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TCU, Utah win outside of BCS conferences
By Bobby La Gesse
Date Posted: 2009-08-27
It may be simple, but TCU football coach Gary Patterson can’t say it enough:
Building a successful program starts and ends with victories.
“Bottom line is you got to find a way to win ball games, and that’s what we try to do,” Patterson said. “We try to get every aspect stronger. We try to get them to believe, and we try to get our facilities stronger, but the first thing you have to do is win on the field.”
TCU, along with the likes of Utah, Boise State and BYU, have become perennial Top 25 programs without the luxury of being in a BCS automatic qualifying conference.
And they’ve all done it by following Patterson’s first coaching principle: wins matter above all else.
“Sometimes when new head coaches come into programs, they try to get alumni on their side, they try to raise money,” Patterson said. “But it really comes down to football.”
That mantra — be it if it’s former TCU coach Dennis Franchione or Patterson uttering it — has led to four conference championships, nine bowl games and 85 wins in the last 10 years.
The Horned Frogs were 1-10 before Franchione and Patterson came into town in 1998. Their first camp centered on belief and winning; if the players believed in what the coaches taught them, wins would follow.
And they did.
TCU won four of its first five games before needing to win its final two games to secure a Sun Bowl berth, where it defeated USC 28-19.
“That did it for us,” said Iowa State running backs coach Kenith Pope, who was a TCU assistant at the time. “Right there, that got those guys’ attention and the program started moving up.”
The program continued to move up after Franchione left in 2000 and Patterson took over. It also rose as the Horned Frogs went from the Western Athletic Conference to Conference USA to finally the Mountain West Conference.
To stay on top, Patterson said TCU had to stay on top of the times.
After having top 10 total defenses in 2000 and 2002, TCU fell to No. 114 in pass defense in 2004. Patterson had to make a few schematic changes to defend the spread offense.
Since then, the Horned Frogs have ranked in the top 25 of total defense each of the last four seasons, and Patterson learned a valuable lesson.
“Everything needs tweak-ing every year,” Patterson said. “Every year, we are trying to get better. I don’t think you can stay the same and win.”
Utah climbed to national prominence by focusing on recruiting.
With quarterbacks Alex Smith and Brian Johnson leading the way, the Utes have gone undefeated twice in the last four seasons. They are the only non-automatic qualifying team to play in two BCS bowls.
“In Division I football, you have to be able to recruit,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “If you have good players, then you have a chance to be successful.”
Making two BCS bowls has been a boon for the Utes. Whittingham said it enhanced the program’s visibility and helped in recruiting. In the last two years, Utah has brought in a Rivals.com five-star recruit and three four-star recruits. It only brought in three four-star recruits in the previous six years.
“More times than not, you went into a home and had to explain where we were located and what conference we were in, and that is no longer the case,” Whittingham said. “That has been a product of the BCS, not only the games we won during the regular season, but the postseason, too.”
Success first came under coach Urban Meyer. Meyer compiled a 22-2 record in two years and handed the reins over to Whittingham, who has been with the program since 1994, when he left for Florida.
“The same things have been going on here for a while,” Whittingham said. “We look for speed and athleticism. We run a very structured and disciplined program, and there is no substitute for work ethic.”
But that wasn’t enough to get them into the national championship last year. Despite a 12-0 regular season mark, Florida and Oklahoma, each with one loss, played for the national title.
Whittingham said he never really talked to his team about the national championship last year. He said he only focused on wins and a conference championship because in the current system, Utah doesn’t have control over much else.
“We never made allusions we were going to the BCS,” Whittingham said.
Patterson would love to take TCU to a BCS bowl.
It would help establish the Horned Frogs as a national power. Patterson also thinks it would help them recruit in Texas, where they are already beating Big 12 teams for talent.
But Patterson doesn’t want to get ahead of himself. He knows that will only happen if TCU keeps winning.
“Until we reach that goal, we aren’t done yet,” Patterson said. “So we are going to climb back in the saddle and become that football team.”
Bobby La Gesse can be reached at (515) 663-6929, or rlagesse@amestrib.com.
