Here’s who will call the plays for TCU football in the Alamo Bowl
TCU football has decided on who will call the plays in the Alamo Bowl against No. 16 USC after the departure of offensive coordinator Kendal Briles to South Carolina.
Tight ends coach Mitch Kirsch will assume play-calling duties, but head coach Sonny Dykes said the entire offensive staff will be involved with game-planning for the Trojans.
“We’ll kind of do it as a staff,” Dykes said initially Friday. “It’s put a little bit more onus on everybody in the room. I think it’s been good for our coaches. I think our guys are really dialed in on a game plan. I think we want to make sure we keep it simple, yet creative and do what [quarterback Ken Seals] is going to be good at. There’s a lot of different input from everybody.”
Seals is starting in place of Josh Hoover, who intends to enter the transfer portal.
Dykes was asked a follow-up later in the press conference and revealed that Kirsch would be in the press box as the primary communicator.
“Mitch will be in the box, I’ll be on the field, and [assistant tight ends coach] Jacob Oehrlein will be talking to the quarterbacks,” Dykes said. “So it’ll be a number of guys involved in what’s going on.”
It’ll be a big opportunity for Kirsch, who was originally a senior offensive analyst when he joined TCU with Dykes in 2021. Kirsch was elevated to tight ends coach in 2024 and will have a chance to showcase how much he’s learned.
“I talked to Mitch about this the other day. There’s a guy that had this same opportunity,” Dykes said. “There was a coaching change at Texas Tech in 2009. They had a young wide receivers coach that ended up calling the game when Ruffin McNeill took over, and his name was Lincoln Riley.
“He called the game ,and they scored a bunch of points, and then Lincoln went onto be Ruffin’s offensive coordinator at East Carolina, and you know he had a decent career. It’s a great opportunity for Mitch.”
Riley will be on the other sideline as the head coach of USC. He has a 90-27 combined record at Oklahoma and with the Trojans.
