Shama: Latest News Did TCU Football Coach Consider Gophers?

[BleedGopher]

per Shama:

Saturday’s Gophers game in Fort Worth against TCU would probably never have been scheduled if Horned Frogs coach Gary Patterson had come to Dinkytown years ago.

Before Tim Brewster took over as Gophers coach in January of 2007 it’s believed that Patterson was interested in the Minnesota job. If Patterson had been hired here it’s doubtful the Horned Frogs would have wanted to play against the man who left them.

Patterson, who had been the defensive coordinator at TCU before succeeding Dennis Franchione in late 2000, was turning heads in the college football world back in 2006 with his revival work at TCU—a private school and like Minnesota not the easiest place to win. In 2006 TCU was 11-2 and had the second-ranked total defense in the country, and the season before upset No. 5 ranked Oklahoma in Norman.

Word is Patterson had interest in possibly coaching the Gophers starting in 2007 and succeeding Glen Mason as Minnesota head coach. “I had no part of that but that’s my understanding,” said Dave Mona.

http://shamasportsheadliners.com/

Go Gophers!!

 

[MNVCGUY]

I remember Patterson's name being in the mix however I am sure the U was not willing to pay anything close to what it would have required to get him to come here at the time.

 

[Sparlimb]

I remember Patterson's name being in the mix however I am sure the U was not willing to pay anything close to what it would have required to get him to come here at the time.

My memory was we wanted him but he ultimately decided to stay. Granted my memory is faulty a lot of the time...

 

[dpodoll68]

I hate the false equivalence between winning at TCU and winning at Minnesota stated in the article. Patterson has more high-quality Power 5-level football recruits within an hour drive of his office than the entire state of Minnesota has produced in the last 10 years combined. Granted, he has other in-state Power 5 schools to compete for those recruits, but turning around Minnesota would've been vastly more difficult than turning around TCU. And on that topic, he didn't "revive" TCU, but rather took them to the next level. He inherited a Top 15 team coming off two consecutive conference championships.

 

[GoFrogs]

I hate the false equivalence between winning at TCU and winning at Minnesota stated in the article. Patterson has more high-quality Power 5-level football recruits within an hour drive of his office than the entire state of Minnesota has produced in the last 10 years combined. Granted, he has other in-state Power 5 schools to compete for those recruits, but turning around Minnesota would've been vastly more difficult than turning around TCU. And on that topic, he didn't "revive" TCU, but rather took them to the next level. He inherited a Top 15 team coming off two consecutive conference championships.

We won those conference championships on the back of the defense he built from scratch. To say he inherited a top 15 team is factual, but it ain't exactly true.

 

[Iceland12]

Hard to believe that Patterson would not have done a MUCH better job than Brewster. He probably would still be coaching here, but dpodoll is right, getting all those Texas kids to come up here would have been a very difficult job. Brewster got skewered when he said it's been easier recruiting once he got back down South. He was right, for a lot of reasons.

The jury is also out on whether TCU (Patterson) is the poster team for moving-up in conferences. TCU, like Boise State, played 2-3 tough opponents a year in the Mountain West. They went 12-1, 13-0(!) and 11-2 in their last three seasons before going to the the Big 12

GREAT records.

Their 2 years in the Big 12? 7-6, (4-5 in the Big 12) and 4-8 ( 2-7 in the Big 12).

Honestly hope they turn it around, but so far they are right there with Utah when people ask:

"Yeah, but they couldn't get that record in a BCS Conference!"

Though now they get to say Power Conference.

 

[Maximus]

To say he inherited a top 15 team is factual, but it ain't exactly true.

This should be good!

 

[beavergopher]

FWIW. The story has merit. I was at the Oregon State vs TCU season opener at Jerry's World in 2010.
As I was standing in line to buy a $10.00 beer, the guy in back of me all decked out in TCU gear starts talking to me about how he thinks Mike Riley is such a great coach, blah, blah. I told him that Gary Paterson is a great coach, but I was mad at him for turning down the Minnesota job as I was also a Gopher alum. He laughed, and said thanks. He was Paterson's brother! He told me point blank that he wanted to take the job and thought it was a great opportunity, but his wife told him no way she was going to move to the cold north.

 

[HopHead]

This should be good!

You beat me to it.

 

[Frog]

Hard to believe that Patterson would not have done a MUCH better job than Brewster. He probably would still be coaching here, but dpodoll is right, getting all those Texas kids to come up here would have been a very difficult job. Brewster got skewered when he said it's been easier recruiting once he got back down South. He was right, for a lot of reasons.

The jury is also out on whether TCU (Patterson) is the poster team for moving-up in conferences. TCU, like Boise State, played 2-3 tough opponents a year in the Mountain West. They went 12-1, 13-0(!) and 11-2 in their last three seasons before going to the the Big 12

GREAT records.

Their 2 years in the Big 12? 7-6, (4-5 in the Big 12) and 4-8 ( 2-7 in the Big 12).

Honestly hope they turn it around, but so far they are right there with Utah when people ask:

"Yeah, but they couldn't get that record in a BCS Conference!"

Though now they get to say Power Conference.

The funny thing is we hear that more from people in the mid level of the conference (TTU, Baylor - till recently, etc) than anywhere else. Which is Ironic because they aren't getting that record in a Power conf either. I think the only reason we really hang on to that quote is because it still burns that we did not get a shot at the championship but instead played Wisky in the Rose Bowl (although growing up an Illini fan it was nice to see my team actually BEAT Wisconsin lol) . I'm pretty confident we will get there, Gary has just been too good of a coach.

 

[Iceland12]

The funny thing is we hear that more from people in the mid level of the conference (TTU, Baylor - till recently, etc) than anywhere else. Which is Ironic because they aren't getting that record in a Power conf either. I think the only reason we really hang on to that quote is because it still burns that we did not get a shot at the championship but instead played Wisky in the Rose Bowl (although growing up an Illini fan it was nice to see my team actually BEAT Wisconsin lol) . I'm pretty confident we will get there, Gary has just been too good of a coach.

Sensitive to the "wonder how they'd do in a real conference" stance because the Gophers haven't had the best of luck ("cough, cough") against FCS teams.

May you go undefeated starting against SMU on the 27th!

Though how in the heck did you get bye weeks before and after the Gophers?

 

[Frog]

Sensitive to the "wonder how they'd do in a real conference" stance because the Gophers haven't had the best of luck ("cough, cough") against FCS teams.

May you go undefeated starting against SMU on the 27th!

Though how in the heck did you get bye weeks before and after the Gophers?

I cannot imagine if we didn't! Talk about the best schedule to install a whole new offense. This is going to be a good game this weekend!

 

[go4ergold]

We won those conference championships on the back of the defense he built from scratch. To say he inherited a top 15 team is factual, but it ain't exactly true.

Huh?

 

[GoFrogs]

Huh?

Patterson was the D coordinator for the turnaround. Dennis Franchione got the credit as head coach, but it was Patterson's defenses that were responsible. So when Franchione left, Patterson "inherited" a championship team, but one that he had built.

 

[Maximus]

Awesome restraint dpo....didn't mean to bait. Just thought it was funny.

Patterson took over before the bowl game but he did have to replace six guys drafted in the first four rounds of the draft before his first full season as head coach. Not a program in shambles but he has done an outstanding job.