Fellow Wildcats, this is a turbulent time for all of us. Today, our head coach stepped down from his duties. Nobody knows who will be hired, and the rumors are swirling. While there can be no doubt that many of the names being bandied about are qualified candidates who would do a fine job in Manhattan, we here at Bring On The Cats believe there can only be one choice.
Ladies and gentlemen, Gary Patterson should be the next head coach at Kansas State University.
Patterson is currently the head coach at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. In eight plus seasons at TCU, Patterson has amassed a 71-26 record, including three 11-win seasons. He is 4-3 in bowl games. Under Patterson, the Horned Frogs are 12-6 against BCS teams, with wins over Oklahoma and Texas Tech in that stretch. This year's TCU squad is 9-1, with its only loss coming to Oklahoma, and is slotted 12th in the current BCS standings.
Defense has been a trait sorely lacking in K-State's teams under Prince. By contrast, Patterson's Frogs are currently ranked second in total defense nationally. They lead the nation in rushing defense, permitting only an average of 1.42 yards per carry. Perhaps just as impressive, TCU is 22nd nationally in passing defense, giving up only 175 passing yards per game in the pass-happy Mountain West.
On a personal level, Patterson is a coach who could be a good fit in Manhattan. Despite our deep love for Manhattan and K-State, we recognize that towns with a population of 50,000 in the Kansas Flint Hills are not for everyone. But Patterson played football at K-State and graduated from the school in 1983. He is a native of Rozel, Kan.
With the passing of the Ron Prince era in Manhattan, it is time to bring in an experienced candidate to lead K-State back to the point where it can be competitive in the Big 12. That candidate is Gary Patterson, and he has the full support of the BOTC staff.
Signed,
TB, Panjandrum, EMAW
0 recs | 16 comments
my suggestion
tommy tuberville might be looking for a job next year i wish a&m could have pried him away from auburn but after a season like he is haveing at auburn chances are he could be leaving
dmurphnextrusygreer - November 6, 2008
Tuberville would be good too...
I think my first choice would be Patterson though. Either way, bring us back some defense, please.
MadCat - November 6, 2008
Well...he would be easy to market.....
When Bob Huggins came in, they annointed the basketball student section Huggieville. Tuberville is just too easy….
mystman995 - November 6, 2008
Tubervilleville.
:D
MadCat - November 6, 2008
Tubbyville
well that just doesn’t make any sense….
mystman995 - November 6, 2008
Potatotown...
Okay, okay. I’ll stop
MadCat - November 6, 2008
I would be okay with...
Turner Gill too.
MadCat - November 6, 2008
Patterson would be a great fit
He’s made a career on taking marginal recruits, maximizing talent and getting them to play as one unit.
Maybe it’s just me, but that sounds like a recipe for success in Manhattan.
RPT - November 6, 2008
That could have been part of the editorial
But I didn’t want to stretch it out too long with recruiting rankings and such. First of all, we probably aren’t going to get the type of coach who brings in five-star talent, because they’re going to be looking for the bright lights of more elite programs. We need a guy who can bring in good assistants and can take a bunch of three-star guys, mix in some four-star guys, pick up the good high school players from Kansas, pick out a few JuCo guys and take in a few transfers, mold it all together and put a fearsome defense and a dangerous offense.
That’s what Bill Snyder did. rpt, you’re from DFW, so you know as well as I do (living in Houston) that TCU does not take the top-flight talent out of Texas high schools. But K-State isn’t going to rank any higher on the average Texas kids’ mind than TCU does, so it would really help to have a coach who already has the contacts.
TB - November 6, 2008
TB, Panjandrum, EMAW...you're thoughts?
What would be your consensus for a solid coaching staff under Patterson, i.e., DC, OC. Do we retain any current staff?
Catfan33 - November 6, 2008
DC
HAS GOT TO GO!
mystman995 - November 6, 2008
I haven't considered this aspect much
I’ve heard the name Vic Koenning, from Clemson, bandied about as a possible DC, but other than that I have no idea. I think Panjandrum has followed this more closely than I have, so he may have some insight later today.
