Despite my ties to the Baptist school in Waco, I’ve had a good relationship with TCU football coach Gary Patterson over the years. On Tuesday, Patterson joined my ESPN Central Texas radio show to discuss the upcoming season. As usual, he loves that folks are doubting the Frogs. I’ve condensed our conversation for clarity, but I left in most of the good stuff:
Mosley: For 19 years, Gary Patterson has been the head coach at TCU. Gary, has it flown by? I mean, that’s pretty remarkable. With the change at Kansas State, you are the dean of Big 12 coaches, and you’re still a pretty young guy. Does that feel kind of interesting to be the dean of the Big 12?
Patterson: You know I got a new motto, Toby Keith’s song “Don’t Let the Old Man In,” so I don’t really think about it that way. Every year for me it’s just keeping your job, three years as a coordinator and then going on 19 as a head coach, things have changed a lot. I’m looking out my glass window here at the new jumbotron, and new east side, and new grass, and I’m very thankful for the people we’ve had here that have helped build all of it. I know a lot of people understand the way TCU does things. We don’t borrow or bond, everything has to be raised up front and paid for on the athletic side, so I’m very thankful for the boosters and the alumni and, really, the city of Fort Worth that helped us so much.
Mosley: As you kind of peek out there, describe that. I’ve seen pictures of it, the new grass looked nice, but the jumbotron there, is that similar to what Jerry [Jones] has? From what I saw on the pictures you were posting, it’s pretty long, isn’t it?
Patterson: It’s still got two more big segments. It’s a lot bigger size than the one we had before, which is great. I’m not sure it’s great for coaches when they show you, but the kids love it, recruiting, they love it. The east side is unbelievable, the shade will help people for the 11 and 1 p.m. ballgames. I think people think that sometimes you do these things for what it is for looks, but really where we’ve been and what we’ve done, it just builds our foundation stronger as a university and really as an athletic program It’s definitely a lot different than when we stepped on the grounds in 1998.
Mosley: Coach, catch me up on your offseason. I feel like I saw some safari pictures. I kind of follow your Twitter account to see what’s going on in your life and occasionally try to check in with you, but I thought you and Kelsey, y’all had some elephants around you at one point. Where were you?
Patterson: It was kind of to throw off my competitors thinking I wasn’t here in May recruiting like everybody else was. I was missing going on some of the trips [like we normally do in the spring] so I put a couple of them out. I had a couple people ask me if I was gone, you know, when we were having official visits. I said, “No, I’m here, I’m just trying to stay on top of my game.” Using the social media to my advantage there, Matt.
Mosley: Throw people off your scent. Yeah, for years you kind of had that Earth Pics thing going. Lately, I was telling my producer I want to get invited to one of these swim parties. That’s something I would like to get involved in at some point. Is that your backyard? Gary, that is a beautiful pool back there. That’s a pretty good looking scene.
Patterson: You notice in the background you can see the stadium, that’s one of the reasons why we picked it. We always have the freshmen over. I think it’s hard to trust anybody if they haven’t come to your house. We try to do that in recruiting when they come on official visits, and then we try to have the kids over as a group where they get an occasional meal and come over and hang together and I can get a chance to be around them more.
You know, I don’t think we ever can do enough, that’s why this time of year I don’t go on vacation, I stay around so I can watch my older players but get to know my younger players. I think one of our secrets to success is when we start two-a-days, the way the rules are now you can watch kids run and lift, and so you can see kind of where you’re gonna put them. A lot of people take vacations while these kids are here working out, and my deal is I take my time in the spring, and then I turn my coaches loose after June 23rd, you know when it goes dead here for recruiting for two or three weeks. I stay around and I watch, and get a lot more done.
Mosley: You’re not bringing a quarterback to Big 12 media days. I know you have a big time defensive tackle, and you got this [Garret] Wallow kid who is going to be a really good linebacker for you. I know you’re not going to tip your hand on where this quarterback competition is. I know you’re not going to tell me too much, but has someone at least taken the lead in your mind or do you still truly have a complete open-mind about this?
Patterson: Oh no, I have a complete open mind. Obviously, Alex Delton has played the most football of everybody that we have here, but I was really happy with our freshmen. Justin Rogers is healthier, probably not completely. Mike Collins didn’t go through the spring, so his competition will start here in the fall, but I think the quarterback position is in better position than we were a year ago. I really like the way they prepare. It’s been a group that really is taking control, a lot of leadership in the room and out on the field when they are around the other guys, and that’s half the battle. But you know me, Matt, I don’t judge quarterbacks until Saturday. But I do believe we’ll play at that position a lot better than what we did a year ago, and that’s gonna be important to win because we go on the road quite a bit this year, because this is the year that we travel a lot more in our road games, so here you go.
