How the Sonny Dykes era at TCU will differ dramatically from Gary Patterson’s era
TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati made sure to thank Gary Patterson in his opening remarks Tuesday as the school introduced Sonny Dykes as the next football coach. So did Dykes.
“It’s hard to put a value on what (Patterson) has meant to this football program and this university,” Dykes said. “The way he and Kelsey have embraced the Fort Worth community. They’ve done so much for so many people through the years, including myself. So I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank him.
“As Jeremiah said, none of us would be here without his hard work and dedication.”
The compliments for Patterson ended after that. Donati and Dykes went on to talk about fundamental changes planned for the football program. It’s clear that Dykes’ vision differs than how Patterson did it.
Patterson has kept a relatively low profile since parting ways with the school on Oct. 31 and didn’t have much to say about the new staff approaching things in a drastically different manner.
When reached by the Star-Telegram on Wednesday, Patterson simply said: “I love TCU and Fort Worth. I wish them all the best.”
But, as Bob Dylan sang, “the times they are a-changin’” and none more so than within the TCU football headquarters.
1. Embracing the portal
Patterson was never shy to share his opinions on the state of college football. He wasn’t a fan of the ever-growing NCAA transfer portal and didn’t seem overly fond of the latest name, image and likeness changes.
As he said in 2019 with the growing number of immediate eligibility waivers given to transfers, “What we’re teaching our kids to do is quit. I’m not starting. I’m not getting my playing time. Every freshman I’ve ever known wants to transfer because it’s harder than anything else he did in high school.
“We better be careful. We won’t have college football. It’s disappointing, to be honest with you. It’s disappointing.”
Contrast that with what Dykes said during his introductory news conference.
“For us, the transfer portal, I view that as an opportunity,” Dykes said. “I never really could understand why anyone viewed it any other way.
“There’s so many DFW kids that leave to go off to school, to play in these big stadiums, sold-out atmospheres. The problem is it’s 359 days a year where they have to get up and go to that school even though they may not want to. That stadium is great on Saturday, but those other 359 days aren’t so great away from their families, friends, people who care about them, people who are invested in their success. We have to embrace the transfer portal.”
Patterson embraced the portal to a degree. The Frogs had success with transfers such as Kenny Hill and Ben Banogu, but Patterson would never be considered a fan of it.
For the most part, TCU prided itself on developing players over a four-year period under Patterson. Seeing a guy such as Garret Wallow join as a three-star safety prospect out of Louisiana and develop into an NFL-caliber linebacker by his senior season.
2. Strength and conditioning outlook
Kaz Kazadi was the first coach that Dykes mentioned who would be joining him at TCU as the strength and conditioning coach.
“Kaz will get with our players and will build something really special,” Dykes said. “He does an outstanding job of doing that. You guys will have an opportunity to get to know Kaz and see what he does for our program. There’s many steps involved. He does many different things. Not just making players bigger, stronger, and faster, but dealing with injury prevention, and emphasis on nutrition, and emphasis on mental training. All those things that I think contribute to championship-level football programs.
“We’re excited to have him. His staff will hit the ground running when players report back in January. I know we’ll make some huge strides to get our guys ready for spring football.”
Injuries have been a consistent issue for TCU in recent years. During the 2018 season, the Frogs were down to their fourth-string quarterback with bowl eligibility on the line. This season, TCU battled a number of injuries, including standout running back Zach Evans missing the final five games.
Don Sommer has served as TCU football’s strength and conditioning coach since January 2001. It’s unfair to blame every injury issue on Sommer. Patterson alluded to his desire to add more strength coaches earlier this season, too.
The NCAA allows programs to have up to five strength coaches dedicated to the football program. TCU had one until this season when Matt Parker joined Sommer. SMU, meanwhile, has three strength coaches listed in its 2021 media guide — Kazadi, Kale Igboh and Elias Ellefsen.
A determination on how many strength coaches TCU’s football program will add under Dykes will be made in the coming weeks. But that was an area of emphasis in TCU’s coaching search.
Donati said it was important for the incoming staff to present “a comprehensive and holistic strength and conditioning and injury prevention plan.”
3. Recruiting philosophy
In describing his three-step plan to build TCU into a program that competes for and wins championships, Dykes talked about “talent acquisition.” Part of that is recruiting and a renewed emphasis on the Dallas-Fort Worth area and throughout the state of Texas.
Patterson recruited plenty of players from the area and the state over the years, but in recent years tended to put an emphasis on out-of-state talent. In fact, Patterson said that TCU had a better reputation out-of-state than in-state and more than half of the recruits the past two years have been out-of-state players.
Patterson had success developing non-Texas players. Wallow and Ar’Darius Washington are Louisiana natives who are now playing in the NFL. So is Connecticut native Lucas Niang, who is with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Dykes and his staff will scour the country for players, of course, but the focus is on Texas.
“You have the best high school football players in the United States in your own back yard. How does it get any better than that?” Dykes said. “That’s something that I think is a great opportunity for us because there’s going to be an emphasis on recruiting local kids. When you go around the country and have a chance to see high school football like I have in so many different states, you just realize how good it is here in Texas.”
Donati doubled down on that mindset, saying: “We’re not going to get every kid in Dallas-Fort Worth, but every kid better be considering TCU. With the investments we’ve made, the level we play at ... we’ve got to be high on everyone’s radar.”
This story was originally published December 2, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
