TCU’s Patterson sees more recruiting, playoff possibilities through Big 12 expansion
TCU coach Gary Patterson elaborated on his thoughts about Big 12 expansion during his radio show Thursday night, pointing to several positives that will come from the league inviting Houston, Central Florida, Cincinnati and BYU.
The Big 12 formally announced invitations to the four schools on Friday morning as the league pursued expansion with Oklahoma and Texas bolting for the SEC in the summer of 2025, at the latest.
“Those were the four schools that checked all the check marks,” Patterson said on his radio show that airs on 92.1 Hank-FM. “For us, it helps.”
Patterson talked about the league expanding its footprint from a recruiting perspective. The Big 12 schools will have more access into the talent-rich state of Florida with the addition of UCF as well as Ohio with the addition of Cincinnati.
Patterson mentioned that Utah produces a number of offensive linemen, too. Houston, of course, helps solidify the league’s presence in Texas with four schools in the state.
“There’s a lot of positives from a coach’s standpoint,” Patterson said.
Along with recruiting, Patterson believes the refortified league still provides a path to the College Football Playoff and contending for national championships. One could argue that TCU potentially has an easier road to winning the Big 12 and getting in the CFP now.
At the end of the day, Patterson believes the Big 12 is adding four quality football programs to strengthen a league that appeared to be on life support just a few weeks ago.
“We were one of those schools and we came to the Big 12 and in three years we won the conference,” Patterson said. “From my standpoint, you’re adding four quality teams that can go play and go do things. You go from there.
“It’s an opportunity to win a championship. A championship means you can go play in the playoffs because you won the league. Everything we’ve done, we’ve always made ourselves better. There’s always going to be a silver lining around all those kind of things. I think this is one more of them.
“You want to be around people that want to be here. At the end of the day, both are quality programs — the two teams that want to leave. But we have to look out for us and it still comes down to a situation of, ‘Can you win the conference?’ If you can win the conference, you get a chance to be able to move up and go to the playoffs and play for a national championship. As far as the coach is concerned, that’s the goal.”
Donati weighs in
TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati feels the league is headed toward the right direction with these additions.
As Donati told the Star-Telegram, “It is definitely an exciting day for the Big 12 Conference. Expanding with these four schools will bring quality football and athletics programs and provides the entire membership access to new time zones and media markets that will help strengthen the league overall.”
This story was originally published September 10, 2021 at 10:00 AM.
