TCU’s Patterson hears complaints about co-OC Sonny Cumbie, but won’t make ‘rash’ decision
TCU coach Gary Patterson didn’t extend a vote of confidence in co-offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie during his Tuesday media luncheon. He also didn’t declare a looming change is coming this off-season.
Instead, Patterson played it down the middle when it came to Cumbie, who has been subject to outside criticism much of the season. It’s become more heated following TCU’s 29-23 triple-overtime loss to Baylor in which TCU scored a season-low nine points in regulation.
But Patterson didn’t sound like someone in a hurry to make a decision, dismissing any notion that he could make an in-season change with three games left. TCU (4-5, 2-4 Big 12) travels to Texas Tech on Saturday.
“I know a lot of the voices out there,” Patterson said. “It’s really easy — it’s like I was laughing with you guys earlier, you can always make changes, like divorce, so how many people you think the percentage is that once they got divorced, they re-married that it was better than the first one. Right? So you’ve got to make sure that everything lines up the way it’s supposed to line up, if you’re going to make changes.
“And you know how I am, I don’t do any of that evaluating until I get to the end of the year. I think it’s in poor taste when people get fired in the middle of the season. It affects everybody, not just that person. You take a cog out of the middle of everything that goes on. ... And that’s not saying that I’m doing anything.
“I’m just saying to you, it’s not fair to anybody because right now you’re trying to win ballgames and that’s just a distraction. We’ve had enough distractions and different things going on this season to add one more.
“The next three weeks, we need to try to win ballgames, and then see where it all sits.”
Patterson typically uses a “two-year rule” when it comes to evaluating assistants. This is Cumbie’s third season calling plays.
The Frogs reached the Big 12 title game and went 11-3 in an Alamo Bowl-winning season in 2017. TCU battled a number of injuries last season, including using four different quarterbacks, and ended up averaging the fewest points in the Patterson era. This season has seen the scoring improve, but the offense hasn’t been as explosive as desired.
Part of that may be injuries. Part of it may be an inexperienced quarterback in true freshman Max Duggan. Part of it may come down to play-calling.
“All I do know is this — we’ve always made good decisions,” Patterson said of hiring his staff. “I’ve tried to do my business decisions like a lot of the older families in this city — over a period of time. They don’t make rash decisions.
“Now change is change. If you have to do that at some point in time, whether it’s a quarterback or DB or it’s a coach, that’s just what we all have to do. But at this point in time, right now in fairness to everybody, you do what you have to do to win. That’s what you’re trying to get accomplished here. And that doesn’t mean change is the reason why you get better, so those are the things I’ve got to determine because you have young people. We had a lot of injuries earlier, so how do you move forward from there?”
TCU ranks seventh in total offense (426.9 yards per game) and scoring offense (32.2 points) in the Big 12. The Frogs have had the third-best rushing attack and the ninth-best passing attack.
Duggan has endured the expected growing pains of being a true freshman. He’s 134-of-240 passing for 1,545 yards with 13 touchdowns and seven interceptions. All seven interceptions have come in the last three games.
But Patterson has liked what he’s seen from Duggan from a growth standpoint. Cumbie deserves credit for that development.
Cumbie is also a significant reason why TCU has landed quarterbacks such as Duggan and Ohio State transfer Matthew Baldwin. He played a role in the development of Trevone Boykin, too, who carried the Frogs to a Peach Bowl victory in 2014.
That is not lost on Patterson and will certainly play a part in whatever decision he makes this offseason.
“He recruited [Duggan]. You’ve got to remember he recruited Baldwin. He recruited Justin Rogers. He’s recruited all of them,” Patterson said. “They all came here for a certain reason. You guys always have to be careful what you wish for. Trevone Boykin, you don’t like to talk about him cause he hasn’t had good news here lately, but the bottom line is he wasn’t a very good quarterback through his sophomore year and all of sudden he became awfully good his junior and senior year.
“Only time will tell. We’ve got to play out our hand.”
This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 3:19 PM.
