no one who actually knows anything about what really happens thinks he quit working - so that is just stupid. He was putting in as many hours as ever because we were losing and he obviously couldn't figure out why.
And he has always played music and wrote songs - do people not remember when he played on stage for the crowd in the parking several years ago? The stories about how has been playing on stage with Neuheisel at the AFCA event for over a decade are pretty well known. He played at the pickers event with Pat Green a few years ago. Why wasn't everyone so worried about the time he spent on his "hobby" back then? because we were winning.
The combination of his myopic focus on speed over size because of the 61-58 game, a simultaneous and extremely quick change in direction of almost the entire B12 to better defense, size and more balanced attacks on offense, and the restrictions put in program place because of bs lawsuits on injuries and the requirement to step back on "discipline" after the n-work incident combined with his belief his way was the best way and no interest to have fresh outside perspectives to adapt to these other changes are what cost him his job.
Not because he wasn't "working"
Agree it's silly to suppose he quite working. No, it appears what he quit doing was
learning and adapting. He also committed the cardinal sin of loving him some Gary way too much. What the olds on here will remember as the perennial coach's admonishment to their players against, "reading your own press clippings."
Great leaders who want to remain great surround themselves not with sycophants and toadies(irony acknowledged), but with smart, aggressive future leaders who will challenge the status quo in an effort to stay on top. Gary didn't do that because he had that buffer of people around him telling him only how awesome was Gary.
One other point that's been bugging me about all the back and forth on this- Those who are in the "Gary the Messiah" camp who seem to think he single-handedly brought TCU football back from the dead: Bullspit. He happened to be the right guy, in the right place, at the right time, as the train was leaving the station.
TCU had already had their, "Come to Jesus" moment with the nucleus of power boosters who were all but set to kill off the program well before Gary ever set foot on campus. Strangely, it was the Stanford AD who had come to Fort Worth and could see all the factors TCU had going for it to allow us to compete at a high D-1 level: Great city, great weather, great campus, loyal fan base who would write the checks, and sitting on top of a recruiting gold mine. He gave a speech to those key boosters that persuaded them that TCU Football could not only survive, but with full commitment, could grow and thrive- and of course he was right.
Fast forward 25 years and look at all TCU has accomplished both in and out of football. And appreciate the role that Gary played in all of it. But please, stop with the "Without Him we wouldn't have the shiny stadium, campus, facilities, money, etc." Seriously? You really think that Gary is the only dude who existed in the coaching world in the late 90s who could have hitched his wagon to TCU and made a success of it? That's just silly. And here's another thing, relatedly- Gary got paid a boatload of cash to do what he loved to do. My recall is something like $100 Million, that we know of, over his tenure here. Point being, he benefitted every bit as much from the relationship as TCU did, and the only reason it didn't continue is Gary thinking he was bigger than the team and that he was too smart to listen to anyone else. That's it. Rant concluded.