Getting a Gary Patterson for SMU

[aus10fromhous10]

The potential head coaching candidates that get talked about a lot largely fit one of two profiles:

#1. The "Scratch-and-Dent" Coach: An established (and/or older) name that can bring immediate cache to the position and is looking for one last challenge before riding off into the sunset of retirement in a few years. These would be your Larry Brown, Mack Brown, Rick Neuheisel and pre-2008 June Jones types.

#2. The "Rising Star" Coach: An energetic young blood who's making waves as an assistant at an established team who could use the SMU job as a launching point for a head coaching gig at a larger, more prestigious program. Names like Josh Heupel, Chad Morris and Jake Spavital.

Setting aside for a moment these, or any other, candidates' individual qualifications, it would appear that neither profile of coach makes for a long-term strategy.

Your Scratch-and-Dent Coach gets his last hurrah and eventually retires. And every year, your Rising Star Coach further improves the program, fans spend the offseason fretting over when (not if) he's going to get poached, a la Kevin Sumlin to Texas A&M after his success at Houston.

With the right candidate, either profile of coach could have a positive impact on the program, but we're likely back searching for a new coach in less than six years.

Enter Gary Patterson.

Patterson was 40 when he took over at TCU, and his first full season as head coach (2001) coincided with TCU's move from the WAC to C-USA. Four years prior, TCU went 1-10 in Pat Sullivan's last year as coach.

In the Patterson era, TCU has improved its conference affiliation twice (three times if you count the move to the Big East that got nixed), won five conference championships, made two BCS bowl appearances and won seven of 12 bowl games.

Patterson hasn't left TCU for a better job opportunity because over the past 14 years, he's made TCU the better opportunity — a top-25 ranked, Power 5 Conference contender.

It reminds me of that scene in the second season of Mad Men, when Draper tells the Mohawk Airlines exec that his agency is dropping them for a shot at American Airlines' business. The betrayed Mohawk exec reminds Draper of his pitch the two companies would grow big together, "You said Sterling Cooper didn't need a big airline. You were going to make us a big airline."

And that's my point: I want a coach who has the talent, drive and aspiration to run a Power 5 Conference football program. But I don't want him to get there by merely using SMU as a stepping stone; I want a coach who can create that opportunity for himself by elevating SMU's program to that stature.

Granted, Patterson's tenure at TCU isn't the perfect analogy to SMU's situation. There's the three-year gap following Sullivan's dismal final season that Dennis Franchione coached TCU to three WAC championships (on the back of LaDainian Tomlinson), which no doubt gave Patterson a much stronger foundation to build from.

And to be clear, my comparison is ignoring the fact that Patterson was Franchione's defensive coordinator. I'm not trying to draw the conclusion that Tom Mason should get the SMU job (a clean break from the existing regime is in order, IMHO).

But am I naïve in thinking SMU is roughly in the same position that TCU was in 1997, at the end of Sullivan's tenure? Early on, Sullivan helped establish new expectations for the TCU program and there were flashes of progress before things with south for him — much in the same way that SMU went through its own institutional overhaul when June came in, which was followed by marked improvement and then a sudden decline.

Also, Sullivan's final season was TCU's second year in the WAC, following the end of the Southwest Conference and getting left out of the Big 12. We're in year two of the American after the Big East (or at least, a Big East Conference with football) dissolved.

But even if SMU is closer to the start of the Franchione regime rather than the Patterson era, why wouldn't it be in the best interests of SMU and the right head coaching candidate to think of this job not as an intermediary gig he would eventually grow out of, but as a long-term opportunity to transform SMU into his ideal position?

Why shouldn't that be the expectation for this coaching search? Do coaches like Patterson still exist? Or have the big money prospects of college football made it impossible for an up-and-coming coach can take over a program the two grow together? You could look no further to Kliff Kingsbury as an example of the contrary, who I think could be setting himself up for a long tenure at Texas Tech. Is he the exception to the rule?

