Patterson: Horned Hope
January 7th, 2011 at 7:24 PM ^
Other than Fitzgerald, who's already said no, what candidate that's even remotely been mentioned has Midwest recruiting experience? Hoke from ~5 years ago is the closest, Miles from 15 years ago sounds silly, especially since his present recruiting is "sign ~35 kids from Louisiana." Mullen, Patterson and Harbaugh wouldn't have brought anything in that regard. The NFL guys (Gruden, Dungy) help with recruiting in general, but they don't have any more ties to the Midwestern high schools than anybody else.
Also, I think we need to remember that the media != Dave Brandon. Just because the Detroit newspapers and sports talk radio, and by extension the majority of M fans, push "Hoke vs Miles" doesn't necessarily mean Brandon is looking at those names. I'm not saying he's done any good with this, but I am saying that he may have a different outlook on hiring criteria than the newspapers, which seem to be "House of Bo" type substance.
January 7th, 2011 at 7:44 PM ^
Gruden was born in Ohio and went to college in Ohio. I wouldn't say those are strong ties to the midwest, but he has some ties.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:07 PM ^
It will be an impressive feat to win the Big East next year when they aren't in the Big East until 2012.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:15 PM ^
they've got a decent chance, since it didn't seem like anybody else wanted to win it this year, amirite?
January 7th, 2011 at 6:39 PM ^
the big east kind of subtley reminds of the guy who lives by the motto "quantity over quality"
edit: spelling has been lost on this long friday...
January 7th, 2011 at 6:02 PM ^
Now we can wait for the messiah to come back to AA and............coach the 49ers awesome.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:02 PM ^
Patterson and UM fit together too perfectly for it to actually happen. AMBHG would never allow it...
In seriousness, After thinking about it this past week, even if Harbaugh was available, I'd like Patterson. Has built his program in to a perennial power and a national title contender this year, with a consistently solid defence and a very similar offence to what we currently have. No he has no midwest ties, but I believe he's the kind of coach where that wouldn't matter, and kids would want to play for him anyway, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
I really hope he's being looked at hard by Brandon. If we have a shot at him, we need to pull the trigger on it.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:05 PM ^
I agree, he's a proven winner and re-builder. Defensive Guy. I just hope we can lure him away from his auto-big east championship gig.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:12 PM ^
Reality is, TCU can go undefeated and win the big east and still get snubbed by a 1-2 loss Pac 10, SEC, or Big Ten team. Championship games matter. Come on Patterson...
January 7th, 2011 at 6:33 PM ^
Christian with a Southern drawl ... didn't go over to well for our last coach.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:56 PM ^
I've never heard him speak, but how did he pick up a drawl? He grew up in Kansas (in the same town as Gene Keady) and lived there at least through his undergrad years.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:03 PM ^
January 7th, 2011 at 6:06 PM ^
I'd prefer Brandon keep things quiet -- just do it quickly. I don't need the media saying it's x, then y, and then z accepts -- and then declines. FWIW, I'm another fan of Patterson -- and I too prefer Brady H to les (or is it more) slime.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:03 PM ^
but no Weis either. Ill take two.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:18 PM ^
January 7th, 2011 at 6:03 PM ^
Patterson seems like a good choice, his defense looked damn good against Wiscy
January 7th, 2011 at 6:04 PM ^
He fills all of Michigan needs. But TCU is moving to the BIg East which will be their sinecure for the BSC. Hard to walk away from that. However, the school only has 9000 students with not much of an alumni base.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:19 PM ^
you do realize that the last three coaches to have won the Big East title left the following off season, correct? RR, Brian Kelly and Edsell. And WVU was RR's alma mater, and edsell built UConn football from the ground up, it was his baby. Patterson wouldn't have a much better shot at the BCS from the Big East as he does from the Mtn West. and undefeated team from the Big East is not guaranteed a shot ahead of a one loss SEC, B10 or B12 team.
The Big East is a stepping stone to better jobs.
January 7th, 2011 at 7:51 PM ^
Champion would have a leg up for the BCS shot over one loss teams. Why do you think a team from Texas would agree to join the BIg East?
January 7th, 2011 at 6:04 PM ^
He's my #1 with Harbaugh off the table, but I can't help but think we're going to wind up with Hoke... :(
January 7th, 2011 at 6:08 PM ^
All too well said. Your post sums up my thoughts now that the sun has finally set on JH.... there's a part of me that thinks Hoke might work for us, and then the rest of me gangs up on that part and kicks it in the balls until it falls over in a heap.
