Big 12 Head Football Coaches Ranked: No. 1-5
Dec 31, 2014; Atlanta , GA, USA; TCU Horned Frogs head coach Gary Patterson reacts during the second quarter against the Mississippi Rebels in the 2014 Peach Bowl at the Georgia Dome. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
No. 4: Gary Patterson, TCU
For the past 14 years, Gary Patterson has led his TCU Horned Frogs on a slow but steady climb to the top of the college football landscape. The Frogs enter 2015 as the consensus favorite in the Big 12, and most experts believe Patterson’s team is a serious national title contender as well.
Since taking over as the TCU head coach in 2001, Patterson has become the school’s all-time leader in wins with 132 against only 45 losses. However, Patterson’s greatest accomplishment is not his win total, which has been padded by playing against second-tier competition in Conference USA, and the Mountain West Conference. The 55-year-old Kansas native has brought TCU from irrelevance to national prominence, which outweighs any victory total.
The TCU football program is one of the oldest in the nation, beginning play in 1896. In 1923 (the same year Texas Tech was founded), the Horned Frogs joined the Southwest Conference where they played until the league dissolved in 1995.
After not being included in the original Big 12, TCU floundered around various conferences trying to find a home and regain the national respect the school once enjoyed on the field. Of the eight coaches preceding Patterson at TCU going back to 1967, only two (Jim Pittman and Dennis Franchoine) had winning percentages over .500; and Pittman’s tenure was only six games.
What Franchoine started by winning 71 percent of his games, Patterson has taken to a new level. Since 2001, TCU has won six conference titles (1 Conference USA, 4 Mountain West Conference, and the 2014 Big 12 title shared with Baylor).
With the help of players like running back LaDainain Tomlinson and quarterback Andy Dalton, Patterson’s success lifted the TCU brand into the consciousness of the college football world, especially after defeating Wisconsin in the 2011 Rose Bowl.
In an era of unprecedented offense in college football, Patterson has continued to build his reputation on defense. However, upon joining the Big 12 conference in 2012, it was obvious that the Horned Frogs needed a philosophy shift. And the conservative Patterson agreed to implement the spread passing attack in 2014.
This decision flew in the face of everything Patterson had built his program upon, but it was the right choice. With the new offense, TCU vaulted to the top of the Big 12 standings. Sometimes, the best indication of a coach’s quality is not in the game plan but in his willingness to adapt and change, even when it contradicts what he has always done.
Patterson will never be a media darling or favorite of fans around the country. He is abrasive, quirky and unconcerned about his image. However, by bringing TCU into the world of major college football and building one of the most consistent programs in America, Patterson has proved that he is one of the best coaches in the Big 12.