TCU football is in no rush to make staff changes, despite disappointing 5-7 season
University of Texas football coach Tom Herman overhauled his coaching staff Sunday, firing his defensive coordinator and demoting his offensive coordinator, among a number of changes.
TCU coach Gary Patterson appears to be in no rush to do anything similar in Fort Worth. Instead, Patterson spent Sunday meeting with his coaching staff and discussing ways they could improve in 2020 on the heels of a disappointing 5-7 season.
According to multiple sources, co-offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie’s job status and role had not changed as of Sunday night.
Cumbie, who is under contract through the 2020 season, has received much criticism from fans for his play-calling duties. But Patterson is taking a more deliberate approach in determining whether change is necessary on that front.
Patterson surely wants to see improvements and adjustments in the passing game, but Cumbie may be the man who is making them. At the end of the day, TCU has to find a way to become a more potent passing attack after ranking as the second-worst among Big 12 teams.
Cumbie could be given some time to develop a new offensive attack going forward.
As a whole, TCU’s offense ranked eighth among Big 12 teams in scoring (30.3 points) and seventh in yards (407.7).
TCU feels good about the future with quarterback Max Duggan showing flashes at times during his true freshman season. Cumbie is a significant reason why Duggan came to Fort Worth, and, should TCU part ways with Cumbie, it may jeopardize keeping Duggan.
Duggan finished the season with 2,077 yards passing, 15 TDs and 10 interceptions. He also had 555 yards rushing and six TDs.
Cumbie, a former Texas Tech quarterback who started his coaching career as a graduate assistant on Mike Leach’s staff at Tech in 2009, joined TCU before the 2014 season and took over play-calling duties in 2017.
For now, Patterson, Cumbie and the rest of the staff is focused on the 2020 recruiting class with the early signing period running Dec. 18-20.
As Patterson tweeted late Sunday, “Recruiting is heating up!”
This story was originally published December 1, 2019 at 8:28 PM.
