Tramel's ScissorTales: LaDainian Tomlinson basks in TCU football's newfound glory

LaDainian Tomlinson remembers the old TCU.

A relic of a stadium. A 1-10 season in 1997, Tomlinson’s freshman season at Texas Christian and Pat Sullivan’s last as the Horned Frog coach. No expectation of success.

Tomlinson is back on campus a lot these days. He lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Westlake and is a favorite son.

One of three Horned Frogs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame (joining Sammy Baugh and Bob Lilly). Tomlinson’s nephew, TCU safety Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson, won the 2022 Thorpe Award as the nation’s top defensive back. Tomlinson is on TCU’s board of trustees.

And when Tomlinson is back at his alma mater, he marvels.

“I can’t believe it,” Tomlinson said a couple of weeks ago, when in town for the Thorpe Award banquet. “To see that place (Amon G. Carter Stadium) now, huge, and how they’ve added on, the different things they have at the games now, the suites and all that kind of stuff.”

More:Tramel: Would Air Force be a good fit for Big 12 Conference expansion?

The Wednesday ScissorTales look at the historic (in a bad way) status of OU basketball and a book about Oklahoma legend Bertha Frank Teague. But we start with Tomlinson and TCU’s remarkable success story.

“It’s almost like it’s a different school,” Tomlinson said. “Like I don’t recognize the school that I went to. But also, it makes me proud.”

That pride crested on New Year’s Eve, when the Horned Frogs beat Michigan 51-45 in the Fiesta Bowl to reach college football’s national-championship game.

The Big Bowl itself didn’t go so well. Georgia, playing the part of Hercules, routed the Frogs 65-7. No matter. TCU’s magical season – 13-2 and ending the Big 12’s hex in the four-team College Football Playoff – has ushered the Frogs into an exalted place.

And Tomlinson was alpha and omega. A sophomore on the 1998 TCU team that launched the Frog renaissance, then almost a quarter century later a school trustee who was involved in hiring Sonny Dykes.

“I described it as almost like raising a child,” Tomlinson said. “When I was there, we were just breaking the ground. Just starting to get some national attention.”

Tomlinson came out of University High School in Waco, Texas, signed with TCU and rushed for 5,387 yards as a Horned Frog, including 4,132 his last two seasons.

Tomlinson played one season under Sullivan, then in came Dennis Franchione, with defensive coordinator Gary Patterson in tow, and few coaching changes ever impacted a school like Fran in Fort Worth. Franchione’s three TCU teams went a combined 25-10. Alabama hired away Fran, and Patterson replaced him. Soon enough, the Frogs were the class of the Mountain West Conference. In 2010, TCU went 13-0 with Andy Dalton at quarterback, beating Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl; Amon G. Carter Stadium was transformed into a jewel with makeovers of $164 million and $118 million; and a Big 12 invitation came in 2011.

More:Tramel's ScissorTales: Oklahoma State football portal losses were deep, but what about the gains?

Tomlinson by then was a National Football League star. Nine seasons with the Chargers, two with the Jetropolitans. A three-time first-team all-pro, he retired as the No. 5 rusher in NFL history, with 13,684 yards.

TCU had success in the Big 12, with three top-10 finishes in The Associated Press poll in a four-year span (2014-17), but the Frogs stagnated, and in mid-year 2021, Patterson was asked to retire after the season. Instead, he walked away immediately.

TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati led the search, but Tomlinson was in on the process, and hiring Dykes, the ultimate Texan, proved prescient. Dykes’ move across the metroplex from Southern Methodist was seamless.

“Sonny had a great plan for the program,” Tomlinson said. “Obviously, having Gary for 20-some-odd years, I think we all felt like, if it wasn’t going to be Gary as coach, we needed a total culture change. And also needed someone who embraced the NIL (name, image and likeness) and the transfer portal, knew how to work that whole system.

“The landscape has changed in college football. Sonny’s track record, what he’s done at SMU, with the recruiting in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, we just felt like it was too good to pass up.

“We knew he had a great plan and would recruit that area. We want to keep our kids at home. We want to change the culture at TCU, and he was the person to do that.”

