Hit or mess: TCU’s three-headed offensive coordinator
At least if TCU’s offense isn’t improved, it will have ample excuses stockpiled.
In an effort to turn around his offense, and improve his quarterback, Gary Patterson has a stable of potential offensive coordinators from which to choose, fire, promote, demote and blame.
TCU has on its staff five men who have called offensive plays at the collegiate level: Jarrett Anderson, Rusty Burns, Doug Meacham, Jerry Kill, and current offensive coordinator Sonny Cumbie.
The only need a sophomore to make everyone look smart.
Among the many surprises offered by the 2019 TCU football season is a roster that produced a load of NFL draft picks from a team that finished 5-7, and an offensive coordinator who retained his job.
How what essentially amounts to three offensive coordinators will work is “for me to know and for you to find out,” Gary said in a Zoom call with the media last week.
While Cumbie keeps his title of offensive coordinator, Jerry Kill did not come to Fort Worth just to be his longtime friend Gary Patterson’s best buddy. Expect Cumbie to call the plays, with a nod of approval from Kill.
On a Zoom call with reporters on Monday morning, Kill said he will be the coach of the offense. Gary has asked him to evaluate everything, including himself, and Kill is here to improve this offense.
Say this for Gary, he does not like firing assistants. He may not like them, and he may scream and bark at them on the sidelines, but he does like firing guys.
He may “fire” them during practice, but in actual practice he seldom, if ever, does. Gary remembers what it was like to be an assistant, and is always aware of the families who rely on that income.
So Cumbie returns as TCU’s “offensive coordinator.” Having another year on his contract probably helped, too.
He will remain in that role, at least in name, provided sophomore quarterback Max Duggan follows the same approximate timeline as some of his predecessors, Andy Dalton, Trevone Boykin and Kenny Hill.
Cumbie became TCU fan’s favorite whipping boy last season when the two quarterbacks he was handed didn’t mature quickly enough, or at all.
Former quarterback Shawn Robinson’s decision to transfer after one year of starting put TCU in this spot.
TCU quickly discovered what Kansas State already knew about graduate transfer Alex Delton: he was a nice player whose forte was not making mistakes. He also could not throw it well enough for an upper-tier Big 12 offense.
TCU’s decision to stick with true freshman Duggan is the right one, even if it meant essentially flushing the season. Seldom does committing to a true freshman quarterback yield immediate results other than blah.
Commitment can yield this:
In 2007, TCU stuck with redshirt freshman Andy Dalton and they finished 8-5. They went 36-3 in his next three years.
In 2014, after some extenuating circumstances behind the career of heralded arm of Casey Pachall, TCU went with Boykin. That year, Doug Meacham and Cumbie served as co-offensive coordinators. Meacham was a finalist for the Broyles award given to the nation’s top assistant. In Boykin’s last two years, TCU was 23-3.
Kenny Hill followed, but his first season in 2016 was so ish, Meacham was essentially demoted. He left for Kansas after the season. In Hill’s second and final season, the Frogs were 11-3, reached the Big 12 title game, won the Alamo Bowl and finished ninth nationally.
The 2018 season was a waste as the Robinson era never took off, and he transferred.
Patterson is looking specifically at that timeline to believe that history will repeat itself.
But bringing back Meacham was not exactly a well-received proposal, at least not initially. Last year, Gary acknowledged he proposed bringing Meacham back but the staff wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea.
Likely nothing against Meacham, personally, when it was more about upsetting staff continuity. But when your team finishes 5-7, and the offense is the main culprit, you say yes to what the head coach proposes.
Meacham returns, this time with the title of inside receivers/tight ends coach. Yeah, me thinks he will be asked to do a bit more than just coach the inside receivers.
But Kill, who agreed to come here as a special assistant, but the ex-Minnesota head coach wants to have influence, and potentially make a difference. Patterson put him on his staff to do just that.
Through the years, Gary has tried to keep the value and importance of the quarterback position no greater than the deep snapper. Last season illustrated he can have a load of NFL talent and if the QB ain’t right, his team isn’t either.
He brought back Meacham, and hired Kill, to fix that.
According to TCU’s timeline, it should work, but if it doesn’t they have plenty of excuses.
This story was originally published May 4, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
