TCU’s Patterson: Players’ support of Strong ‘good to see’

TCU football coach Gary Patterson said Tuesday that he saw only snippets of Monday’s news conference in Austin when embattled Texas coach Charlie Strong pleaded to remain the team’s coach against a backdrop of roughly 50 players in the wake of multiple reports that he will soon be fired.

Patterson said the support from Strong’s players was “good to see” and that he probably would have joined peers in the coaching fraternity in reaching out to Strong if the Horned Frogs (5-5, 3-4 in Big 12) and Longhorns (5-6, 3-5) were not scheduled to meet Friday in Austin.

“I think Charlie’s a good man, a great football coach,” Patterson said at Tuesday’s news conference. “It’s hard to see anyone go through that, obviously. If you watched any of that press conference, it’s obvious those kids have a relationship with those coaches. We recruited a lot of them. There’s a lot of good kids there.

“But it’s just part of our business. Guys in our profession know that. To be honest, I probably would have talked to him if we hadn’t been playing. I’ll get a chance to talk to him before the ball game.”

This story was originally published November 22, 2016 at 2:54 PM with the headline "TCU’s Patterson: Players’ support of Strong ‘good to see’."