• The KillerFrogs

Patterson Profile in Texas Monthly

fanforlife

fanforlife

Member
What are your thoughts on this piece?

http://www.texasmonthly.com/2011-09-01/feature2.php?shva=true

The author, Skip Hollandsworth, is a TCU alum, which I wouldn't have guessed by reading the article. He admits to not recognizing Patterson when he showed up to a spring practice. He faults TCU for its lack of ESPN coverage without mentioning the MWC TV contracts. He says that Wisconsin should have won the Rose Bowl ... in a "blowout."

I'm glad the Texas Monthly finally allowed a big write-up on TCU's program but disappointed that the writer stuck with the TCU=stepchild script. Maybe five years ago, this tone would have been more appropriate, but now we're talking about one of the country's elite programs.

Anyone else agree?
 
T

txfrog87

Active Member
Skip Hollandsworth has never been a big supporter and as I remember from the '80s he was basically a horses' [Craig James]. PlusTexas Monthly has always hated Fort Worth and gives us the worst coverage.
 
fanforlife

fanforlife

Member
Thanks for the reply.

Hollandsworth isn't the only TCU alum who isn't a firm believer in the program, but I wish he'd researched a little more about TCU's modern history and unique challenges before writing this piece.

If he hadn't clarified, I would have assumed that a UT alum/fan wrote this article. While the profile is pretty favorable to Patterson, I got a lot of, "Oh, look at little TCU," by reading it.

We are now major players in the college football world. One would think that an alum with such influence would be a little prouder of his alma mater.

Oh well. Seems like most people really enjoyed reading it. I did, too, but it could have been better. Much better.
 
jake102

jake102

Active Member
fanforlife said:
Thanks for the reply.

Hollandsworth isn't the only TCU alum who isn't a firm believer in the program, but I wish he'd researched a little more about TCU's modern history and unique challenges before writing this piece.

If he hadn't clarified, I would have assumed that a UT alum/fan wrote this article. While the profile is pretty favorable to Patterson, I got a lot of, "Oh, look at little TCU," by reading it.

We are now major players in the college football world. One would think that an alum with such influence would be a little prouder of his alma mater.

Oh well. Seems like most people really enjoyed reading it. I did, too, but it could have been better. Much better.
Click to expand...

I think that was the point of the article. He's not a big Frog fan despite going to the school but Patterson has helped him to become a fan and pay attention. I also have a feeling he is more of a fan than he lets on... he knows the story looks a lot better if he acts like he's hasn't been a fan at all.
 
fanforlife

fanforlife

Member
My issues with the article:

1. He starts it by admitting that he doesn't know which person on the field is Patterson. Even the alums I know who aren't die hard fanatics would know Gary Patterson anywhere. What a lousy way to start a profile on the best coach in the nation ... who has lit a fire under your own alma mater. Terrible intro, imho.

2. "The [Rose Bowl] game should have been a blowout for the co-champions of the Big Ten, a college football powerhouse with a monstrous offensive line that outweighed TCU’s defensive linemen by an average of more than fifty pounds." Seriously? Is this an article in the Texas Monthly or chatter from a Wisconsin message point. For goshsakes, TCU was favored to win the game.

3. "Their only national television exposure had been on ESPN, which had broadcast two of their regular-season games. As a result, when asked about TCU, almost every college football fan, including many in Texas, replied, “TC who?” - While we are still fighting hard for respect, every college football fan knows TCU. Only a rival trying to get under our skin would say TCwho. Also, zero discussion of why TCU's ESPN exposure has been limited and why this is problematic for a national title run. Were he a fan at all, he could have thrown a bone to the national coverage on Versus here.

4. "TCU’s 21–19 victory, and its subsequent number two national ranking in the end-of-season polls, became one of the most surprising sports stories of the year." Surprising? Uh, back-to-back BCS games and in the top 10 all year. Who was surprised?

5. "Even in Texas, which is dominated by Longhorns, Aggies, and Red Raiders, TCU still has trouble getting attention. As spring practice was in full gear, for instance, the state’s biggest story had nothing to do with Patterson and the Frogs. It was whether Mack Brown and the University of Texas could return to prominence after a disastrous 2010 season." - Maybe in your world, Skip.

6. Little mention of the incredible stats TCU has accumulated. Why not use the opportunity to point out how TCU's recent record compares to the rest of the college football world?

7. No mention of the anticompetitive nature of the BCS. No allusion to the fact that TCU has been screwed over the last two years.

I did like a lot of the favorable (and varied) quotes about Patterson himself, but I got the feeling that Hollandsworth, even while preparing for a lengthy feature, still holds TCU football at arm's length. He had an opportunity to paint a clearer picture of the transformation taking place inside of college sports ... and how his own alma mater is one of the key agents of change ... and I feel like he sort of squandered it.
 
H

Houston Frog

New Member
The author is clearly not a sports fan, and his knowledge of college football is very weak, to say the least.

Despite all that, it was still a great piece about Gary Patterson, the coach and person
 
Pharm Frog

Pharm Frog

Full Member
Just received this issue this morning and read the article over lunch. I must agree with the description of the "little guy" tone of the article, and I was a bit put-off by the built-in excuses (Didn't even know who he was... Haven't seen much TCU football... Only going to get 30 minutes of time for an interview on this "long" article, etc etc etc).

