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The money alone can't buy Patterson
By Randy Galloway
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Six years ago this morning, a column appeared in this space (unfortunately, it had my name on it), advising Frogville that its savior football coach was doing the right thing. As in leaving.
Leaving for the big bucks (a financial package of $1.7 million), and leaving for the national prestige program (Alabama).
When the mighty Crimson Tide comes calling, checkbook at the ready, TCU cannot compete. That's the law of the football jungle.
It was a bleak day out on University Drive. Nobody wanted to hear the truth.
Funny, huh, how things changed? And how wrong, six years later, that opinion really was. Plus how wrong both Alabama and Dennis Franchione were for each other.
'Bama still has plenty of money, but it's not mighty and its newest head coach is now regarded as the ultimate in slime. Very rich, however, as the $4 mil per year contract kicks in for Nick (The Truth) Saban.
Looking at it six years later, the additional local twist is the TCU football program not only prospered, sans Fran, it has gone beyond all expectations, even with Franchione.
So it was interesting when a phone call came earlier this week from way up north. Friends, who I call The Snow Plow Drivers, were advising me the University of Minnesota had just exceeded all financial expectations, and paid a premium price to hire a new football coach.
What, the Snow Plow Drivers wanted to know, was my opinion of Gary Patterson, new coach of the Gophers?
Surprised, I hung up and made one phone call.
I was told Patterson leaving was not a done deal, but it might get done, because of the money being offered by Minnesota.
Back to the Snow Plow Drivers. What was the money?
Their answer was a $2.3 million a year package.
Six years later, a Big Ten football outpost was offering Patterson much more money than 'Bama used to lure away Fran. And at the time, the 'Bama deal seemed outrageous. Impossible to turn down.
Patterson, despite being paid a healthy $1.3 million package at TCU, sure seemed to be a goner. Nobody can say no to a million-dollars-a-year raise.
But where, I wondered, were Malcolm, John, Victor and Dick (sounds like a boy band)? Would powerful local backers of TCU's football program meekly allow the football coach to be bought?
Bottom line, as we know now it, is Patterson stayed put.
"I've told you all along, I love TCU and I love Fort Worth," Patterson said this week, when I caught up with him on a recruiting trip to East Texas.
In the last month, Patterson has turned down job offers from Iowa State of the Big 12, and now Minnesota.
Patterson will not admit he could have had either job if he wanted them. But book it. He did.
"If nothing else," he said, "I am using these published reports in recruiting. I tell players all the time they don't have to go to the Big 12 or the Big Ten to play for a winning football program that can get national attention. Well, the same theory applies for a coach."
What TCU did to keep Patterson, I'm not sure, at least not on the personal money.
But in staying, there will be a larger budget for Patterson to pay assistant coaches, an annuity of $1 million if he finishes the six years on his current contract, and maybe, somewhat troubling for TCU fans, a sliding reduction of the $1 million buyout clause in his contract.
With less of a buyout, the more attractive Patterson becomes for schools seeking a new coach. Then again, it doesn't really matter to some programs. When Fran left, 'Bama paid his $1 million buyout in ONE check, surprising TCU officials who were expecting a payout of two or three checks.
It wasn't that long ago when a TCU football coach never left willingly. They were fired. And then Fran left for the bucks. But now Patterson is staying willingly, at least for now.
When, however, a coach wins 11 games three of the last four years, and at least 10, four of the last five, there will be more callers. But we can also no longer assume just because a "name" program comes after a successful TCU football coach, offering the big money, then that coach is leaving.
"I don't look at it in just financial terms," he said. "What Alabama did [paying Saban $4 million a year], to me, that's an injustice to college football. There are more negatives than positives associated with that.
"Like anyone else, I'm interested in being paid well, but how much money is enough? How much money makes you lose sight of what the job is supposed to be all about? You have to win, yes, but at what cost?"
What, however, about the next time? What about after next season? If Patterson finds the right quarterback, the Frogs are loaded again. And the "next" school or schools will come calling, checkbook in hand.
"To me, that's just a continuing validation of this program," he said. "But I'm not telling people here that I've got to have this or that to stay. What we basically need in facilities is happening right now.
"This is my first [head coaching] job, and the people here have been good to me. I'm not out there looking to move. That is not some kind of priority. I like this place. There has never been a coach I've talked to who has been here, and doesn't still put TCU in its top two places to live and work.
"Maybe the money is bigger somewhere else, maybe there's more so-called prestige, but when you get right down to it, this is a great place and a great town and we've got a good thing going. What's wrong with that?"
As of this week, the answer is nothing. Nothing is wrong with that. Gary Patterson stays, at least for now.
Randy Galloway's Galloway & Co. can be heard weekdays 3-6 p.m. on ESPN/103.3 FM.