It seems that there's an argument to be made that SMU would be selling itself short by being resigned to the fact that any coach we get is either going to retire soon or get poached after a few years on the job.

Or perhaps I'm underestimating other factors that influence SMU's ability to attract a career-minded coach who would foster a long-term growth trajectory.

Looking forward to reading your thoughts. #PonyUp

[Charleston Pony]

Patterson was on board as a DC after Fran built TCU's program, beginning with many of Pat Sullivan's recruits. If we get the "right guy" in here and he rebuilds this program into a dominant AAC team, we may find one of the new coach's coordinators will become our Gary Patterson...at least we can hope. I just wonder if we will look back some day and say the new coach "started with JJ's recruits"?

[East Coast Mustang]

I hope we never hire someone as classless as Gary Patterson is

[Ginuwine1984]

We need Fran for 3-4 years to come in rebuild the program, run his hybrid offense that we can recruit to and be successful against other teams as it's difficult to prepare for, he'll retire after 7years and hand it off to the young position coach or OC that will help build it. He knows Dallas, he is very good at fundraising, he will get us new facilities as he's done it everywhere he's been, and in that offense you don't need 4-5 stars to win.

[SMU1523]

I hope we never hire someone as classless as Gary Patterson is

He is classless, but loyal. I do admire that. He should just chill out in the press conferences, but they are embarrassingly entertaining.

[sbsmith]

We just need to find the best fit for the job period and not worry about how long the guy wants to be here. Despite what he may tell us there's just no way to know for sure if he would want to be here for the long haul. The best we can do is to support the guy as much as possible and make sure the job is attractive in the event we do have to replace him.

[GreenbeltPony]

We just need to find the best fit for the job period and not worry about how long the guy wants to be here. Despite what he may tell us there's just no way to know for sure if he would want to be here for the long haul. The best we can do is to support the guy as much as possible and make sure the job is attractive in the event we do have to replace him.

This pretty much sums it up. We can definitely entice potential hires with $$$, but we're in no position at the moment to be sifting through candidates searching for that one "diamond in the rough" who might be our GP. We're dead last in every offensive category, we have horrible ties to local and statewide high schools, and our attendance numbers are pitiful. The "best" coach at the moment is someone who can recruit, win and get the community involved, no matter how long they're expected to stay here.

[AustinPerson]

Pat Sullivan/TCU. So sort of like how Phil Bennett had some awful years at the end but somehow his recruits ended up in the NFL with the next coach?

Pretty sure the current crew won't be going to the NFL for the next coach. May be more like Mike Cavan leaving the cupboard bear for Charlie Waters when he becomes coach.

[aus10fromhous10]

We just need to find the best fit for the job period and not worry about how long the guy wants to be here. Despite what he may tell us there's just no way to know for sure if he would want to be here for the long haul. The best we can do is to support the guy as much as possible and make sure the job is attractive in the event we do have to replace him.

I feel like you're proving my point. In my mind, to "find the best fit for the job period," means seeking out someone who has the potential to be a viable, long-term candidate. Granted, it's impossible to know with 100% certainty going in that a new coach is your long-term guy, but I don't buy the argument that anything less than that is the "best we can do."

This pretty much sums it up. We can definitely entice potential hires with $$$, but we're in no position at the moment to be sifting through candidates searching for that one "diamond in the rough" who might be our GP. We're dead last in every offensive category, we have horrible ties to local and statewide high schools, and our attendance numbers are pitiful. The "best" coach at the moment is someone who can recruit, win and get the community involved, no matter how long they're expected to stay here.

Why not? We're in the midst of what's going to be the longest coaching search in the history of SMU, and probably among one of the longest searches in college football period. I'd make the case that scenario actually puts us in the position "to be sifting through candidates searching for that one 'diamond in the rough.'"

If not SMU, then where? Again, in my mind, only expecting that "The 'best' coach at the moment is someone who can recruit, win and get the community involved, no matter how long they're expected to stay here," is setting the bar too low for what should be reasonably expecting out of this coaching search.