I guess we can only really hope this thing starts to materialize by Sunday night, because the longer it drags on the more I fear there's no mystery candidates beyond Hoke or Les.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:11 PM ^
Some part of us is sympathetic to Hoke because he's the only person qualified (kind of but not really) that we know would come here.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:04 PM ^
I'm still not convinced this harbaugh story is true.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:15 PM ^
I'll hold out hope until the presser. But I'm pretty sure it's done.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:05 PM ^
I personally like patterson more than harbaugh
Don't get me wrong Harbaugh is a very good coach, but I want a guy who is going to stay at the university for awhile. I know we will never know about Jim but everyone seems to think the NFL was his ultimate dream. Patterson is a defensive minded coach and seems to be a man of high character
January 7th, 2011 at 6:06 PM ^
I'm all in for Patterson. He is the best remaining choice. Mullen lost Diaz to Texas, so he would need a D-coord. I think Patterson would be great as head coach.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:07 PM ^
Gary Patterson will turn 51 in February, grew up in Kansas (OMGZ Midwest'ish!!!1!) and played football in Community College and Kansas State (OMGZ inspirational!). Has three kids.
Started coaching as an assistant at Kansas State. Hired as D Coordinator at University of New Mexico in '96. Switched to D Coordinator at TCU in 98. Named head coach at TCU when Franchione went to Alabama before the bowl game in 2000. Friends with Minnesota coach Jerry Kill.
And now I will shamelessly copy Wikipedia verbatim:
In 10 seasons at TCU, Patterson's 98 victories place him in second place on the TCU career victory chart (behind onlyDutch Meyer), and he is the only coach in school history to record six 10-win seasons. His teams have only failed to reach a bowl game once (2004); the Frogs have earned a spot in the Final Top 25 seven times, if Patterson's partial season as head coach in 2000 is counted. In 2005, Patterson led the Frogs to the Mountain West Conferencechampionship in their first season of league play. Over the course of the 2005 & 2006 seasons, the Frogs won four consecutive games against Big 12 opponents, with only one of the four coming at home. Patterson was named the 2005 Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year.[1]
Patterson turned down a job offer from Minnesota worth over $2 million per year to stay at TCU.[5]
In the 2009 college football season, Patterson led the Horned Frogs to a perfect 12-0 regular season record, a Mountain West Conference Championship, a #4 BCS season-ending ranking, and an invitation to the 2010 Fiesta Bowl, where they fell by a score of 17-10 to undefeated #6 Boise State (14-0). The 2009 Horned Frogs became the second "BCS Buster" from the Mountain West Conference (and the fourth, overall) and seriously threatened to "bust into" the 2010 BCS National Championship Game. The results of two games on December 5 likely denied the Horned Frogs a final #2 BCS ranking: a last-second, game-winning field goal by Texas in the Big 12 Championship Game and an epic fourth quarter rally needed by Cincinnati to win over Pitt.
Patterson was named the 2009 AP Coach of the Year, becoming the first head coach of a non-BCS conference team to win the award.[6] He won a total of seven national "Coach of the Year" awards in 2009[2] in addition to being named the Mountain West Conference Coach of the Year for the second time (his third conference "Coach of the Year" award, overall).
How is this guy still at TCU and how did Minnesota only offer him 2 million? His kids, if all sired with his current wife (married 2004), would be young enough that switching schools is no biggy... good God GET THIS GUY NOW!!!!1!
January 7th, 2011 at 6:30 PM ^
I was literally about to hit up wikipedia until I found your post.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:31 PM ^
Sounds good to me.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:08 PM ^
Patterson is a much much much better choice than the guy Indiana and Minnesota passed over and the guy who ate grass on national TV.
If Brandon has any hope of salvaging this coaching search and instilling hope in all of us he'd go after Patterson.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:08 PM ^
is TCU a religious-based school? I looked at their website, and there is no reference (like ND) to a christian focus. Just curious.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:14 PM ^
Wait, you're serious? Texas Christian University = TCU.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:19 PM ^
I can read. Didn't know if the coach had some kind of religious ties to the school, etc.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:14 PM ^
i think "texas christian university" might give it away
January 7th, 2011 at 6:19 PM ^
adds something to the word "Texas." It is superfluous.
January 7th, 2011 at 7:36 PM ^
Ik, right?
