Sonny Cumbie gets emotional reflecting on his time at TCU, Gary Patterson
Sonny Cumbie had nothing but good things to say this week about his time with TCU football and coach Gary Patterson.
Cumbie spent seven seasons with the Frogs as offensive coordinator before returning to his alma mater Texas Tech in the same role last offseason. Cumbie’s offense will match up against Patterson’s defense for the first time since they parted ways on Saturday in Lubbock.
Asked about his time at TCU and Patterson, Cumbie told reporters in Lubbock: “It was good. Shoot …”
Cumbie then choked up, taking several seconds to collect his thoughts on Patterson.
“Part of my maturation as a coach, a lot of it is really owed to him. A lot of lessons I’ve learned from him,” Cumbie said. “I’m very appreciative to Coach Patterson. He’s probably one of the top coaches there is as far as a young coach. He took a chance on me, really stood behind me a lot.
“At the end of the day, he taught me a lot of things about for three hours what you have to do opponent-wise to prepare your mindset. That’s the mindset that I’ve learned from him. A lot of other things, but I love him as a coach. He’s been very good to me and my family.”
Patterson echoed similar thoughts in talking about Cumbie during his midweek news conference. With Cumbie on staff, TCU had more highs than lows over the seven seasons.
“Sonny was part of a lot of wins here,” Patterson said. “We helped him with his development. We’re very grateful for the time he’s had here.”
Patterson’s wife, Kelsey, wrote on Twitter that “Sonny and his family are nothing but class. They will always be frogs.”
TCU went 12-1, were Big 12 co-champions and won the Peach Bowl in Cumbie’s first season as co-offensive coordinator with Doug Meacham in 2014. That season also featured an 82-27 victory over Texas Tech, which set TCU and Big 12 scoring records. The Frogs finished No. 3 in the country.
TCU followed with an 11-2 season and No. 7 ranking in 2015. The Frogs had a down year in 2016, going 6-7 and losing to Georgia in the Liberty Bowl.
Cumbie took over play-calling duties prior to the 2017 season, and TCU reached the Big 12 championship game. The Frogs finished 11-3 and No. 9 in the country.
But TCU’s offense regressed the next three seasons. In 2018, the Frogs scored the fewest points in the Patterson era during a 7-6 season. Things didn’t get much better in 2019 as they went 5-7. Cumbie was stripped of play-calling duties prior to the 2020 season and then departed last offseason when offered the same job at Tech.
As far as Saturday’s game, Patterson feels that Cumbie may have more of an advantage from spending time in TCU’s program compared to Patterson going against one of his former assistants.
“It’s probably more of an advantage for him than it is for us because he’s there and you know you’re doing something different with a different head coach,” he said. “You see some similarities to what they do and how they do it.
“But it’s probably more of an advantage for him because we haven’t changed as much as what they probably changed. And you have different people giving input to their offense comparably.”
From a player’s perspective, TCU center Steve Avila enjoyed playing under Cumbie. In fact, it’d be difficult to find anyone in TCU’s locker room who would have a negative thing to say about Cumbie as a person.
“Coach Cumbie was a great guy,” said Avila, who joined the program in 2018 and spent three seasons with him.
“I know at Tech he has them well coached. He went back home but it would be nice to get the win off of him.”
Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. in Lubbock. TCU (2-2, 0-1 Big 12) is riding a two-game losing streak while Tech (4-1, 1-1) is coming off a road victory at West Virginia.