Patterson’s staff down at TCU seems to be doing pretty well, so I wouldn’t mind if he brought a lot of them along with him.
TB - November 6, 2008
Sorry, I was travelling most of yesterday...
I think with most mid-major coaching hires, you end up seeing that coach bring as many of his current assistants as he can. I don’t want to spread rumors that I can’t substantiate, but I think there is a legitimate chance that a member of the existing staff at TCU stays behind to become the next HC. It always seems like that’s how successful mid-majors to it; they want to essentially keep the same program around by hiring one of the coordinators to take over. It’s what they did with Patterson, and there is ‘rumor’ that if Patterson were to go, DC Dick Bumpas would be their next HC. However, again, that’s just rumor I’ve picked up from message boards.
*But, in an interesting twist of fate, most folks don’t realize this, but Dick Bumpas was the DL Coach at KSU during the 1982 Independence Bowl season. Just a random factoid.
If Patterson comes to KSU, I’d imagine that he essentially transplants as much of his program from Ft.Worth as possible. Not all of them would come, but I think many of them will. If he were to replace the DC, I’d like to think Vic Koenning (Current DC/Clemson) becomes an option if they don’t retain Dabo Sweeney. He’s a KSU grad (’83) that would have played at KSU while Patterson was an assistant under Jim Dickey (circa 1982).
Regardless, I think Patterson brings everyone he can from TCU so he doesn’t waste time trying to establish what he wants to do at KSU. He follows a proven formula that he and Dennis Franchione established at New Mexico almost twelve years ago, so I don’t see him changing much if he comes to KSU, so I’d think he tries to keep as many parts in place as possible.
Now, this is important…
If he wants to coach at KSU, some of his coaches are going to have to learn to recruit Kansas. As it stands now, the TCU recruiting strategy is to recruit Texas first and foremost. Now, that is a GOOD thing in the sense that we NEED to get back into Texas recruiting, and Gary Patterson is very plugged in down there. However, from a regional standpoint, I’m not sure if he’s got the kind of connections to pull kids from Missouri, Colorado, etc. on name value. Texas, sure. Oklahoma, probably. He’s pulled a few kids from Kansas in the last few years, so they have contacts here. But he’s going to have to adjust his recruiting strategy if he wants to win big here.
If we hire Gary, I doubt we go back to Florida or the Cali JUCO’s anytime soon. Just a hunch.
Panjandrum - November 7, 2008
Another question
What do you guys think the result will be if Krause jumps the gun and offers Snyder the job before properly going after Patterson or Leavitt or anyone else? I’m afraid that scenario is all too possible. Krause bothers me.
Catfan33 - November 6, 2008
Just from listening to the press conference yesterday...
…Krause concerns me, too. He wasn’t prepared to handle even some very obvious questions at the presser, and it showed. On top of that, he threw Tim Weiser under the bus for the Prince hire, despite the general consensus that it was Wefald who wanted Prince while Weiser wanted to look elsewhere.
Anyway, I am going to be very, very disappointed if we just give the job to Snyder without even looking around. Bill Snyder is a great coach, legitimately one of the best coaches in the history of college football. But I really don’t think he is a long term solution. I’m done experimenting here at K-State. We took a leap of faith on a no-experience coordinator from a middle-of-the-road ACC team, and that didn’t work. We promoted a guy from the academic side of the university to athletic director, and he gave a completely ill-advised contract extension to a coach whose career record was sub-.500. In theory, Snyder could come back and, with the right assistants, turn this thing around. But I’d much rather take a guy with head coaching experience who appears to be a longer-term solution, namely Gary Patterson.
TB - November 6, 2008
I would be ok with Snyder coming back if....
we genuinely pursue Patterson or Graham or whoever else would be a good fit here with successful head coaching experience and they turn it down. But Snyder would have to have a limited run where he is given a chance to install a quality staff and groom a qualified successor.
Catfan33 - November 6, 2008
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