By Todd E. Jones
You can stand me up at the gates of hell, but I won’t back down — Won’t Back Down, Tom Petty
TCU head football coach Gary Patterson has leaned on this song by Tom Petty in the past, and now, in the wake of the TCU football drug scandal, he will need to lean on it again, but for different reasons.
I don’t need to defend Patterson. I have done that in the past. I don’t need to defend the TCU Horned Frog football team. The Horned Frogs have done something few schools in a non-BCS conference have done.
TCU has been mentioned as a potential BCS Buster for almost 10 years. Yes, that’s right, 10 years. The Horned Frogs nearly busted through in 2003 before a late season loss to Southern Miss.
In that span of that time, there has been little said about TCU that was negative, and for good reason. Patterson and his staff have mostly recruited, and won, with good kids.
They have won time and time again against teams such as Oklahoma, Texas A&M, Iowa State, Boise State, Oregon State, Baylor, USC and several other profiles who have had recent success. They went to the Rose Bowl two years ago and went toe-to-toe with the best BCS program to not make the national title game that year, Wisconsin, and won the game with its vaunted Horned Frog defense.
In years past, Patterson had to rely on a bevy of non five-star recruits because TCU
simply wasn’t getting those players.
Paterson and his staff were able to win with good kids like Andy Dalton, Curtis Clay, Tommy Blake, Jerry Hughes, Ryan Christian, Jason Phillips, Rafael Priest, Marcus Cannon, Marshall Newhouse and many more players who exemplified who the Horned Frogs were.
These players excelled on the field, in the classroom and in life. Several of those players are in the NFL and excelling.
According to reports, four TCU Horned Frog football players were arrested out of eighteen people including linebacker Tanner Brock. Four out of a roster of around 100 would hardly be a widespread problem, but one nonetheless.
Andy Dalton helped give TCU a good image
Four players, and the concern of a recruit, prompted Patterson to order a drug test. I’ll spare the details of the results as well as the rest of the news on the drug scandal. It is all over the internet.
Having been around the program, I don’t think this is what Gary Patterson wants. I believe he will be diligent in cleaning up this mess.
Patterson is obsessed with his kids winning the “right way” as I have heard him say so many times.
In recent years, the Horned Frogs have started getting their share of four and five-star recruits beating out schools such as Oklahoma and Texas. On wonders if the players have become a little entitled, a little spoiled. Something tells me that will change this Spring.
However, with this mess, one has to wonder, at what price does TCU place on winning as they move in to the Big 12 Conference. Something tells me that there will be some soul searching this Spring and that many players are going to have reaffirm their commitment to the Patterson way.