Mosley: Rogers is an interesting guy, because he’s obviously an extremely talented, athletic guy, but also a guy who’s had some nerve issues I know, and we’ve watched even one of the Cowboys players who’s been able to come back. I keep hearing at times he looks perfect and at times things act up on him a little bit. How close is he to being 100 percent as you continue to make these evaluations?
Patterson: He’s not completely there, but he was a lot better this spring than he was last spring and fall. Mike Collins is back running full strength, Alex is having a great summer. Max Duggan, the freshman that came in January, is having a great summer. You have [Matthew] Baldwin and you also have [Matthew] Downing. So instead of four, we have six. We have six sitting here. But we’ll have to get down to two pretty quick when we get into camp, and then July will be also a time for these guys to learn and when you can spend time with the guys, a couple hours a week in the film room and talking on the board.
Mosley: What was it about Delton that you liked? How did that whole process work out? Why was that such a good fit for your program?
Patterson: Well, No. 1 was Shawn [Robinson] leaving. We didn’t have any quarterbacks here. Mike Collins had surgery and we’re bringing in freshmen, so the problem we had was we had no one. So really what Alex was able to bring in here and do was he was a guy who was voted by his teammates as a team captain. Any time you find a guy that’s voted on by your own teammates…and you know I hold Kansas State’s program in high regard with Coach Snyder’s group. And he hasn’t proved me wrong as far as what kind of person he is, how he’s handling himself coming in. He hasn’t acted like, well I’m a grad transfer, this should be given to me. Really him and Shameik Blackshear, the defensive end from South Carolina that’s here. Both of them have been tremendous, they’ve been tremendous team people, work wise, they’ve been unbelievable work ethic. You couldn’t ask for a better two guys coming in at two positions that we need somebody to play very well.
They all know whoever ends up moving the offense and turns the ball over less and scores the most points really is the guy that we’re going to go with. You’re set with six guys. Six guys who are gonna be at full strength, and competing and any time you have a higher level of competition you’re always gonna end up with a better product.
Mosley: This [Jalen] Reagor kid, I have nightmares about him. My goodness, Reagor made two huge plays in that Baylor ballgame, and he made them all year. Gary, you’ve had some real dynamic receivers, but just in terms of overall playmaking ability, speed, athleticism, all those things, Reagor has to be up there near the top of the guys you’ve had on offense.
Patterson: He doesn’t have the elevation of [Josh] Doctson. He’s very fast and he’s also a very strong player and he can be like a running back, you can use him on reverses and he can carry the football. He also played quarterback for us in later games when we needed to get a guy in to make a difference. You also want the ball in the guy’s hands who can make plays and that’s really one of the ways we were able to win four of the last five games going down with all the injuries we had a year ago. He’s one of our team leaders, you know, he’s got a chance to be an All-American, and our biggest thing is just to keep him healthy.
Mosley: Your backs were against the wall last year and you kind of famously said, “Hey, maybe we’ll go on one of these long winning streaks.” You won your last three games counting the bowl game, having to win those last two games to even become bowl eligible. How much carryover can there be when you finish what had been a really tough season that way. How much of an impact can the way you guys finished carry over into this coming season?
Patterson: Well, yeah, I think when you lose 40 guys out of 85 for over four ball games, 24 for the season, and still be able to do that, I think it gives your group confidence because they understand what they were able to accomplish with not all their best players on the field, and so I think that’s the carryover. The media is really helping me because you know from what I read, we’re not supposed to be very good this year, so we’re building on defense and offensively we don’t have a quarterback, and so for us, those kind of things make my job easier because they listen to all those things sometimes more than they listen to me.
You know, I really kind of see the chemistry on this football team as so much better than it was a year ago, because we’re older. The younger group we have coming in, I really like our freshmen class, it’s really one of the better classes we’ve had, as far as people and also players, and so when you add a group like that, it’s great. Just to give you an example on defense, there are 43 guys on scholarship and 22 of them are redshirt freshmen and true freshmen so over half of that group, but there are some good players in it, and we’ve always felt like we’ve done a good job of growing them up.
