Tramel's ScissorTales: Gary Patterson still casts a shadow over Big 12 football
Matt Campbell felt a little strange when Big 12 football coaches held their spring meetings in Greater Phoenix a couple of months ago.
The 22-year Texas Christian head coach parted ways with the Horned Frogs last November. Both employer and employee seemed ready for a split, even though Patterson is the godfather of TCU football. The greatest coach in Frog history and the man most responsible for TCU being in the Big 12 with glittering facilities, including Amon Carter Stadium.
Campbell, in his seventh year at Iowa State, is now the Big 12’s second-longest tenured coach, trailing only Mike Gundy (18 seasons).
"Yeah, it was tough to go through our Big 12 meetings and not get educated by Coach Patterson,” Campbell said. “That was tough for a little bit.
“But quite honestly, I'm a young guy that's probably a little bit more of a traditionalist. I have so much respect for coaches that stay and build.”
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Patterson was part of an interesting club. The Big 12 in recent years has been packed with coaches considered the greatest in their respective school’s history. Gundy at OSU, Bill Snyder at Kansas State, Patterson, Campbell. All were together in the Big 12 as recently as 2018.
But only Gundy and Campbell remain.
“One of our jobs as coaches, you would hope, is to build a program that inspires and empowers young people, and part of that is the ability to kind of stay there and be a part of their lives,” Campbell said.
“Man, you look at the success Coach Patterson had, you see what he did to lead that TCU program from obviously one conference to another conference, sustained success at a really high rate, have the defenses and the football teams that Coach Patterson had throughout his tenure, it was a great challenge every time you competed.”
Patterson now is a non-coaching member of Steve Sarkisian’s Texas staff. The Longhorns host TCU this season, so Patterson won’t have to walk into a stadium that includes a Patterson statue out front.
But new TCU coach Sonny Dykes has to constantly see that statue. It's what Dykes signed up for.
“We all have pressure,” said Dykes, who as the son of long-time Texas Tech head coach Spike Dykes always has known the demands on such a job. “That's part of what college football is -- it's a pressure-packed business.
“What I really love about college football is there is a certain level of expectations associated with every program. But the thing I love really as much as anything else is just there's an accountability. Every Saturday, you march your team out there and you take a test in front of 50,000 people, week in and week out, in front of a TV audience of over a million people, and you take that test, and there's accountability associated with that.”
That’s what Patterson did for 22 seasons. His TCU record was 181-79. The previous greatest coach in Frog history, the revered Dutch Meyer (1934-52), also had 79 losses, but 72 fewer victories.
Truth is, the reason Dykes would ever want the TCU job is because Patterson made it so appealing.
"When you follow a legend, I mean, look, there's not many places where there's a statue of that coach in front of the stadium, and certainly not a coach that was still coaching at that institution when that statue was placed there,” Dykes said.
“TCU is about winning championships. There's a high level of expectations. Obviously I knew that when I took the job. I appreciate that. I want to coach in this kind of environment where there has been that level of success.”
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McGuire’s high school ties important
In November 2016, Joey McGuire was head coach at Cedar Hill High School in suburban Dallas. Five Novembers later, McGuire was named head coach at Texas Tech.
And those high-school ties are the main reason McGuire got the job, after 4½ seasons as a Baylor assistant coach.
“One thing I always say, and I believe this, it's not just a little slogan, but I'm a high school coach that gets to coach college football,” McGuire said.
“My DNA is a high school coach. For the guys that have never coached high school football, line up against Lee Wiginton or Eddy Peach whenever he was alive and see what kind of coaches those guys are.”
When you hear about McGuire’s popularity among Texas high school coaches, that’s an example. Name-dropping Texas Friday night lights legends is a winning strategy for a college coach.
McGuire, 51, spent 14 seasons as head coach at Cedar Hill, compiling a record of 141-42. Cedar Hill won state championships in 2006, 2013 and 2014. He was highly-esteemed long before becoming a patron saint of high school coaches.
“What it's allowed me to do is I was part of the Texas High School Coaches Association's board of directors, was able to make great contacts, and I think the Texas high school coaches understand: What we say, we're going to do; that they can trust us to take care of their players.
