How’d TCU football go 5-7 with 5 NFL draft picks? Coach is as disappointed as anyone.
TCU coach Gary Patterson took great pride in seeing five players selected in the NFL draft last week, including multiple first-round picks for the first time since 1939.
But Patterson also acknowledged the disappointment in finishing with a losing record with all that talent. The Horned Frogs went just 5-7 in 2019, missing bowl eligibility for just the third time in Patterson’s 19 seasons.
“From my standpoint, we were No. 1 in defense (in the Big 12), but we underachieved,” Patterson said during a conference call with reporters Tuesday.
There’s a number of factors people can point to for the disappointing season: The Horned Frogs were just 1-6 in one-score games. They went through the expected growing pains of starting a true freshman quarterback in Max Duggan.
And, the team battled injuries, including one of those NFL talents — right tackle Lucas Niang — missing the final five games. Duggan also battled a finger injury the final four games.
The list goes on, but Patterson isn’t big on excuses. However, he acknowledged the challenges of winning at this level with an inexperienced quarterback.
“You look across the nation, look at who played with a true freshman quarterback, who had a great year? If they did, congratulations to them,” Patterson said. “From our standpoint, we’re disappointed. (In six of the seven losses), we had a chance to come down and score to tie or win. At the end of the day, we didn’t.
“It’s my job and that’s why we tweaked the things that we did.”
Patterson is referring to the coaching adjustments being made on the offensive side of the ball. He brought in longtime friend and veteran head coach Jerry Kill to serve as the de facto “offensive head coach.”
Sonny Cumbie remains the offensive coordinator, but Patterson added another coach with play-calling experience by bringing back wide receivers coach Doug Meacham. And the program added running backs coach Bryan Applewhite to replace Curtis Luper, who bolted for Missouri.
Patterson remains coy on how the offensive structure will work. He’s yet to anoint a play-caller for the 2020 season, a role Cumbie has had since 2017.
“Right now, it’s for me to know and for everyone to find out,” Patterson said. “We’d know a lot more about it if we had gotten through more than four practices in the spring.”
Defensively, the only notable change is promoting safeties coach Paul Gonzales to passing game coordinator.
Patterson is confident those changes will put TCU in a better position to win close games going forward. He also likes the players returning to the team, particularly from the Big 12’s top-ranked defense.
Of the 10 TCU players who were drafted and/or signed by NFL teams last week, only three came from the defensive side of the ball (cornerback Jeff Gladney, defensive tackle Ross Blacklock and safety Vernon Scott).
“We have a lot of guys returning, so we’ve got to grow up,” Patterson said. “That was one of the things about missing spring — we didn’t get a chance to see and be able to do that. We’re going to have to do that whenever it is we start all this stuff back up.”
This story was originally published April 30, 2020 at 6:00 AM.