Somebody please help me understand what I'm missing from this equation. What specific factors are leading others to be resigned to the fact that we can't aspire to find a coach who doesn't see this job as a retirement exit strategy or stepping stone to a better job?

[TidePony]

SMH over Fatterson - he's certifiable.

[West Coast Johnny]

If you want to be like TCU, then you should do what TCU did.... hire Denis Franchione.

[Oldmins]

I hope we never hire someone as classless as Gary Patterson is

You prefer a series of 0-12 seasons, but with class? Surely not. And most people over west of here notice Pattersons constant participation in charitable events, his Patterson Foundation, his civic causes supported, and discount the strange pulling up the britches habit during games.

With regard to Sullivan, it's also interesting to note that his success during his first years at TCU hit the skids when he applied for, chatted and bargained with LSU about their head coaching job, wanted LSU to buy out his contract at TCU, which they wouldn't do. After that, he didn't do squat at TCU. Remind you of anybody?

[Ginuwine1984]

Agree with West Coast Johnny. If there is one person that can navigate us through this mess, and rebuild the program, the right way and give SMU football a brand. It's Franchione. A new offense, capitalizing on what Texas HS are doing best right now, and what college defenses can't seem to stop. Look at what Georgia Southern is doing to people right now #1 Rushing offense in the country playing teams like NC State, Georgia Tech, look at what Texas State is doing rushing against people #29 Rushing team in the country against teams like Navy, Illinois, Tulsa, and if it wasn't for Texas State's young D, the bobcats would be 3-1.

In an era of college football where everyone is going after taller receivers, bigger linemen, pro style quarterbacks, this hybrid offense that Fran/Fritz is running is working and it's proving you don't need 4-5 stars to beat the big boys.

I don't know how much longer Fran will coach, but it will be at least another 5-7 years based on people that know him. In that time, he can get us the new facilities we desperately need, improve the relationship football has with the community, and that would really make the TCU/SMU rivalry heat up again. He's turned around every program that was a rebuild program. TCU/New Mexico/SWT the first time/and Texas State again.

If' I'm the AD you can't take a gamble on a young OC / position coach with no head coaching experience, let alone experience rebuilding a program and if I'm the young OC / position coach, I let this hire go, gain some more needed experience, and then when the program is on the up, then I throw my name in the hat.

College football you have one shot at being a head coach usually, I wouldn't want to chance mine on SMU or KU, based on past history of the program, until it's turned around.

[sbsmith]

I feel like you're proving my point. In my mind, to "find the best fit for the job period," means seeking out someone who has the potential to be a viable, long-term candidate. Granted, it's impossible to know with 100% certainty going in that a new coach is your long-term guy, but I don't buy the argument that anything less than that is the "best we can do."

Every single candidate will sell themselves as a "viable, long-term candidate", it's not like one of these guys is going to tell Hart that they just want to be here a few years until something better comes along. We agree that there's no way to be absolutely certain about a new coach's true career intentions so really the best we can do is to find the best fit and support him as much as possible. What more could we possibly do? I could post all day about coaches that swore on the bible that they'd never leave a school up until the moment they left that school.

[PK]

I feel like you're proving my point. In my mind, to "find the best fit for the job period," means seeking out someone who has the potential to be a viable, long-term candidate. Granted, it's impossible to know with 100% certainty going in that a new coach is your long-term guy, but I don't buy the argument that anything less than that is the "best we can do."

Every single candidate will sell themselves as a "viable, long-term candidate", it's not like one of these guys is going to tell Hart that they just want to be here a few years until something better comes along. We agree that there's no way to be absolutely certain about a new coach's true career intentions so really the best we can do is to find the best fit and support him as much as possible. What more could we possibly do? I could post all day about coaches that swore on the bible that they'd never leave a school up until the moment they left that school.

Coach Fran at TCU.