TCU’s Patterson sidesteps Briles question: ‘Baylor is not my problem’

With a chance to make his first public remarks about the removal of Art Briles as head coach at rival Baylor, TCU coach Gary Patterson punted.

“You know, Baylor is not my problem. TCU is my problem,” he said, asked if the school did the right thing by parting with the former coach.

Patterson was asked only two questions about Baylor and Briles during his formal press conference Monday morning on the first day of Big 12 Media Days at the Dallas Omni.

Asked about missing his “spirited coaching rivalry” with Briles, Patterson said nothing about his former counterpart. He highlighted his relationship with new Bears coach Jim Grobe.

“No. 1, Baylor is a good university,” Patterson said. “I have a lot of Baylor friends, and Jim Grobe and I have known each other for a long time, were on the Ethics Committee together. He and his wife, went on trips together. And he’s a good football coach. He’s done a great job every place he’s ever been.

“One thing is, Baylor is a good university. They’re a good football program, and they have a lot of good players coming back. I don’t see that changing much.”

Patterson was asked about other topics during his 20-minute session.

On a Big 12 championship game and possible division play:

“Well, I think whatever it is, it has to be set up to understand that we’re doing this so we can get in the four-team playoff. So I don’t think that you can say that you can divide it north and south. We’re going to have to use a lot of thinking, a lot of thought process. ... If you have an undefeated team, then I would say you don’t need to be in a championship game. ... I think it’s a negative. If you have two tied teams, I think a championship game will help us. But you can’t have one that’s 11-1 going in the championship game and the other be 7-4 because then in the computer rankings, you’re going to hurt yourself.”

On the 2016 schedule:

“We’ve got some tough games. I think we have a tough September. You have South Dakota State team which is I-AA, but they beat Kansas last year. You have Arkansas coming to town. Iowa State who has a new head coach, and I thought they had some good players, and then you’ve got Oklahoma and you have SMU and we have SMU on a Friday night. The last time we played SMU on a Friday night there it was one of more physical ball games that I’ve been in since I’ve been at TCU. So our September is going to be a tough up with going into the rest of the Big 12 schedule. Last year I felt like could ease into it.”

On how TCU will benefit receiving a full share of conference revenues for the first time:

“I don’t know. This is our first year that that happens. The thing about TCU has always been, when we build facilities we don’t get a chance to borrow or bond it on the athletic side. Everything we do, we have to raise up front. So I think the best thing about us going forward is we’re going to be able to take care of our coaches better, take care of our athletes better, because everything we’ve done up to this point — our new stadium, weight room, locker room, training room equipment room, indoor — all of of it is paid for, and our new recruiting room that we’re putting up all has been raised with private money. So everything we’re going to be able to use going forward is going to be able to keep.”

On why co-offensive coordinators Doug Meacham and Sonny Cumbie stayed:

“I think it’s a compliment to TCU and Fort Worth that we’ve kept coaches and they’ve stayed. As I was telling somebody earlier, Sonny was offered by Texas, but it wasn’t anything about Texas. Texas is an unbelievable university — got great football tradition. For us, I think Sonny’s whole thing of where he grew up, understand he lives about 30 seconds from the office. He really liked his friends he had in Fort Worth. It just wasn’t about football. ... When we hired Doug and Sonny, it wasn’t just about X’s and O’s. I wanted to find two coaches that were respected by high school coaches and recruit in the state of Texas, and I wanted two guys that I could put together along with the staff that I had that would have chemistry. Because it’s hard for your team to have chemistry with the players if your coaches don’t.”

This story was originally published July 18, 2016 at 11:54 AM with the headline "TCU’s Patterson sidesteps Briles question: ‘Baylor is not my problem’."