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FWST: Life after TCU: Gary Patterson explains why time was right to coach again

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Lifelong Frog
Life after TCU: Gary Patterson explains why time was right to coach again

By Lawrence Dow

FTW_KansasvsTCU2.JPG


Gary Patterson spent more than 20 years as head coach for TCU football before briefly joining the coaching staffs at Texas and Baylor.

Now he’s taking his talents to sunny California, becoming USC’s new defensive coordinator, his biggest coaching role since leaving Fort Worth. Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley and Patterson were familiar with each other from their time in the Big 12 when Riley coached Oklahoma, and Riley explained why he brought Patterson in.

“The job he did in the program at TCU, the sustained success, unprecedented success at that school, speaks for itself,” Riley said. “He wasn’t going to jump back into this for anything. It had to be the right opportunity, the right kind of place, the right kind of setting, and I know he believes that he’s found that, and we certainly feel the same way about him.”

FWST link: https://www.star-telegram.com/sport...niversity/article314499759.html#storylink=cpy
 
This Ain't Chopped Liver

This Ain't Chopped Liver

Active Member
Trojans have a difficult 2026 schedule; on paper.

Patterson—
“I looked at [the schedule] and saw that we had to play Washington, Oregon and Ohio State at home, and we had to go to Indiana, and we had to go to Penn State,” he said. “Now you’re talking about a guy that was out for three years. So I’ve been watching all this football, and have an opportunity to say, OK, l ... can be a part of a place like USC, and understand when I step on the field that we’re going to have as good players as they do.

“So we can play, compete with those guys, and we have a little luck and get physical and do the things we need to do that you could come out on the top end of that whole situation more than you didn’t. A lot of people, being honest with you, probably would run from it.”
 
W

Wexahu

Full Member
This Ain't Chopped Liver said:
Trojans have a difficult 2026 schedule; on paper.

Patterson—
“I looked at [the schedule] and saw that we had to play Washington, Oregon and Ohio State at home, and we had to go to Indiana, and we had to go to Penn State,” he said. “Now you’re talking about a guy that was out for three years. So I’ve been watching all this football, and have an opportunity to say, OK, l ... can be a part of a place like USC, and understand when I step on the field that we’re going to have as good players as they do.

“So we can play, compete with those guys, and we have a little luck and get physical and do the things we need to do that you could come out on the top end of that whole situation more than you didn’t. A lot of people, being honest with you, probably would run from it.”
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Their schedule is not overly difficult. Lots of lay ups.
 
This Ain't Chopped Liver

This Ain't Chopped Liver

Active Member
Patterson never has been articulate but maybe you can decipher this; maybe there was some sloppy editing contributing to this mess too—

Patterson also reflected on his tenure with the Horned Frogs. “One of the reasons I stayed at TCU as long as I did, I saw so many kids that didn’t have parents, or one parent, and they had nobody to turn to,” he said. “And after moving 10, you know, nine or 10 times the first 15 years of getting somewhere where I could stay. People say, ‘Why did you stay at TCU?’ Because those kinds of reasons. Because kids that you knew you coached forever, we’re going to have an opportunity to call back if there was a problem, so somebody would help them.”
 
3am Club

3am Club

Member
This Ain't Chopped Liver said:
Patterson never has been articulate but maybe you can decipher this; maybe there was some sloppy editing contributing to this mess too—

Patterson also reflected on his tenure with the Horned Frogs. “One of the reasons I stayed at TCU as long as I did, I saw so many kids that didn’t have parents, or one parent, and they had nobody to turn to,” he said. “And after moving 10, you know, nine or 10 times the first 15 years of getting somewhere where I could stay. People say, ‘Why did you stay at TCU?’ Because those kinds of reasons. Because kids that you knew you coached forever, we’re going to have an opportunity to call back if there was a problem, so somebody would help them.”
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I think he is just trying to say that being in the same place was a way to be a stabilizing force for the athletes who played for him. That many of them needed a male role model or father/grandfather figure and by being in the same place he could provide a spot for them to come and go from knowing that support was there. Like a family home.

I can't say whether or not any of that is true but that is my interpretation.
 
This Ain't Chopped Liver

This Ain't Chopped Liver

Active Member
3am Club said:
I think he is just trying to say that being in the same place was a way to be a stabilizing force for the athletes who played for him. That many of them needed a male role model or father/grandfather figure and by being in the same place he could provide a spot for them to come and go from knowing that support was there. Like a family home.

I can't say whether or not any of that is true but that is my interpretation.
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Very well stated, 3am; you are a wordsmith.
 