“And whenever you can walk into a high school or walk into a house and the head coach knows, hey, this guy is what he's all about, what he says, what he's going to do, it makes a huge impact on those guys. And I think it showed in the recruiting class that we signed and in the group that we're recruiting right now.”
McGuire’s initial recruiting class was not highly-heralded – 43rd in the nation, seventh in the Big 12 – but his current class is ranked 16th, which is tall cotton for the Red Raiders.
McGuire’s enthusiasm is infectious. Enthusiasm can wane when autumn losses arrive. But for now, McGuire has Texas Tech football looking up.
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Sarkisian remains mum on quarterbacks
It’s widely believed that Sarkisian will pick Ohio State transfer Quinn Ewers as the Texas quarterback, over Hudson Card.
Of course, it was widely believed last year that Sark would pick Casey Thompson over Card, and Sarkisian threw a curveball, picking Card, though Thompson became the starter in Game 3 and stayed there throughout the season.
“I think we're in a really good position,” Sarkisian said. “I think you know the value I place on the quarterback position. My humble opinion, it's the most important position in sports for a lot of reasons.
“I think the more quality players you can have in that room for the healthy competition, to push one another, to prepare themselves for their future but also the short-term future of playing a season, is vitally important.”
Card didn’t play well in his two-game audition last September. Ewers, who barely played as an Ohio State true freshman, was one of the nation’s top high school quarterbacks, coming out of Southlake Carroll in suburban Dallas.
“We have a unique luxury of having Hudson Card, Quinn Ewers, Maalik Murphy,” Sarkisian said. “Those guys are all quality players.
“The beauty is we've been around these guys all summer long and been able to be on the field with them with skill development, to see some of the growth that they could make from spring ball into summer.
“No, we haven't made a decision yet, but I don't think it'll take quite as long as maybe last fall took us. We'll see. Time will tell. But I've been really impressed with both these guys in Hudson and Quinn and the work that they've done to prepare themselves.
“And I think they've earned a lot of respect from their teammates, which is the most important thing.”
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Mailbag: A new name for the Big 12
The Big 12 is about to undergo a major change, with the departures of OU and Texas, and the additions of Brigham Young, Central Florida, Houston and Cincinnati.
Some are suggesting marketing changes, including a name change.
Andrew: “In the event of a Big 12 raid on the Pac-12, the league should rebrand itself. It has undergone so many changes since its inception and to separate itself from a number and the Big Ten, a new name is necessary. I even have the perfect name. The Southwest Conference. It’s nostalgia. It’s the NIL era. It’s perfect. Florida is South. West Virginia is Southish. Cincinnati is, well, it’s Southern Ohio. Everyone else would be West or Southwest. The league has an old SWC heritage between the Texas schools and Oklahoma State, and actual Southwest between Arizona, Colorado and Utah. Do it Big 12. Become what you were born to be. Become the Southwest Conference again.”
Tramel: I don’t like it. I think rebranding the Big 12 with a new name is interesting and maybe the right move.
I just don’t like Southwest Conference. Truth is, at best, the Big 12 would have five Southwest schools out of 12, or seven out of 16.
But worse, the Southwest Conference has a negative connotation. The SWC was a league that died.
That’s not the message the Big 12 needs to send.
The List: Big 12 athletic directors
Joe Castiglione was the Missouri athletic director when the Big 12 was formed in 1996. Joe C. remains a Big 12 AD, having been at OU since 1998.
Castiglione’s Sooners soon enough will join the Southeastern Conference, but for now, Joe C. is the dean of Big 12 athletic directors. Here’s the list, with the year each was hired:
1. Joe Castiglione, OU, 1998
2. Jamie Pollard, Iowa State, 2005
3. Kirby Hocutt, Texas Tech, 2011
4. Shane Lyons, West Virginia, 2015
5. Mack Rhoades, Baylor, 2016
6. Gene Taylor, Kansas State, 2017
7. Chris Del Conte, Texas, 2017
8. Jeremiah Donati, Texas Christian, 2017
9. Travis Goff, Kansas, 2021
10. Chad Weiberg, Oklahoma State, 2021
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Matt Campbell & Big 12 football will miss ex-TCU coach Gary Patterson
