TCU 1 - 10 bottom of the WAC

[casual fan]

IN 1997 TCU was 1 - 10 in the WAC.      .........  The WAC.

They hire a HC who had been HC at Southwestern, Pittsburg State, Southwest Texas State. and New Mexico.

Franchione had 15 years of HC experience. He went 25 - 10 before he left TCU for Alabama.

Gary Patterson had been LB coach at Tennessee Tech where Fran was OC.

He was hired by Fran as LB coach at Pittsburg State.

He was then hired by Fran as DC at New Mexico and then again at TCU.

He was promoted to head coach by TCU.

Does it sound similar to Boise?  In 1996 Boise was  1 - 9 in the Big West Conference.

Boise and TCU laid out a blueprint on how to turn it around.

They hired HCs with success at smaller schools and later they promoted from within.

[meangreendork]

A similar thing happened at Ohio State. They grabbed an FCS champ coach. He was successful, very successful with far less than what Ohio State had available. I think we should do the same - get a championship FCS coach or a coordinator from a highly-ranked FBS program, let them bring in a vetted staff, and as that now-HC may get pulled away, their coordinators can backfill.

[UNT90]

IN 1997 TCU was 1 - 10 in the WAC.      .........  The WAC.

They hire a HC who had been HC at Southwestern, Pittsburg State, Southwest Texas State. and New Mexico.

Franchione had 15 years of HC experience. He went 25 - 10 before he left TCU for Alabama.

Gary Patterson had been LB coach at Tennessee Tech where Fran was OC.

He was hired by Fran as LB coach at Pittsburg State.

He was then hired by Fran as DC at New Mexico and then again at TCU.

He was promoted to head coach by TCU.

Does it sound similar to Boise?  In 1996 Boise was  1 - 9 in the Big West Conference.

Boise and TCU laid out a blueprint on how to turn it around.

They hired HCs with success at smaller schools and later they promoted from within.

This will never happen as long as RV is AD.

No reason to even discuss it at this point.

[StealthEagle84]

Willie Fritz (HC @ Georgia Southern / Formerly @ SHSU)- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Fritz

Chris Thomsen (Airzona St. / Formerly HC @ Abeline Christian) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Thomsen

K.C. Keeler (HC @ Sam Houston St.) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Thomsen

Ken Collums (Current HC @ Abeline Christian) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Collums

Just to name a few that come to mind that fit this criteria.  

 

[greenit]

IN 1997 TCU was 1 - 10 in the WAC.      .........  The WAC.

They hire a HC who had been HC at Southwestern, Pittsburg State, Southwest Texas State. and New Mexico.

Franchione had 15 years of HC experience. He went 25 - 10 before he left TCU for Alabama.

Gary Patterson had been LB coach at Tennessee Tech where Fran was OC.

He was hired by Fran as LB coach at Pittsburg State.

He was then hired by Fran as DC at New Mexico and then again at TCU.

He was promoted to head coach by TCU.

Does it sound similar to Boise?  In 1996 Boise was  1 - 9 in the Big West Conference.

Boise and TCU laid out a blueprint on how to turn it around.

They hired HCs with success at smaller schools and later they promoted from within.

I like it CF.  I like it a lot.  These guys have figured out a pattern of success and know how to run a program and they try to replicate it on a larger scale.  The young still has a lot to learn when it comes to running a program and not just one side of the ball.  Good stuff. 

We can only hope that a few candidates from this mold are included with the likely list of coordinators and retreads from P5 programs.

[meanJewGreen]

Is Coach Taylor from the Dillon Panthers available? 

[Coffee and TV]

This will never happen as long as RV is AD.

No reason to even discuss it at this point.

[UNT90]

I wasn't talking to you.

[casual fan]

Willie Fritz has a great track record.  Georgia Southern won the sunbelt 8 - 0 last year.

They were the first team in NCAA history to go undefeated in FBS conference play while transitioning from FCS.

They went 9 - 3 with a 24 - 23 loss at NC St, & a 42 - 38 at Georgia Tech.

They are 4 - 1 this season.

Chris Thomsen is young at 45, has a great track record, and has a Bowl win under his belt.

He was TT interim HC for the 2012 Meineke Bowl win over Minnesota. 

 

[untjim1995]

IN 1997 TCU was 1 - 10 in the WAC.      .........  The WAC.

They hire a HC who had been HC at Southwestern, Pittsburg State, Southwest Texas State. and New Mexico.

Franchione had 15 years of HC experience. He went 25 - 10 before he left TCU for Alabama.

Gary Patterson had been LB coach at Tennessee Tech where Fran was OC.

