Pat Sullivan, former TCU football coach who recruited LaDainian Tomlinson, dies at 69
The football coach who recruited LaDainian Tomlinson to TCU and snapped the school’s 35-year conference championship drought in 1994 died on Sunday morning.
Pat Sullivan, who coached at TCU from 1992-97, passed away at the age of 69.
“Pat Sullivan is not only a big part of our football history, leading us to a Southwest Conference championship in 1994, but also a prominent figure in the sport as a Heisman Trophy winner,” TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati said in a statement. “He was the driving force in our 2014 game with Samford, as he was the head coach there and it coincided with the 20-year anniversary of our SWC title.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. He will be forever missed.”
Sullivan, the 1971 Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback out of Auburn, is best remembered during his TCU days for leading the program to a share of the SWC title and Independence Bowl berth in 1994. That snapped a 10-year bowl drought and a 35-year conference championship drought.
TCU hadn’t won a conference championship in football since 1959. The quarterback of that 1994 team, Max Knake, recalled how memorable that was.
“We came a long way from his initial year in 1992 to 1994, which was quite frankly a short period of time,” said Knake, who played at TCU from 1992-95 and left as the program’s career passing leader at the time with 7,370 yards and 49 TDs.
“I do think that was one of his highlights, and it’s certainly a great legacy of the program, especially competing in the Southwest Conference against schools like A&M.“
John Denton, who is TCU’s radio analyst, associate athletics director for alumni relations and the executive director of the Lettermen’s Association, described Sullivan as one of the “best play-callers I’ve ever been around.”
“Great with adjustments — loved the ‘smoke draw’ and the screen game,” Denton said.
Denton also mentioned Sullivan as the coach who brought natural grass back to Amon G. Carter Stadium and put the arched TCU on the helmet.
Along with the 1994 season, the Horned Frogs had another winning season under Sullivan in 1995, going 6-5.
Sullivan went 24-42-1 during his six years. He had a forgettable end, going 1-10 in his final season in 1997.
But he landed Tomlinson, the future Hall of Famer out of Waco. Tomlinson was part of the 1997 team, which started 0-10 but rallied for a memorable victory over SMU in the regular-season finale.
TCU radio sideline reporter Landry Burdine played three seasons as a walk-on under Sullivan, including that 1997 season.
“He left here on tough circumstances,” Burdine said. “He knew they were letting him go halfway through the season, but he still coached hard the rest of the year. He didn’t have to do that.
“He was just an honorable guy. That’s really the first thing that comes to mind. He was a very good football coach, but more than that, he was just an honest, honorable and fair guy. He would literally do anything he could to help you. I was a walk-on, so I wasn’t that big of a deal, but he always made me feel like it. One of the very few guys who come along and stand out like that. Just a wonderful man.”
That sentiment was echoed by anyone who dealt with Sullivan during his TCU days.
“The first thing that comes to mind is just, being in Fort Worth at TCU with coach Sullivan was like being with family,” Knake said. “That’s why I went to TCU and why I wanted to play for coach Sullivan.”
Ross Bailey, TCU’s senior associate athletics director for facilities and operations, simply recalled Sullivan as a “great person.” Bailey was the school’s head athletic trainer during Sullivan’s coaching days.
“He cared about the kids,” Bailey said. “If you look back, he had one rule — do right. He said we all know right from wrong. If you do right, we’re going to be OK. Unfortunately, some of his being naive in the head coaching side of things probably limited his success.
“But the group that [Dennis] Franchione came in and won with were Sullivan’s kids to start with. So the guy connected well with players and families.”
Following his TCU days, Sullivan went on to become UAB’s offensive coordinator from 1999-2006 and then head coach at Samford from 2007-14.
Unfortunately, Sullivan wasn’t able to return to Fort Worth for the TCU-Samford game in 2014. He had complications from neck surgery that prohibited him from making the trip.
But Sullivan made sure to reach out, talking with Burdine before the game.
“One of his assistants came up and said, ‘Hey Landry, coach Sullivan is on the line,’” Burdine said. “He just said he was sorry he couldn’t make it because we had a lot of guys from that ‘94 team on hand. So you could tell he still cared about them. This is definitely a big loss.”
Sullivan was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2003 and battled side effects from the treatment afterward. UAB announced the creation of the Pat and Jean Sullivan Comprehensive Head and Neck Cancer Survivor Care Program this fall, and it will open early next year. It’s the first effort of its kind in the country.
Sullivan is survived by his wife, the former Jean Hicks, and their three children — Kim, Kelly and Patrick Jr.
This story was originally published December 1, 2019 at 2:18 PM.