By Bobby La Gesse
Date Posted: 2009-08-27
Gary Patterson has turned TCU into a perennial Top 25 football program even though the Horned Frogs don't play in a BCS conference.
Photo courtesy of TCU
Photo courtesy of TCU
It may be simple, but TCU football coach Gary Patterson can’t say it enough:
Building a successful program starts and ends with victories.
“Bottom line is you got to find a way to win ball games, and that’s what we try to do,” Patterson said. “We try to get every aspect stronger. We try to get them to believe, and we try to get our facilities stronger, but the first thing you have to do is win on the field.”
TCU, along with the likes of Utah, Boise State and BYU, have become perennial Top 25 programs without the luxury of being in a BCS automatic qualifying conference.
And they’ve all done it by following Patterson’s first coaching principle: wins matter above all else.
“Sometimes when new head coaches come into programs, they try to get alumni on their side, they try to raise money,” Patterson said. “But it really comes down to football.”
That mantra — be it if it’s former TCU coach Dennis Franchione or Patterson uttering it — has led to four conference championships, nine bowl games and 85 wins in the last 10 years.
The Horned Frogs were 1-10 before Franchione and Patterson came into town in 1998. Their first camp centered on belief and winning; if the players believed in what the coaches taught them, wins would follow.
And they did.
TCU won four of its first five games before needing to win its final two games to secure a Sun Bowl berth, where it defeated USC 28-19.
“That did it for us,” said Iowa State running backs coach Kenith Pope, who was a TCU assistant at the time. “Right there, that got those guys’ attention and the program started moving up.”
The program continued to move up after Franchione left in 2000 and Patterson took over. It also rose as the Horned Frogs went from the Western Athletic Conference to Conference USA to finally the Mountain West Conference.
To stay on top, Patterson said TCU had to stay on top of the times.
After having top 10 total defenses in 2000 and 2002, TCU fell to No. 114 in pass defense in 2004. Patterson had to make a few schematic changes to defend the spread offense.
Since then, the Horned Frogs have ranked in the top 25 of total defense each of the last four seasons, and Patterson learned a valuable lesson.
“Everything needs tweak-ing every year,” Patterson said. “Every year, we are trying to get better. I don’t think you can stay the same and win.”
Utah climbed to national prominence by focusing on recruiting.
With quarterbacks Alex Smith and Brian Johnson leading the way, the Utes have gone undefeated twice in the last four seasons. They are the only non-automatic qualifying team to play in two BCS bowls.
“In Division I football, you have to be able to recruit,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “If you have good players, then you have a chance to be successful.”
Making two BCS bowls has been a boon for the Utes. Whittingham said it enhanced the program’s visibility and helped in recruiting. In the last two years, Utah has brought in a Rivals.com five-star recruit and three four-star recruits. It only brought in three four-star recruits in the previous six years.
“More times than not, you went into a home and had to explain where we were located and what conference we were in, and that is no longer the case,” Whittingham said. “That has been a product of the BCS, not only the games we won during the regular season, but the postseason, too.”
Success first came under coach Urban Meyer. Meyer compiled a 22-2 record in two years and handed the reins over to Whittingham, who has been with the program since 1994, when he left for Florida.
“The same things have been going on here for a while,” Whittingham said. “We look for speed and athleticism. We run a very structured and disciplined program, and there is no substitute for work ethic.”
But that wasn’t enough to get them into the national championship last year. Despite a 12-0 regular season mark, Florida and Oklahoma, each with one loss, played for the national title.
Whittingham said he never really talked to his team about the national championship last year. He said he only focused on wins and a conference championship because in the current system, Utah doesn’t have control over much else.
“We never made allusions we were going to the BCS,” Whittingham said.
Patterson would love to take TCU to a BCS bowl.
It would help establish the Horned Frogs as a national power. Patterson also thinks it would help them recruit in Texas, where they are already beating Big 12 teams for talent.
But Patterson doesn’t want to get ahead of himself. He knows that will only happen if TCU keeps winning.
“Until we reach that goal, we aren’t done yet,” Patterson said. “So we are going to climb back in the saddle and become that football team.”
Bobby La Gesse can be reached at (515) 663-6929, or rlagesse@amestrib.com.
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