TCU interim coach Jerry Kill: We’ve got to carry on Gary Patterson’s legacy
The house that Gary built.
That’s how Jerry Kill described the TCU football program that he is taking over on an interim basis with Gary Patterson and the school agreeing to part ways on Sunday.
Kill is going to try and carry on Patterson’s legacy as best he can for the remainder of the 2021 season. TCU (3-5, 1-4 Big 12) hosts No. 14 Baylor (7-1, 4-1) on Saturday afternoon at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
“We’ve got to carry on his legacy,” Kill said during a news conference on Tuesday. “We have to get the kids to play hard, get the morale going and we’ll see if we can do it or not.
“The worst thing we can do is let it slide.”
Kill returns to a head coaching role for the first time since 2015. He coached Minnesota from 2011-15, stepping down in 2015 due to health reasons. He returned to coaching in 2017 as the offensive coordinator at Rutgers and then joined Virginia Tech as a special assistant in 2019.
Kill, who is one of Patterson’s closest friends, joined TCU’s staff in 2020 as the de facto “offensive head coach.”
Kill acknowledged there are plenty of emotions in seeing Patterson’s tenure come to an end. He described the players as being “crushed” when they first heard the news on Sunday.
But Kill gracefully accepted the interim role and has gone straight to work. Shortly after Patterson informed the team that he would no longer be the coach, Kill and the players headed to practice at 5:30 p.m. Sunday.
“Gary said, ‘We’re going to practice at 5:30,’ and I was coaching the team at 5:30,” Kill said. “I think the kids here respect me, I’ve been around them enough, we’ve got a good game plan and we’ll go to work today and get after them.
“The way you do it is like anything in life — you roll your sleeves up and go to work. That’s what we’ve done.”
Kill, 60, was the logical choice to fill the interim role as the only coach on the staff with Power Five head coaching experience. He went 29-29 in four-plus seasons at Minnesota, and has a career record of 52-45 as an FBS head coach.
Kill said Patterson asked him to fill the role.
“I said I’d do whatever he wanted me to do,” Kill said. “I owed him that and he said I’d like for you to do that.”
Kill raved about Patterson and all he has accomplished over his career at TCU. Patterson has been an institution in college football and became a legendary coach with the Horned Frogs.
Patterson took over in December 2000 and compiled a 181-79 overall record with six conference titles and six top-10 finishes in the postseason AP poll.
“Nobody’s going to be Gary Patterson,” Kill said. “I don’t claim to be Gary Patterson. There’s only one of them, and will never be another one.
“He’s done an incredible job here. For a coach to stay 23 years is unheard of in this day and age. It’s not going to happen anymore. It’s just the way the business is. For him to stay at one place and do what he’s done, he’s an icon, he’s a Hall of Famer.
“He’s had a helluva ride and most coaches don’t get to say that.”
And Kill doesn’t think Patterson is done coaching football. Patterson returned to the TCU football offices on Monday to help out a few of his former assistants with the Baylor game plan.
“There’s no question he’ll be coaching again,” Kill said, smiling. “Come on, y’all know him. ... He’s special. What you see sometimes is not what you get behind closed doors. There’s not a more caring person in the world, and a more loyal person in the world than he is. Just look at the track record of how many people have stayed with him.”
