Criteria to replace TCU football’s Gary Patterson include being a ‘modern coach’
Speaking publicly for the first time since the school parted ways with longtime coach football coach Gary Patterson, TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati on Tuesday said the search is already underway and he listed three prerequisites any new hire must have.
Jerry Kill, the former special assistant under Patterson, will serve as the interim coach for the team’s remaining four games. Kill is not in the running to be the permanent hire.
Donati said he expects that their next steward of the program will be someone who is currently a head coach, someone who has a stronger background on the offensive side of the ball and is someone who will be able to navigate the evolving state of the game, to cover everything from the transfer portal and NIL (name, image, likeness) issues.
The search began Monday, the day after Patterson and TCU agreed it was time for the program to move in a new direction. The Frogs’ season (3-5, 1-4 Big 12) has been a disappointment, especially when there had been talk of contending for a conference championship this year.
Donati said that a number of coaches around the country have already expressed interest in the position, including three current coaches from Power Five schools.
▪ Current sitting head coach. This is the first item on Donati’s list, and TCU has already received interest from a several current head coaches, including three from Power Five conferences within the last 24 hours.
Among the Group of Five coaches who are considered early candidates include SMU’s Sonny Dykes, Louisiana’s Billy Napier and UTSA’s Jeff Traylor.
Given that Donati mentioned that the hire would have to be a sitting head coach, it seems unlikely that TCU would target assistants such as Texas A&M defensive coordinator Mike Elko or Baylor associate head coach Joey McGuire.
“We’re in the process of vetting candidates,” Donati said. “There’s a lot of strong interest and I’m very confident we’re going to have an excellent coach here very soon.”
▪ Offensive background. Donati mentioned that TCU would lean toward hiring a coach with an offensive background rather than a defensive background.
Patterson is regarded as one of the top defensive minds in college football, which would make a defensive coach following in his footsteps more difficult compared to an offensive-minded coach.
“When you have an iconic, Hall of Fame, legendary coach, who is one of the best defensive minds that’s ever coached in college, it is going to be very difficult for that person to fill those shoes,” Donati said. “I’m not saying we’re not looking at defensive candidates, but I’d also tell you it probably feels at this point a little more natural to go the other way.”
Dykes, Napier and Traylor all have offensive backgrounds.
▪ Understands today’s college game. The college football world has been turned upside down in recent years. From the transfer portal to players profiting off their name, image and likeness, college football has entered a whole new world.
“Those things are what the modern coach is going to have be very adept at doing,” Donati said. “Those are going to be important questions.”
Donati stressed the importance of the next coach being able to navigate the new NIL era. That, Donati said, is more important than having Texas ties.
“There’s so much movement in college that coaches go East Coast to West Coast to Texas, so if the head coach isn’t necessarily a Texas native, there’s probably ways that you can bring support staff and assistants that have strong Texas ties,” Donati said. “So I wouldn’t say that’s absolutely necessary, but the DFW marketplace — it has shown already that it’s a big advantage for us, especially in this NIL space.
“I think that’s something that I really want to hear in our coach’s vision for how we can continue to do a better job. Because this is still evolving. NIL is something that we don’t even have a one set rule yet, but it is going to be very important that the new head coach has an NIL strategy.”
That is the main criteria for the next coach.
Donati said he would like to have a coach in place by early December with the early signing period starting on Dec. 15.
Donati and TCU have retained a search firm to help with the process. Additionally, Donati said several people within the TCU community would have input on this decision, including a couple people with deep football roots on the school’s Board of Trustees — Pro Football Hall of Fame running back LaDainian Tomlinson and Joe Briggs, who is staff counsel at the NFL Players Association.
“Make no mistake, this is a huge hire,” Donati said. “It’s a huge decision, so we’d obviously like, even if the committee may be small, that doesn’t mean I’m not going to be seeking a lot of input. Those two you mentioned, LT and Joe Briggs, there’s others. I can’t wait to hear their thoughts and their ideas they have. They’ll be very much engaged. I’ve heard from both.”
This story was originally published November 2, 2021 at 5:22 PM.