He was hired by Fran as LB coach at Pittsburg State.

He was then hired by Fran as DC at New Mexico and then again at TCU.

He was promoted to head coach by TCU.

Does it sound similar to Boise?  In 1996 Boise was  1 - 9 in the Big West Conference.

Boise and TCU laid out a blueprint on how to turn it around.

They hired HCs with success at smaller schools and later they promoted from within.

TCU had the two main advantages of having money and the old SWC pedigree to bring in good coaches and get good recruits. IIRC, LaDanian Timlinson chose TCU over UNT, even before Fran got there.  Once they got good, Ft. Worth's civic pride in TCU really came out--supporting them with decent to really good support as the years went forward.

With Boise, they took advantage of their location and the fact that they had no competition for fans in that location, which is a decent size town. They scheduled smartly for becoming a winner, then did something that few G5 teams ever do--they played and beat P5s wherever they played them.

To me, the programs to look at and try to emulate are at UH and Fresno State. Get solid recruits that want to play near their homes, then win games against teams people have heard of and care about beating. For us, that means winning OOC games against FBS opponents and our Texas/Louisiana conference mates. Nobody cares in DFW about beating eastern schools in the SBCUSA, even if they are really good sometimes (see FIU, MUTS, or WKU). But DFW does pay attention when we get punched by a really bad SMU team or get bought by P5s every year to play "Drop the Soap" at their stadiums. I know UH has a higher pedigree for sports and academics right now, since they have money, but I still think we could mimic them if we can get a good hire.

[Cowtown]

I love Fritz, but how would all the folks calling for the air raid O handle the triple option? Personally I think it would be a great fit for us because we have always been able to recruit RB's. 

As far as the Frogs go, I dont think it was as much of a master plan (yes I am aware of the my home team campaign) that got them to where they are as it was a bit of luck. Its easy to say, "hire an experienced head coach and when he moves on, promote his top assistant"...hell, that was the plan here. When Mac moved on after his 3rd bowl win it would likely be Chico's team.

There is a huge amount of luck with any hire. I would argue that the rise of TCU can best be attributed to Sullivan, replacing the turf with grass and the recruitment of a little known RB who only had 2 offers, NT & TCU.  When Fran took over the team he looked around and found the best RB in the country in his backfield and rode him to 3 great seasons and a job at Bama. So then it was decision time for the Frogs on what to do next. I can tell you from living in the Fort, surrounded by Frog insiders, that very few wanted to promote Patterson. They wanted a known commodity, But the AD (from the recommendation of Fran if I recall correctly) went with the DC with no head coach experience....The early years with Patterson were a little choppy, and the fan base wanted him out on more than one occasion, but Patterson won just enough to keep his job and then built his empire.

If LT was not on the roster, would Frans Frogs have gone to 3 bowls in 3 years? Doubtful. Did Fran EVER have the same success as he did in his 3 years at TCU with LT...NO. 

TCU's meteoric rise had less to do with some master plan or coach Fran and more to do with the fact that they had a grass field, which swayed the best RB in the country to pick the Frogs over the Mean Green. And the fact that Fran brought his unknown DC with him when he took the job at TCU.

It was Sullivan that ripped up the turf and laid the grass, Having no idea what the long term outcome would be, that decision is what set TCU on road to success.

Oh, and BTW, TCU is currently the only school in the Big 12 that plays on grass...coincidence? 

 

[HarringtonFishSmeller]

I wasn't talking to you.

You don't have to talk to the stalkers to have them stalk you. 

[James329]

Did Fritz run the triple option before he got to Ga. Southern or did he just adopt it because they already had that identity? 

If he plans to run that here, I'm not nearly as interested in him. 

[TheWestie]

TCU had the two main advantages of having money and the old SWC pedigree to bring in good coaches and get good recruits. IIRC, LaDanian Timlinson chose TCU over UNT, even before Fran got there.  Once they got good, Ft. Worth's civic pride in TCU really came out--supporting them with decent to really good support as the years went forward.

 

Fort Worth turning purple was because of Mike Moncrief pushing for that as mayor. It wasn't some organic thing. And he isn't even a TCU alum.

We actually have a UNT alum as mayor in Denton right now. Yet we got TWU banners all over the Square during UNT Homecoming week. But we are not Fort Worth. Funky Town can go full purple because the other university in town, Texas Wesleyan is so tiny compared to TCU. TCU is about 10,000 students and Wesleyan is about 3,300. UNT is over 37,000 students now and Texas Woman's is almost 13,000. That's a lot more people to piss off.

[Got5onIt]

This is the path we need to go down. Someone who's built a program. UNT doesn't need DFW's version of Coach Bro.