January 7th, 2011 at 6:18 PM ^
You do realize the "C" stands for "Christian," right?
Seriously though, it's affiliated with, not governed by, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a mainline protestant denomination (so sayeth wikipedia). This is not as strong as many Catholic universities (notre dame, DePaul, the various Loyolas, etc) which are governed by the Catholic church (or various groups/orders within the Church). However, it is stronger than many schools which were originally founded with Christian bases (like Duke and Wake Forest) which are now purely secular in nature (ie, not affiliated with any particular religious group).
January 7th, 2011 at 6:21 PM ^
that is what I wanted to know.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:23 PM ^
EDIT: Slow MGoBlog, everyone already said what I did.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:25 PM ^
I google'd 'TCU' and got this for the first result:
Texas Christian University
Teaching and research institution associated with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); enrollment is about 8200.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:30 PM ^
I went directly to the TCU website, which unlike ND doesn't lead off with 'faith and service".
January 7th, 2011 at 6:09 PM ^
I now think DB's approach has been more successful than I had initially thought. That is, the process has been so long, painful and drawn-out that I honestly don't care who he hires. Pick someone, get them here ASAP, and at least pretend that you give a shit about the kids that have committed to coming to play here or are considering doing so.
January 7th, 2011 at 8:01 PM ^
3 gd days?
<br>Brandon waited until after the bowl game on RR. He was 50-50 and wasn't afterward. Harbaugh would have been introduced Wed if he had any interest. Options A and B gone, he's got to work a bit on C/D/E/F. He's not starting from scratch, but if you thought he could have RR, Harbaugh, and Patterson all lined with contracts at the same time, you're being unrealistic.
January 8th, 2011 at 12:00 AM ^
I was referring more to the four and a half weeks before the bowl game than I was to the last three days. By waiting that long to make a decision, I was assuming that the plan would be to get Harbaugh or keep RR. It was bad enough to spend all of the bowl prep with a dead-man-walking situation with RR, but to can him late in the game and then indicate that you are just starting the coaching search makes it seem even more drawn out.
If you are going to drag the process out and make a decision this close to signing day, you had better hit a home run that will keep who we have and snake oil some others. It seems that with each passing day there are fewer and fewer home run coaches available.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:10 PM ^
TCU comes a close second to the blue, just so you know where I am coming from. Here is my take... as for my emotions, I am certainly torn. He is a fantastic coach. He would immediately move several of the excess talent on offense and make them all big ten on D. He recruits athletes and good men and plugs them in wherever he can best use them. Bottom line, he is a better fit than the dead man in SF.
As for whether he would come or not, hard to tell. Here is what I can tell you about my gut on that point. GP has made it a point, not just this year but always, to never slam the BCS, big conferences, etc.. He didnt even take the bait when that jackass from OHIO challenged TCU and Boise. What I have always believe was he followed this because A) he is a gentleman and B) because he knew he would be a part of the party soon enough. Low and behold, TCU is now in a BCS conference. But was that his plan or has he had his eyes on something like this?
Anyway, while I hope he does make the jump (mostly because TCU would be ok without him and we most likely will not be ok without him), I don't think he comes. TCU is rebuilding their stadium, in a crappy BCS confernce where he will most likely compete every year for a BCS game and National Title. His recruiting roots are here and he is just now winning that battle with UT, A&M, etc..
So pray all you want, but my gut says no, not this time. But I sure hope I am wrong. I have several friends down here who are connected, if I hear anything , I will pass it along.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:31 PM ^
" I don't think he comes. TCU is rebuilding their stadium, in a crappy BCS confernce where he will most likely compete every year for a BCS game and National Title. "
Are you talking about the Big Ten or the Big East? I mean, seriously, didn't we just renovate our stadium and are planning on updating the scoreboard still. We play in what the MSM calls a crappy conference and he should compete for a BCS game and NC every year here. I mean it is Michigan, even if it is a shell of its former self right now.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:53 PM ^
Not every season may play out like this one, but let's face it, which Big East team would you take against TCU this season? If they were a member, they'd probably have won the conference.
The road to a BCS bowl will almost always be smoother in the Big East than in the Big Ten, especially starting next year, when we get both Nebraska and a conference championship game. If Patterson simply wants a chance at a crystal football, there are easier places than Ann Arbor to chase one.
January 7th, 2011 at 6:10 PM ^
I'd take him in seconds. The hire would actually remind me of how Rodriguez got here in the first place.