The 2022 Frogs went 12-0, lost to Kansas State in overtime in a classic Big 12 Championship Game, then beat Michigan in a wild national semifinal.

“It was a feeling of we’ve arrived to some extent,” Tomlinson said. “Because a lot of people still didn’t believe we could beat Michigan. I heard it all, even in our own town. ‘They’re not going to be able to beat Michigan.’ But most of us who watched TCU every single game, we had a really great chance of beating Michigan.

“I think it proved to us, but also it proved to the recruits, that you can get to a national championship game at TCU. You can possibly win a national championship at TCU. You should be able to compete to get to the playoff at TCU.

“And I think it’s as simple as that what that game did for us.”

Now TCU seems poised to be a Big 12 power and a consistent contender for the playoff. The Frogs achieved that status even before the OU/Texas exodus to the Southeastern Conference.

Quite a success story for a program that went 109-233-8 from 1966-97.

“As a university, you shouldn’t be stagnant, you shouldn’t stay the same,” Tomlinson said. “You should flourish and grow. Especially in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, that’s a big market. It was only right that we kind of grow with the Metroplex, as the Metroplex grew.”

More:Tramel's ScissorTales: Will OU football follow trend of weaker non-conference schedules?

Sooners bound for last place in Big 12

First, the bad news about OU basketball. The Sooners lost to Texas Tech 74-63 Tuesday night and solidified themselves as the Big 12’s last-place team.

OU now is two games behind both West Virginia and Tech, the closest competitors to the Sooners in the Big 12 standings. WVU and Tech, both 5-10 in the conference and 16-12 overall, remain in contention for the NCAA Tournament.

The Sooners are 3-12, 13-15 overall. The NCAAs are out of the question. Rising to even ninth place seems impossible.

OU men’s basketball hasn’t finished in last place of a conference since 1969.

Now, the good news. Those ‘69 Sooners were led by John MacLeod, in his second OU season as head coach.

MacLeod’s first Sooner squad went 13-13, not that far from Porter Moser’s 19-16 record a year ago. Then MacLeod’s second season went splat, just as Moser’s did.

But MacLeod recovered. His final four OU teams went 19-9, 19-8, 14-12 and 18-8. None of those teams made the NCAA Tournament or won a Big 12 title, but the NCAA was a limited field in those days. Only 25 teams, with a maximum of one per conference.

Three of those MacLeod teams would have been NCAA Tournament caliber by today’s standards.

MacLeod was successful enough to draw the interest of the NBA. The Phoenix Suns hired away MacLeod in 1973. He ended up coaching 18 NBA seasons, with 707 victories, 19^th-most in league history.

MacLeod’s last-place team didn’t lack for talent. Garfield Heard was a junior. Clifford Ray was a sophomore. Heard played 11 NBA seasons. Ray played 10.

The turnaround in 1969-70 included Heard and Ray, plus a couple of in-state sophomores (freshmen weren’t eligible then) — Scott Martin (Bartlesville) and Bobby Jack (Ponca City).

Martin and Jack weren’t stars, but they were really good Big Eight basketball players.

We know Moser has no Garfield Heards or Clifford Rays on this team. He’ll need to import them via the transfer portal. Does Moser have any Scott Martins or Bobby Jacks?

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Byng star pens Bertha Frank Teague book  

Judy Corvin Williams’ first-grade teacher was Bertha Frank Teague.

Almost 10 years later, Corvin Williams sank one of the most famous shots in Oklahoma high school basketball history, a buzzer beater that gave Byng a 40-39 victory over Elk City in the 1969 Class A state championship game, the last of Teague’s 1,157 Byng victories.

Corvin Williams hasn’t forgotten Teague’s impact on her life. She has penned a manuscript about Teague.

Corvin Williams, an interior designer and artist in Broken Arrow, looks back on her Byng days with wonder.

“I have always wanted to write about Mrs. Teague,” Corwin Williams said. “But to understand her needs a story — a story of the influence she had in my generation. An individual story, like mine. To just write about her win/loss record (1,157-115) or her awards does not, in any way, do her justice.

“I didn’t set out to write as much about myself…it just evolved into my story and her story combined. I loved her like a mother. I’ll always sing her praises. But she wasn’t easy to love. Respect came first.”

