TCU’s Gary Patterson makes first coaching change of offseason
Gary Patterson looked in-house to find his next offensive line coach.
Jarrett Anderson will move from inside wide receivers coach to offensive line, a source confirmed. This is the first coaching change Patterson has made this offseason.
More are coming, too, as the program has two openings with the departures of co-offensive coordinator Curtis Luper to Missouri and offensive line coach Chris Thomsen to Florida State.
Anderson takes over for Thomsen. Coaching the O-line is familiar territory for Anderson. He was TCU’s offensive line coach from 2014-16.
The Horned Frogs had solid showings in Anderson’s first two seasons. They ranked third among Big 12 teams in both rushing offense (206.8 yards) and sacks allowed (1.77 per game) in 2014.
In 2015, TCU’s rushing attack averaged 215.4 yards per game and allowed 1.38 sacks per game. In 2016, though, production dipped as the Horned Frogs rushed for 195 yards and allowed 2.38 sacks per game.
With Anderson taking over the O-line, it gives Patterson flexibility to fill out his offensive staff. TCU remains in the market for a running backs coach to fill Luper’s role, as well as likely another wide receivers coach.
But Patterson could get creative filling the offensive roles depending on the route he wants to go.
Patterson has not commented on how he may fill the roles, although he could search for a coach with play-calling experience to fill one of the two spots to give him an option other than co-offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie (who has been the team’s play-caller since 2017).
Anderson has been with the program since 1998, starting as a graduate assistant. He coached wide receivers from 2000-08, served as co-offensive coordinator and running backs coach from 2009-13 and then moved to O-line (2014-16) and inside receivers (2017-19).
Horned Frog Blitz publisher Jeremy Clark first reported the news of Anderson moving to the O-line.
This story was originally published December 20, 2019 at 3:50 PM.
