What happened to TCU football in the sixties?

[maddogDemocrat]

I started TCU in 1960. Abe was a successful coach in the fifties. WE won a couple of SWC championships and went to the Cotton Bowl three times. In '60 I think we lost to UT by one point. But Arkie began its 22 year run by one TD. Did Abe stay too long? Did he ever change his offense? Why couldn't we get the Hog monkey off our backs? Defense was still stout up to the late sixties. Maybe we fired Fred Taylor a year too soon. I have heard that expressed. Anyone have any thoughtd?

 

[Jefffrog1993]

War protests, hippies, pot, heroin, great music, peace love and drugs. The Doors! Civil Rights issues. Long hair on dudes. Miniskirts bikinis.

Baylor was raping back then. Briles was molesting school girls.

 

[2314]

I started TCU in 1960. Abe was a successful coach in the fifties. WE won a couple of SWC championships and went to the Cotton Bowl three times. In '60 I think we lost to UT by one point. But Arkie began its 22 year run by one TD. Did Abe stay too long? Did he ever change his offense? Why couldn't we get the Hog monkey off our backs? Defense was still stout up to the late sixties. Maybe we fired Fred Taylor a year too soon. I have heard that expressed. Anyone have any thoughtd?

I blame coaches who got lazy in recruiting. In the 70s things would have been turned around had Jim Pittman not died. But in the 60s Texas was on TV more than any SWC team they would land all the top recruits - make each of them think they were going to start as a freshman - and that IMHO was why UT was successful and the other schools were not. Why we couldn't go 5-5 each year in that decade is, again, a result of lazy recruiting. Would love to hear Leap's opinion of this topic - a very good topic and an excellent question.

 

[Big Frog II]

We didn't put the money into the program the state schools were doing at the time. We also were scheduling money games at Ohio State, Nebraska, Penn State, etc. etc. etc. The team was beat up before conference games started.

 

[2314]

We didn't put the money into the program the state schools were doing at the time. We also were scheduling money games at Ohio State, Nebraska, Penn State, etc. etc. etc. The team was beat up before conference games started.

and this

 

[Leap Frog]

I blame coaches who got lazy in recruiting. In the 70s things would have been turned around had Jim Pittman not died. But in the 60s Texas was on TV more than any SWC team they would land all the top recruits - make each of them think they were going to start as a freshman - and that IMHO was why UT was successful and the other schools were not. Why we couldn't go 5-5 each year in that decade is, again, a result of lazy recruiting. Would love to hear Leap's opinion of this topic - a very good topic and an excellent question.

Frogs were best SWC team in the 50's with 4 titles and 5 bowl games (bowl games scarce then) and several All-Americans.
Then things began to change when Abe had health problems and wasn't recruiting like he had before.
Also, no limit on recruiting and Royal at Texas plus Broyles at Arky took 100 players each year to keep the other teams down.
Platoon football was coming and that didn't help the smaller schools to stay up with the big boys.
Frog football started to go downhill and we saw 25 or 30 years of being in the shadow of Horns and Hogs.
That is my take on the subject, and we are very fortunate to have survived to enjoy today's success.

 

[RollToad]

War protests, hippies, pot, heroin, great music, peace love and drugs. The Doors! Civil Rights issues. Long hair on dudes. Miniskirts bikinis.

Baylor was raping back then. Briles was molesting school girls.

 

[2314]

Frogs were best SWC team in the 50's with 4 titles and 5 bowl games (bowl games scarce then) and several All-Americans.
Then things began to change when Abe had health problems and wasn't recruiting like he had before.
Also, no limit on recruiting and Royal at Texas plus Broyles at Arky took 100 players each year to keep the other teams down.
Platoon football was coming and that didn't help the smaller schools to stay up with the big boys.
Frog football started to go downhill and we saw 25 or 30 years of being in the shadow of Horns and Hogs.
That is my take on the subject, and we are very fortunate to have survived to enjoy today's success.

Thanks, Leap. I take back my lazy comment. Can't hang that on a sick man, but still, it doesn't appear the assistants took up the slack. Very good points about platoon football and the fact that TCU and the rest the SWC sans UT and Arky were not getting many Top 200 players. Leap, how do you feel about Pittman? He seemed to be the answer as I recall.

 

[LSU Game Attendee]

Well before my time, but understand downfall due to:
Texas Tech getting settled in SWC + platoon/meat on the hoof + complacent admin

 

[4th. down]

Was there also. UT and the Hogs were in their prime and dominated the conference. We had a long string of unsuccessful coaches, both head and assistants. The big state schools were giving out ships and other inducements to 125 players while TCU, Rice, SMU, and Baylor stayed around 85 players. We took the 50's for the norm and the Board of Trustees and Chancellor were not going to do much for athletics. It was bad management from top to bottom compared to present day.

 

[RollToad]

Thanks, Leap. I take back my lazy comment. Can't hang that on a sick man, but still, it doesn't appear the assistants took up the slack. Very good points about platoon football and the fact that TCU and the rest the SWC sans UT and Arky were not getting many Top 200 players. Leap, how do you feel about Pittman? He seemed to be the answer as I recall.

Baylor killed him.

 

[SnoSki]

How on earth could UT and Arky convince 100 players to sign with them each year?

 

[4th. down]

How on earth could UT and Arky convince 100 players to sign with them each year?

Nebraska was the worst and they just kept their player level at 125 instead of the 85 now. The alumni/boosters covered the gap between 85 and 125.

 

[4th. down]

Baylor killed him.

Pitman was a good coach, sadly he didn't get a chance to shine. The state of our Board of Trustees and Administration were of the ho hum attitude and are light years difference between then and now and would not have supported athletics to the point it needed to be. Eventually, he might have been able to go 50/50 in conference and win the intersectional games. Rice had some good teams then under Jess Neely and could be counted on to be a tough opponent as was SMU under Hayden Fry.

 

[BedfordFrog68]

How on earth could UT and Arky convince 100 players to sign with them each year?

Darrel Royal once said...only half joking...that he told recruits they would be guaranteed to be in the Cotton Bowl every year they were on the team....

 

[TemCatFrog71]

Darrel Royal once said...only half joking...that he told recruits they would be guaranteed to be in the Cotton Bowl every year they were on the team....

That would be an honest statement as they played Oklahoma in the Cotton Bowl stadium every year.

 

[HG73]

Darrel Royal once said...only half joking...that he told recruits they would be guaranteed to be in the Cotton Bowl every year they were on the team....

And Hayden Fry would come in right behind him and tell the kid to come to smu and play in the Cotton Bowl six times a year.

 

[AroundWorldFrog]

How on earth could UT and Arky convince 100 players to sign with them each year?

"Meat on the Hoof" or "Bleeding Orange" explain a lot about what programs like UT and UA were doing.

 

[Spike]

Other factors were the GI Bill, the emergence of TV money, and later they let UH in the conference, further deleting the talent pool.

 

[2314]

"Meat on the Hoof".

Must read.