I can speak to the wasn’t-easy-to-love from personal experience, but I digress.

Here’s an excerpt from Corvin Williams’ manuscript:

More:Carlson: Oklahoma HS girls sports have a rich history. That made picking a Mount Rushmore rough.

“In the fall of 1959, Mrs. Teague’s life and mine became a shared journey. I was only five years old when I started school and walked into her classroom. Little did I know my first- grade teacher would become the most influential woman in my life. Little did she know our relationship would bond us forever in the history of Oklahoma sports.

“Today’s generation of women can contribute their inclusion and opportunities to Mrs. Teague’s life of service. Her passion to give women the equality she believed young girls deserved, in all aspects of life, is immeasurable. She influenced the lives of hundreds of young girls across Oklahoma and any other state where girls wanted to play sports.

“When she became a basketball coach in 1927, she ventured into a profession where no woman had gone before. Her coaching career might have started in a gymnasium on a hardwood court, but it grew into a lifetime of promoting equal rights for all women.

“Bertha Frank Teague is somewhat indescribable. She was an unstoppable force packed inside a petite woman’s body. A woman of true courage who fought her way into a man’s world. She would become the most famous girls’ basketball coach in the history of high school basketball. This still holds true today, more than thirty years after her death.”

Corvin Williams is talking to publishers about the book. I’ll keep you posted.

More:Carlson: Who makes the cut for Oklahoma State women's sports Mount Rushmore?

The List: NBA Canadians 

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is not the only Canadian star in the NBA. Gilgeous-Alexander is the best, but not the only.

The Ringer’s Bill Simmons points out that the 2024 Canadian Olympic team could be quite a force. Here are the 12 best current Canadians in the NBA:

1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Thunder: From Hamilton, Ontario, SGA has reached superstar status.

2. Andrew Wiggins, Warriors: From Toronto, Wiggins was a star with the Timberwolves and helped the Warriors win the 2022 NBA title.

3. Jamal Murray, Nuggets: From Kitchener, Ontario, Murray has recovered well from a massive knee injury, Murray is the point guard on the Western Conference’s best team.

4. R.J. Barrett, Knickerbockers: The Toronto native has become a big-time scorer in New York.

5. Bennedict Mathurin, Pacers: The high-performing rookie from Montreal is an Indiana cornerstone.

6. Chris Boucher, Raptors: The 6-foot-9 center from Montreal has become a Toronto mainstay.

7. Luguentz Dort, Thunder: The OKC defensive stopper is from Montreal.

8. Dillon Brooks, Grizzlies: From Mississauga, Ontario, Brooks is a defensive whiz who can score, albeit with high volume.

9. Dwight Powell, Mavericks: Dallas’ center from Toronto is not a high scorer but is dirty-jobs valuable.

10. Brandon Clarke, Grizzlies: From Vancouver, the four-year veteran power forward is handy off the bench for Memphis.

11. Trey Lyles, Kings: From Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, the power forward has become a valuable hand, overcoming the stigma of being traded by Utah to Denver for Donovan Mitchell.

12. Kelly Olynyk, Jazz: The journeyman center from Toronto always has value, as a floor-spacing big man.

More:How Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's journey to NBA All-Star Game took off before 2020 bubble

Mailbag: Air Force & the Big 12 

In the Tuesday Oklahoman, I wrote about Air Force as a potential Big 12 candidate. My synopsis: the Falcons aren’t a great fit.

Ronald: “I agree with you on Air Force and the Big 12. I am a Sooner fan and attended the game OU played in Colorado Springs a few years ago (2001). I thought it was really neat for a lot of reasons: not a bad drive, beautiful campus, lots of things to do before and after the game, and waves and waves of fly-bys before the game. I thought then that I wish OU could play them more often. But for all the reasons you said (especially money), they just would not help the conference much. The Big 12 needs to be ready to scoop up the best parts of the Pac if the opportunity presents itself.”

Tramel: I agree. Air Force just isn’t the television draw it once was, if ever.

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: TCU football: LaDainian Tomlinson enjoying Horned Frogs' rise to power