Fire Gary? No, recall this program before Gary!
- Thread starter Dr.HFroog
- Start date
I remember Fred Taylor getting fired too. I'm one of the old guys on this board. I sat through many of those shellacking's.
I'm frankly shocked that my fellow old timers would be okay with the current direction of this program....just because we don't get beaten 58-0 by Texas anymore. TCU got to the point of being shellacked after several mediocre seasons in the 60's.
As a freshman in 1970, I remember hearing how great we were in the 50's (and we were) when I got to TCU. It never made sense to me how we could just have thrown all that success away in the matter of one decade.
Everyone in leadership at TCU gave up after one last valiant effort to hire a solid coach in Jim Pittman, who would subsequently die of a heart attack during his first year. After that, it was nothing but excuses for losing....from the coaches, administration, and eventually most fans. It couldn't be done at TCU....or so we were told. In fact, there was discussion about dropping football in those dark days. We invested virtually nothing into the salaries or facilities for 25-30 years....it was pathetic.
Once again, just like the early 60's, this is a program that has been on the decline for several years. If .500 is the new standard of success for TCU, then we have thrown away everything we earned since Franchione/Patterson showed up at TCU in the late '90's. Mediocrity is for losers.
The young, disciplined teams of Gary's first 15 years showed TCU that we can be successful. Now, the older, grumpy Gary is full of excuses. He chose this path by not changing with the times and by surrounding himself with friends and "yes men". I was afraid his stubbornness would not work and it indeed has not worked. Each year it gets worse and he just digs in his heels further.
Unlike the 60's, 70's, 80's (minus some great years under Wacker), and the 90's, we now have tremendous facilities. We pay excellent salaries to the coaches. Like those times, we are now inbred at all levels.....AD, head coach, and assistant coaches. And the excuse machine is in full swing again....just like the "good ole days."
At this point, Gary either needs to clean out his staff and start over...in which case he buys a couple of more years from me. Or he needs to go into Victor's office and work out a retirement package. Anything less to me is basically saying to the TCU fans: "you owe me $6million for that Rose Bowl 10 years ago....shut up, keep paying me, keep buying tickets.
If Victor doesn't force the situation, then he and the BOT are equally to blame. I'm afraid they are more concerned now with being woke than with demonstrating true leadership and taking action.
If you fear we will go back to the dark days, because Gary won a Rose Bowl 10 years ago....don't worry....we are well on our way back there now. If we don't get this fixed before the next re-alignment, there will not be any more second chances to resurrect our program. We will be left to playing the likes of Tulane, USM, and UTSA. At least we will have the nicest facilities, though, for the 20,000 in attendance.
I'm frankly shocked that my fellow old timers would be okay with the current direction of this program....just because we don't get beaten 58-0 by Texas anymore. TCU got to the point of being shellacked after several mediocre seasons in the 60's.
As a freshman in 1970, I remember hearing how great we were in the 50's (and we were) when I got to TCU. It never made sense to me how we could just have thrown all that success away in the matter of one decade.
Everyone in leadership at TCU gave up after one last valiant effort to hire a solid coach in Jim Pittman, who would subsequently die of a heart attack during his first year. After that, it was nothing but excuses for losing....from the coaches, administration, and eventually most fans. It couldn't be done at TCU....or so we were told. In fact, there was discussion about dropping football in those dark days. We invested virtually nothing into the salaries or facilities for 25-30 years....it was pathetic.
Once again, just like the early 60's, this is a program that has been on the decline for several years. If .500 is the new standard of success for TCU, then we have thrown away everything we earned since Franchione/Patterson showed up at TCU in the late '90's. Mediocrity is for losers.
The young, disciplined teams of Gary's first 15 years showed TCU that we can be successful. Now, the older, grumpy Gary is full of excuses. He chose this path by not changing with the times and by surrounding himself with friends and "yes men". I was afraid his stubbornness would not work and it indeed has not worked. Each year it gets worse and he just digs in his heels further.
Unlike the 60's, 70's, 80's (minus some great years under Wacker), and the 90's, we now have tremendous facilities. We pay excellent salaries to the coaches. Like those times, we are now inbred at all levels.....AD, head coach, and assistant coaches. And the excuse machine is in full swing again....just like the "good ole days."
At this point, Gary either needs to clean out his staff and start over...in which case he buys a couple of more years from me. Or he needs to go into Victor's office and work out a retirement package. Anything less to me is basically saying to the TCU fans: "you owe me $6million for that Rose Bowl 10 years ago....shut up, keep paying me, keep buying tickets.
If Victor doesn't force the situation, then he and the BOT are equally to blame. I'm afraid they are more concerned now with being woke than with demonstrating true leadership and taking action.
If you fear we will go back to the dark days, because Gary won a Rose Bowl 10 years ago....don't worry....we are well on our way back there now. If we don't get this fixed before the next re-alignment, there will not be any more second chances to resurrect our program. We will be left to playing the likes of Tulane, USM, and UTSA. At least we will have the nicest facilities, though, for the 20,000 in attendance.
LisaLT
Active Member
THIS ^^^^ Perfectly stated and on point.
JAB331
Active Member
I'm judging Gary by his own standards, and he's been under performing for years. Gary has set a high bar, and he has become a victim of his success. He'll always be a legendary coach, but it's time for a fresh start, he's obviously lost a step or three and is consistently being out coached.
I'd rather take a chance on the next Gary and fail then to be relegated to mediocrity - a lesson that I partially learned from him.
I'd rather take a chance on the next Gary and fail then to be relegated to mediocrity - a lesson that I partially learned from him.
Limey Frog
Full Member
Just because we sucked before Gary doesn't mean we'll suck after him. That, more than anything, is his lasting legacy. It's having faith in what he's done to believe that we can be more than what we now are. That he isn't now the man to get us there isn't a knock on his achievements; quite the contrary.
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PurpleBlood87
Active Member
What a great miniseries "Centennial" was.
BrewingFrog
Was I supposed to type something here?
Well said, nrh!
The TCU Football Jerk
Active Member
Neither here nor there, but we were good up until the 60s because they still played one platoon football. There weren't unlimited substitutions. It was much easier to find 25 good players than 80. That and scholarship rules. You could give out unlimited scholarships up until the early 70s. It was quite common for schools like UT and OU to have 150 players on scholarship. They used to do it sometimes just to keep other schools from getting certain players.
As for UTSA, I don't want to play them. They're top 25.
Cougar/Frog
Active Member
Baylor used to suck. Then they hired Art Briles in response to TCU winning so much, who brought in very thug in the country who could play football. The fans hated cleaning up that mess, but the first coach ended up in the NFL after a few years and the current coach is looking to a possible conference championship game after only two years.
Fear of the unknown has kept many people and groups stuck in bad situations.
I love what Gary did, but even the Peach Bowl was a long time ago, and TCU has sucked since outside of a winning record vs. Texas and BU.
The resistance to adapting to changing offenses is unforgivable. It is clear his ego is more important to him than the university.
Fear of the unknown has kept many people and groups stuck in bad situations.
I love what Gary did, but even the Peach Bowl was a long time ago, and TCU has sucked since outside of a winning record vs. Texas and BU.
The resistance to adapting to changing offenses is unforgivable. It is clear his ego is more important to him than the university.
