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The Athletic: TCU and Sonny Dykes aren’t starting from scratch in life after Gary Patterson

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Lifelong Frog
The Athletic: TCU and Sonny Dykes aren’t starting from scratch in life after Gary Patterson

By Max Olson

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FORT WORTH — Sonny Dykes knows how long it takes. This is the fourth time he has taken over a college football program. He went through it at Louisiana Tech in 2010, at Cal in 2013 and at SMU in 2018. So the new head coach of TCU knows what he’s talking about when he says these transitions usually take about 18 months.

The challenge at Louisiana Tech was a complete roster rebuild. At Cal, it was figuring out a place that felt foreign compared to everywhere else he’d been. SMU was a more comfortable fit in every way and a smoother transition — closer to 15 months, really — but that roster needed work, too. All that experience and context is helpful for Dykes as he sizes up his new job. Six months into his tenure at TCU, the progress he’s witnessed has been encouraging.

“I feel pretty good about it, I really do,” Dykes said. “We’re ahead of where I thought we’d be.”

Read more at https://theathletic.com/3359457/2022/06/15/tcu-football-schedule-roster-sonny-dykes/
 

Toad Jones

Active Member
No one is taking anything away from Gary! We owe him sooo much, that is understood.

Said so many times a long time ago, we needed a culture change. So, Sonny came into the picture.

I verbally was not in favor of Dykes but have totally reversed that thought. Dykes program seems/is totally different than GP's and I'm impressed with his program as are so many of you. Think all of us are going to be surprised as the program continues to develop.

side note..told many people are promoting Ruben as a frog. Joey Hunt and his family are just a few of the local town folk talking in Ruben's ear as many frogs in that area are. Ruben is a good kid from all who know him say and his family are totally involved in his decision. That bods well for the Frogs b/c our program has always been about family! Mom and Dad are strong on education and support from the school he selects. TCU certainly answers the call on that need.

BTW Joey would make one-hellofa coach. His football intellect is outstanding. He has to know because as center in pro football play calling, is a two person job with the QB..
 

Endless Purple

Full Member
I think Dykes' team is far more pure talent than the team under first year Patterson as a whole. ie, much more depth. I do not know how much more TEAM they are. That is where Dykes will either shine and have a very good season, or fail and need to see about rebuilding with fresh members.
 

Eight

Member
He sure inherits things in a much better position than GP did. Almost nothing looks the same. Including the craziness that is college football today.

remind me of the state of facilities, size of budgets, and brand identity of rice, tulsa, utep, smu, hawaii, san jose, and southern miss were compared to the frogs in 2000

gary did great things for the program, but i would be willing to bet the difference between the big dogs and little fish in that conference aren't what gary has faced and sonny faces in the big 12 and in the power 5
 

tetonfrog

Active Member
The #1 thing that caught my eye was the comparison between TCU & KSU after their long-time coaches GP & BS left. The attitude of a very strict disciplinarian to a players’ coach was interesting for sure.

I am curious to see how we respond to adversity. The last few years I saw GP’s teams do something I had never seen before: tune him out & flat out quit at times.

I also enjoyed reading about what the assistant coaches said. When was the last time we saw the OC & DC get quoted in the same article?

Wow. The times really are changing.
 

asleep003

Active Member
It's going to be very difficult to end up in the Big12 top division... but like our chances. Just need to nail down the OL !!
 
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Hoosierfrog

Tier 1
remind me of the state of facilities, size of budgets, and brand identity of rice, tulsa, utep, smu, hawaii, san jose, and southern miss were compared to the frogs in 2000

gary did great things for the program, but i would be willing to bet the difference between the big dogs and little fish in that conference aren't what gary has faced and sonny faces in the big 12 and in the power 5
What the hell do does Rice or anyone else have to do with TCU?

Right or wrong, is TCU in a better place now than it was in 2000? That is the only point I was making. Would Sonny rather have the situation he came into or the one GP took over? I was never making comparisons of the two coaches.
 

Eight

Member
What the hell do does Rice or anyone else have to do with TCU?

Right or wrong, is TCU in a better place now than it was in 2000? That is the only point I was making. Would Sonny rather have the situation he came into or the one GP took over? I was never making comparisons of the two coaches.

for starters, the owls were a conference peer of the frogs back in the wac days or have you conveniently forgotten that matter? that was one of the schools the frogs had to beat not ou or texas and they weren't going against the power 5 schools for recruits

tcu in 1998-2000 had a winning record overall, won 2/3 of their conference games, tied for first in the conference in 1999 and 2000 and went to back to back bowls for the first time in 40 years

please remind me which of the frogs conference peers in 2001 when gary took over had talking lockers, staffed barbershops in the players lounge, mid 8 figure budgets, and damn near as many support staff and analysts as players on scholarships

tcu had become THE program in their conference in 2001.

yes, sonny has better facilities, support, and resources available than gary in 2001 but he also faces stiffer competition for players and the expectations are much greater today
 

Hoosierfrog

Tier 1
for starters, the owls were a conference peer of the frogs back in the wac days or have you conveniently forgotten that matter? that was one of the schools the frogs had to beat not ou or texas and they weren't going against the power 5 schools for recruits

tcu in 1998-2000 had a winning record overall, won 2/3 of their conference games, tied for first in the conference in 1999 and 2000 and went to back to back bowls for the first time in 40 years

please remind me which of the frogs conference peers in 2001 when gary took over had talking lockers, staffed barbershops in the players lounge, mid 8 figure budgets, and damn near as many support staff and analysts as players on scholarships

tcu had become THE program in their conference in 2001.

yes, sonny has better facilities, support, and resources available than gary in 2001 but he also faces stiffer competition for players and the expectations are much greater today
I think you are under the impression that I was making some kind of point that I wasn’t.
 

Froggish

Active Member
No one is taking anything away from Gary! We owe him sooo much, that is understood.

Said so many times a long time ago, we needed a culture change. So, Sonny came into the picture.

I verbally was not in favor of Dykes but have totally reversed that thought. Dykes program seems/is totally different than GP's and I'm impressed with his program as are so many of you. Think all of us are going to be surprised as the program continues to develop.

side note..told many people are promoting Ruben as a frog. Joey Hunt and his family are just a few of the local town folk talking in Ruben's ear as many frogs in that area are. Ruben is a good kid from all who know him say and his family are totally involved in his decision. That bods well for the Frogs b/c our program has always been about family! Mom and Dad are strong on education and support from the school he selects. TCU certainly answers the call on that need.

BTW Joey would make one-hellofa coach. His football intellect is outstanding. He has to know because as center in pro football play calling, is a two person job with the QB..
From what I understand about our recruiting of Rueben is his Dad will be the guy who needs to be convinced. The family is headed to Louisville this week and that program is prepared to offer him a massive NIL deal that will rival A&M money. I think he wants to be in TX but reality is TCU is pushing a Boulder up a hill to land Rueben. I don’t see it happening. Still, TCU is going to land a very good RB. Not Rueben good but I wouldn’t worry about that position at all.
 
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