This Ain't Chopped Liver

This Ain't Chopped Liver

Active Member
Bruce Berry said:
The time was right because he was offered a full time job.

"A lot of people would run from it". Humility is awesome.

Good for him.
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One complaint with Patterson in the later years was he could be a bit, Me Me Me, my team, in public. His head had grown, justifiably, but he let it show some. May not have been that way behind closed doors with the staff.

He showed stress that last year, appeared to lose the 2021 locker room. The failures from 2018-21 had much to do with not having a good QB; can’t win without one, and I wish that would have been factored in when deciding his dismissal. Get a QB, and as it turned out, Duggan became that QB in 2022.
 
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Diehard

Diehard

Moderator
3am Club said:
I think he is just trying to say that being in the same place was a way to be a stabilizing force for the athletes who played for him. That many of them needed a male role model or father/grandfather figure and by being in the same place he could provide a spot for them to come and go from knowing that support was there. Like a family home.

I can't say whether or not any of that is true but that is my interpretation.
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I think its very true. And a little sad that more coaches today don't think the same way.
 
3am Club

3am Club

Member
This Ain't Chopped Liver said:
One complaint with Patterson in the later years was his penchant to be a bit, Me Me Me, in public. His head had grown, justifiably, but he let it show some. May not have been that way behind closed doors with the staff.

He showed stress that last year, appeared to lose the 2021 locker room. The failures from 2018-21 had much to do with not having a good QB; can’t win without one.
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Duggan was good. Maybe thrown to wolves to early, and needed time, but he was good.
 
3am Club

3am Club

Member
This Ain't Chopped Liver said:
I added to my post above—
…a good QB; can’t win without one, and I wish that would have been factored in when deciding his dismissal. Get a QB, and as it turned out, Duggan became that good QB in 2022.
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In another timeline Justin Rogers doesn't get dropfoot, either no injury or a healthy recovery and then TCU has a better QB situation for 18-20. Who knows what that would mean overall. But it was definitely noticeable the bad QB play. But so was some of the oline play. Definitely the defensive play started to go off the rails. I wished GMFP could have gone out in a better way. I saw his first home game and his last, in-between I watched most on TV, it was a helluva run.
 
F

FroggleRock

Active Member
3am Club said:
In another timeline Justin Rogers doesn't get dropfoot, either no injury or a healthy recovery and then TCU has a better QB situation for 18-20. Who knows what that would mean overall. But it was definitely noticeable the bad QB play. But so was some of the oline play. Definitely the defensive play started to go off the rails. I wished GMFP could have gone out in a better way. I saw his first home game and his last, in-between I watched most on TV, it was a helluva run.
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In that same timeline, ESPN doesn’t “accidentally” delay a major commitment announcement and we end up with Ja’marr Chase who also brings his friend Justin Jefferson.

Great, I just ruined my own day thinking about that
 
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Froggy Style

Froggy Style

Active Member
3am Club said:
Duggan was good. Maybe thrown to wolves to early, and needed time, but he was good.
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Perhaps if Gary had added his new defense packages to combat the RPO and added a real OC other than Meachum, a guy we already ran off, then I suspect our second place in the Heisman QB would have been better his Sophomore and Junior years too.

There’s a reason the fans were livid, the talent was over the top good and being wasted on head in the sand mindsets and stolen signal conspiracies/excuses.
 
T

tetonfrog

Fan Club
I disagree on the recruiting. We were awful in the OL and DL. Our QBs got the crap beat of them game after game and we started a 195-pound true frosh at De and the other DE was a 215-pound sophomore. We never replaced Ben and LJ after that successful season where we were beaten by Baker's Boomers in the big 12 title game. It was another missed opportunity to build on our success.

I remember Campbell and ISU put a target on our DEs, ran the ball at them every play and just pounded us. Awful game to watch.
 
W

Wexahu

Full Member
tetonfrog said:
I disagree on the recruiting. We were awful in the OL and DL. Our QBs got the crap beat of them game after game and we started a 195-pound true frosh at De and the other DE was a 215-pound sophomore. We never replaced Ben and LJ after that successful season where we were beaten by Baker's Boomers in the big 12 title game. It was another missed opportunity to build on our success.

I remember Campbell and ISU put a target on our DEs, ran the ball at them every play and just pounded us. Awful game to watch.
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Agree on the D-line, we seemed to get smaller and smaller by the year. We had guys that would have been small linebackers playing DE, it was ridiculous.

The O-line had two guys that are NFL starters now, one a very good one, plus Coker and another guy who was a freshman in 2021 but ended up being a 1st round pick, albeit a bust it looks like. That's pretty decent recruiting.
 

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