearing from those more in the know at the time (folks who knew him personally), Coach Shofner hated recruiting. So while the administration may have been behind the "arms race" on facilities, not many schools poured money into facilities back in the 60's, 70's and even 80's like they do today; where we were really lacking was recruiting and that was on Shofner.

 

[WIN]

Coach Shofner was a good man, a good coach and a heck of a player; but I disagree. I remember hearing from those more in the know at the time (folks who knew him personally), Coach Shofner hated recruiting. So while the administration may have been behind the "arms race" on facilities, not many schools poured money into facilities back in the 60's, 70's and even 80's like they do today; where we were really lacking was recruiting and that was on Shofner.

Good points, but I do know one thing if we were putting money into our facilities we would have had a better chance of being in the big 12 from the beginning.

 

[Eight]

Good points, but I do know one thing if we were putting money into our facilities we would have had a better chance of being in the big 12 from the beginning.

had we done that would we have ending up having the journey we had or would we have simply been happy being in the big 12?

 

[WIN]

had we done that would we have ending up having the journey we had or would we have simply been happy being in the big 12?

Don't have a clue but would have been interesting to see.

 

[FrogAbroad]

Facilities, coaching personnel, recruiting, sports philosophy...it's really difficult going-on impossible to identify one specific component factor. Most likely "the absence of institutional commitment to an upper quartile athletics program" would be my umbrella explanation for our decline after the 1950's and until the SWC dissolution. While that absence is my explanation it's not meant as an indictment. After all, there are lots of colleges and universities without big-time athletics but which are absolutely outstanding educational and research institutions.

EDIT #1:
Additional information after my original post. History will become much clearer if you click on "From" to restate the list in chronological order.

EDIT #2:
In 1974 Gary Patterson scored three touchdowns as a TCU wide receiver.

 

[Eight]

Facilities, coaching personnel, recruiting, sports philosophy...it's really difficult going-on impossible to identify one specific component factor. Most likely "the absence of institutional commitment to an upper quartile athletics program" would be my umbrella explanation for our decline after the 1950's and until the SWC dissolution. While that absence is my explanation it's not meant as an indictment. After all, there are lots of colleges and universities without big-time athletics but which are absolutely outstanding educational and research institutions.

was tcu an elite research or academic institution in the 60's?

i know sometime after that they allowed steel and i into school and we both somehow graduated so there was an obvious decline at some point, but i hear the not willing to spend on athletics but was it really going to academics?

 

[FrogAbroad]

was tcu an elite research or academic institution in the 60's?

i know sometime after that they allowed steel and i into school and we both somehow graduated so there was an obvious decline at some point, but i hear the not willing to spend on athletics but was it really going to academics?

Legitimate observation and question. There ARE schools that basically suck at everything.