That said, in my opinion the most compelling and interesting part of the article was the "intensity affliction" analogy built around the Van Cliburn storyline. I don't think that anyone who knows how CGP operates would be surprised that he was more upset about the broken safety coverage on the Immaculate Deflection play than he was with Tank's bat-down. There were a few other nuggets like the shot at Tech and the implied shot at Fran, but overall I wasn't bowled over and it covered very little new ground for me.

Finally, this article wasn't written for me or anyone who frequents this or any other sports board. It was clearly not intended for the diehard and knowledgeable TCU sports fan. I'm sure his intended audience will enjoy it more than me, but I do agree that he is a little tardy in his "poor little guy" theme. This theme does seem to work for us regardless of whether we're favored or underdogs, so I hope we ride this "chip on the shoulder" motivation as long as we can use it to great success. I did like another one of the reasons to like Texas Collegiate Football: TCU Co-Ed Game Day Attire. I completely concur.
 
Pharm Frog

Pharm Frog

Full Member
wes said:
I thought that it was a very fair and insightful article.
Click to expand...

Fair....agreed. Insightful...help me out here 'cause I don't see much if any insight.

Caveat: If we agree that the primary target of the piece is someone who couldn't recognize Gary Patterson, has never heard of Dutch Meyer, has only a cursory knowledge of college football in general, etc...than I can agree that this article provides a certain level of insight.
 
KillerFrog InD KitchenSink

KillerFrog InD KitchenSink

Active Member
I thought it was a very good article about Patterson and what makes him tick. The focus really wasn't on numbers, or scores or formations or personnel. It was on GP the man, and as such, I think one of the best I've read.
 
**His Purple Majesty**

**His Purple Majesty**

Active Member
Apathetic alumni aren't helping the cause. Even if you don't follow college football that much, as a writer I would hope a little research would be done. Only insight I found from the whole Texas Monthly cover story was that the local media is still perpetuating the myth that TCU is sub par to the Big12 schools and that our success of the past 12 years is just a flash in the pan. They need to wake up and realize that like the SWC, the Big 12 is done. The best football in the state of Texas for the past 10 years pro or amature has occured in Ft. Worth. It's time everyone realizes that.
 
P

pcf

Member
fanforlife said:
My issues with the article:

1. He starts it by admitting that he doesn't know which person on the field is Patterson. Even the alums I know who aren't die hard fanatics would know Gary Patterson anywhere. What a lousy way to start a profile on the best coach in the nation ... who has lit a fire under your own alma mater. Terrible intro, imho.
Click to expand...

Let's post a pic of Coach so that everyone knows what he looks like:

reign_of_fire.jpg


I always think of Coach when Matthew McConaghey jumps at the dragon with an axe in Reign of Fire.
 
P

pcf

Member
**His Purple Majesty** said:
Apathetic alumni aren't helping the cause. Even if you don't follow college football that much, as a writer I would hope a little research would be done. Only insight I found from the whole Texas Monthly cover story was that the local media is still perpetuating the myth that TCU is sub par to the Big12 schools and that our success of the past 12 years is just a flash in the pan. They need to wake up and realize that like the SWC, the Big 12 is done. The best football in the state of Texas for the past 10 years pro or amature has occured in Ft. Worth. It's time everyone realizes that.
Click to expand...

You expect too much if you expect people to pay attention and digest the information their own eyes deliver to their brains.
 
E

Endless Purple

Full Member
Found parts on GP interesting. But had problems with parts being insulting.

TCU should not have been blown out by Wisconsin. TCU earned their respect on the field, not because of conference affiliation when the BCS was formed.

"finally getting the respect he thinks they deserve"
I assume the author does not believe the frogs deserve the respect. Wouldn't it have been easier to say getting the respect they deserve?

Overall, I will not be buying this issue.

edit: Also was not a plus to be seeing Texas A&M ads running along the TCU article.
 
toadallytexan

toadallytexan

ToadallyTexan
Where else was the info that the "Rudy" from ND was called into TCU's locker room for a motivational speech on advantages of being an underdog? That was new to me, I must confess.
So, that was news.

LHCGP trying combos of five dif gargles not to go hoarse after practice was news, but not surprising.

Team not getting a single break during practices was surprising, but it wasn't Aug then, so maybe not so much.

Didn't know Gary substitute taught...might be a movie plot in there somewhere.
 
A

asleep003

Active Member
fanforlife said:
2. "The [Rose Bowl] game should have been a blowout for the co-champions of the Big Ten, a college football powerhouse with a monstrous offensive line that outweighed TCU's defensive linemen by an average of more than fifty pounds." Seriously? Is this an article in the Texas Monthly or chatter from a Wisconsin message point. For goshsakes, TCU was favored to win the game.
Click to expand...

I think he was making that statement more tongue and cheek, as it was also the sentiment of many of our least favorite sports analysts. Was also very concerned about that Big O-line... yet very impressed with the technique GP devised for that Badger rushing game. They did finally wear us down right at the end.... but too little to late.

Cheers !
 

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