TCU football’s new offensive coaching staff gets rave review from Patterson
TCU coach Gary Patterson spent the offseason adjusting his offensive staff. Among the notable changes included bringing on veteran coach Jerry Kill as a special assistant to oversee the offense and rehiring assistant coach Doug Meacham, who has since become the primary play caller.
Sonny Cumbie is still the offensive coordinator, but has moved upstairs to the coaching booth on game days. Meacham calls the game from the field. It’s a similar setup to what TCU had in 2014-15 when Meacham and Cumbie combined to produce one of the nation’s top offenses.
Patterson liked what he saw from the revamped offensive staff in the opener, outside of the end result of a 37-34 loss to Iowa State. TCU hopes to change the result when it faces Texas on Saturday in Austin. Kickoff is at 11 a.m.
“I think it was great,” Patterson said of the offensive staff. “That’s a pretty good defense. They held Lafayette to around 270 (yards) total. I thought they did an unbelievable job with the game plan.”
TCU finished the game with 499 yards of total offense, which was more than ISU’s total (423). The Frogs also had more first downs (27-14).
But Iowa State won the rushing battle (212 yards to TCU’s 99 yards) and connected on more big plays.
Plus, TCU’s offense had two costly turnovers that turned into ISU touchdowns. Quarterback Matthew Downing fumbled the ball away while being sacked deep in TCU territory in the second quarter, and then Max Duggan had an interception that bounced off receiver Taye Barber’s knee late in the fourth quarter that essentially ended TCU’s comeback bid.
Overall, though, Patterson liked the early signs. Along with Kill’s experience, TCU is being helped by volunteer coach Tim Beck. Beck spent his entire coaching career at Pittsburg State in Kansas with stints as the defensive coordinator (1992-93), offensive coordinator (1994-2009) and head coach (2010-19).
Beck led the Gorillas to a Division II national championship in 2011.
“You’ve got to give Iowa State a little credit,” Patterson said. “Their front, those guys are pretty good players. But I was really excited. Besides Sonny and Meach, you add a guy like Jerry Kill and Tim Beck ... you have a lot of great minds in the room that can find a way to move the football and find a way to be successful. I thought it showed early.”
Duggan agreed when asked about the new staff, saying: “They are all very smart guys. Everybody on the O staff has a lot of input in what we do and how we’re doing it. Really the main thing we talk about is execution. That’s what we talk about for the offense.”
The most glaring room for improvement is along the O-line. That unit struggled in the opener, allowing six sacks and one QB hit. The Frogs also averaged just 2.2 yards per carry compared with the Cyclones’ 7.6 yards.
As Patterson said, “Offensive line wise, we’ve got to grow up.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2020 at 10:00 AM.