In 2012 we had to play with 17 true freshmen because injuries and different things that happened, so it’s our job to see if we can get them back to that point. Purdue’s a big ball game there, they moved it to a night game, that’s the second game. We have an off week before that after playing our first game and then you go SMU, then Kansas, and then Iowa State. It gives us an opportunity, then we got to go back on the road, so it’s you know, a task, but it’s doable. So if we can get some momentum and keep growing up I think we’re a group that can grow up and be a pretty good football team this year.
Mosley: Do you already start looking at these new head coaches in the Big 12? Kansas State has this new head coach, West Virginia, Neal Brown, Matt Wells at Tech. I’m sure knowing the coaching fraternity, you’re familiar with some of these guys, but how much do you spend looking at these new guys?
Patterson: Iowa State is a big ball game. You know those first two games on the road, going into the Texas game, I think are big for us, so obviously, usually I do five or six games. I kind of take a look at the new guys, to see what we need to put into two-a-days. People don’t understand you have opportunities and you get as many opportunities back in walk-throughs and practices as you do for the full season. So how you approach fall camp, and what you try to teach your kids is big because basically you only get 48. Twelve ballgames, four a week and only one in full pads and two of them are in shorts for us, so the preseason is big as far as how we approach it, what we try to teach and learn and how we try to get better and so, the new coaches make that a little bit more of a challenge. But we’ve been watching and at the end of the day you have to take care of you and you have to make sure you have the team that you need to have on the field, and they’re playing the way you’re supposed to play. There’s some different offenses, so it’ll be fun. I think that’s the best part about this league is you’re gonna have coaching and you’re gonna have good players.
Mosley: And you have great rivalries. It concerns me that you have been very kind and welcoming — not that you don’t want to beat his brains in — but you and Matt Rhule seem to have, just from my outside view, a pretty solid relationship. This concerns me a little bit, because obviously the Baylor-TCU thing had taken on a life of its own. Is there anything I can do, Gary, to stir something up between you and Matt? I don’t want y’all to become too close.
Patterson: Well, we all, and Matt would be the same, he wants to beat us just as bad. For three hours you’ve got to hate each other on a Saturday. But you talked about me being the oldest coach in the room. I think the biggest thing it’s not just my job to coach my players, but I’ve always felt like it’s my responsibility to also be a little bit of a role model and to help people out and also to protect the game. I think there is a responsibility behind it and that goes with helping coaches. And if you hated everybody you played, you’d have no friends. But for three hours on Saturday we have to get after each other, and so that’s what you try to get done, you try to make sure that you get that part of it. I have a lot of good Baylor friends in Fort Worth here, and the key to it is, you love the rivalry, you love somebody close that you play and that’s what makes college football fun, and being in the Big 12, to be honest with you
Matt has really done a nice job. You see Oklahoma State and Texas Tech and Oklahoma along with all the other flags in the state, so I think that’s been accomplished, I think it’s made Fort Worth a better place and it’s given it a lot more energy. I think coming to the Big 12 hasn’t just been TCU, I think Fort Worth has gained from this league and everything that goes on also.
Mosley: You were talking about how people think you’re not supposed to be that great. Vegas has you and Baylor both at 7 1/2 games as your win total.
Patterson: Perfect! I was hoping you know, we were picked six, we were picked six when we won it in ‘14.
Mosley: Yeah, it’s going to be fun to watch. By the way, congrats on having L.J. Collier and [Ben] Banogu, your two big defensive ends drafted so high.
Patterson: Yeah, you know I’m always amazed at people on the recruiting trail saying that we’re not a big-time program. We’ve had almost, counting guys who were free agents, I think we’ve had over 120 guys in 19 years. Lot of guys go into the draft, I think we have over 20 guys still active in the NFL.
One of those places where we still believe you try to grow them up, my wife says 40 not 4. How do we grow them up, not only winning games but we help them from 22 to 62, you know, as they leave this place do they have the tools to be able to be what they want to be. We’ve had over 700 guys come through the program in 22 years. We’re just gonna keep recruiting the guys that we think fit our program, who turn into good players and maybe even great players, and graduate and then, as we’ve always done just worry about us, you know, not worry about what everybody else does.
When he isn’t laboring at the keyboard for PressBox DFW, Matt Mosley can be heard on The Matt Mosley Show on ESPN Central Texas, 10 a.m. to noon weekdays. http://listen.streamon.fm/krzi