The 2014 college football season was a parade of redemption for both the TCU Horned Frogs and head coach Gary Patterson. After finishing 7-6 in 2012 and 4-8 in 2013 in their first two seasons as members of the Big 12 Conference, the Frogs rebounded with a 12-1 mark in 2014. TCU ended the 2014 season with a final AP ranking of third in the nation. As a result Patterson was named the Paul “Bear” Bryant College Coach of the Year.
The Bryant Award capped off a remarkable turnaround for a coach and program that was derided as not ready for prime time after last year’s debacle. Patterson deserves much of the credit as he faced a fork in the road decision for his program and career just one year ago. He responded in resounding fashion.
Flexible and Adaptable
Patterson built a program that was highly successful in the Mountain West Conference with three top seven or better finishes and ten bowl bids in his first eleven seasons. But the Patterson formula of defense first combined with a pro-style offense was proven to be incompatible for success in the wide open Big 12. The 2013 season forced Patterson to either change or fail in the basketball-on-turf style of the Big 12. That TCU offense was one of the worst in the nation and wasted the efforts of their reliable defensive unit.
Patterson embraced change by hiring a new offensive coordinator, Doug Meecham, and a new quarterback coach, Sonny Cumbie. Patterson agreed to turn Meecham and Cumbie loose and charged them with installing an up tempo attack, similar to that of hated arch rival Baylor. The results were stunning. TCU went from being ranked 106th in the nation for total offense in 2013 to ranking fourth in the nation in that category for 2014.
A Fit for Boykin
Quarterback Trevone Boykin was looking like he would be switched to receiver after a dreadful 2013 season. But with the new offense Boykin thrived into a star signal caller as he finished 2014 with a 145.9 passer rating with a 33-10 touchdown to interception ratio.
The Bear Bryant Way
Bear Bryant remains an iconic name in college football to this very day. It should be remembered that Bryant faced his own fork in the road moment in 1970 when he replaced his own pro style attack with the wishbone. Bryant went on to enjoy the most successful decade of his career as a result.
Patterson followed that example in 2014 and now has the Bryant Award as one of the nation’s top coaches. And TCU has a program with a promising future.