By Randy Galloway
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Six years ago this morning, a column appeared in this space (unfortunately, it had my name on it), advising Frogville that its savior football coach was doing the right thing. As in leaving.
Leaving for the big bucks (a financial package of $1.7 million), and leaving for the national prestige program (Alabama).
When the mighty Crimson Tide comes calling, checkbook at the ready, TCU cannot compete. That's the law of the football jungle.
It was a bleak day out on University Drive. Nobody wanted to hear the truth.
Funny, huh, how things changed? And how wrong, six years later, that opinion really was. Plus how wrong both Alabama and Dennis Franchione were for each other.
'Bama still has plenty of money, but it's not mighty and its newest head coach is now regarded as the ultimate in slime. Very rich, however, as the $4 mil per year contract kicks in for Nick (The Truth) Saban.
Looking at it six years later, the additional local twist is the TCU football program not only prospered, sans Fran, it has gone beyond all expectations, even with Franchione.
So it was interesting when a phone call came earlier this week from way up north. Friends, who I call The Snow Plow Drivers, were advising me the University of Minnesota had just exceeded all financial expectations, and paid a premium price to hire a new football coach.
What, the Snow Plow Drivers wanted to know, was my opinion of Gary Patterson, new coach of the Gophers?
Surprised, I hung up and made one phone call.
I was told Patterson leaving was not a done deal, but it might get done, because of the money being offered by Minnesota.
Back to the Snow Plow Drivers. What was the money?
Their answer was a $2.3 million a year package.
Six years later, a Big Ten football outpost was offering Patterson much more money than 'Bama used to lure away Fran. And at the time, the 'Bama deal seemed outrageous. Impossible to turn down.
Patterson, despite being paid a healthy $1.3 million package at TCU, sure seemed to be a goner. Nobody can say no to a million-dollars-a-year raise.
But where, I wondered, were Malcolm, John, Victor and Dick (sounds like a boy band)? Would powerful local backers of TCU's football program meekly allow the football coach to be bought?
Bottom line, as we know now it, is Patterson stayed put.
"I've told you all along, I love TCU and I love Fort Worth," Patterson said this week, when I caught up with him on a recruiting trip to East Texas.
In the last month, Patterson has turned down job offers from Iowa State of the Big 12, and now Minnesota.
Patterson will not admit he could have had either job if he wanted them. But book it. He did.
"If nothing else," he said, "I am using these published reports in recruiting. I tell players all the time they don't have to go to the Big 12 or the Big Ten to play for a winning football program that can get national attention. Well, the same theory applies for a coach."
What TCU did to keep Patterson, I'm not sure, at least not on the personal money.
But in staying, there will be a larger budget for Patterson to pay assistant coaches, an annuity of $1 million if he finishes the six years on his current contract, and maybe, somewhat troubling for TCU fans, a sliding reduction of the $1 million buyout clause in his contract.
With less of a buyout, the more attractive Patterson becomes for schools seeking a new coach. Then again, it doesn't really matter to some programs. When Fran left, 'Bama paid his $1 million buyout in ONE check, surprising TCU officials who were expecting a payout of two or three checks.
It wasn't that long ago when a TCU football coach never left willingly. They were fired. And then Fran left for the bucks. But now Patterson is staying willingly, at least for now.
When, however, a coach wins 11 games three of the last four years, and at least 10, four of the last five, there will be more callers. But we can also no longer assume just because a "name" program comes after a successful TCU football coach, offering the big money, then that coach is leaving.
"I don't look at it in just financial terms," he said. "What Alabama did [paying Saban $4 million a year], to me, that's an injustice to college football. There are more negatives than positives associated with that.
"Like anyone else, I'm interested in being paid well, but how much money is enough? How much money makes you lose sight of what the job is supposed to be all about? You have to win, yes, but at what cost?"
What, however, about the next time? What about after next season? If Patterson finds the right quarterback, the Frogs are loaded again. And the "next" school or schools will come calling, checkbook in hand.
"To me, that's just a continuing validation of this program," he said. "But I'm not telling people here that I've got to have this or that to stay. What we basically need in facilities is happening right now.
"This is my first [head coaching] job, and the people here have been good to me. I'm not out there looking to move. That is not some kind of priority. I like this place. There has never been a coach I've talked to who has been here, and doesn't still put TCU in its top two places to live and work.
"Maybe the money is bigger somewhere else, maybe there's more so-called prestige, but when you get right down to it, this is a great place and a great town and we've got a good thing going. What's wrong with that?"
As of this week, the answer is nothing. Nothing is wrong with that. Gary Patterson stays, at least for now.
Randy Galloway's Galloway & Co. can be heard weekdays 3-6 p.m. on ESPN/103.3 FM.
