TCU and Head Football Coach Gary Patterson Part Ways; Jerry Kill Named Interim Head Coach

Then TCU head football coach Gary Patterson (left) talks with Kansas State head football coach Chris Klieman prior to the Kansas State-TCU football game in Manhattan, Kansas, this past Saturday, October 30. It would be the last time Patterson coached the Horned Frogs. Kansas State defeated TCU, 31-12.                                             Photo by Tom C. "Midnite" Burke

The Gary Patterson era is over at TCU. 

TCU and Patterson agreed to part ways on Sunday, October 31, a day after the Horned Frogs suffered a 31-12 loss to Kansas State in Manhattan, Kansas.

Jerry Kill, Patterson's best friend who has been an offensive analyst on the TCU staff for the past two years, has been named the interim head coach. Kill was the University of Minnesota’s head coach from 2011-15.

TCU Athletic Director Jeremiah Donati will conduct a national search for Patterson’s replacement. 

“The story of Gary Patterson and the rise in the fortunes of the TCU football program over the last 20 years is clearly one of the most remarkable in the history of college football,” Donati said in a statement. “We are grateful to Gary and (his wife) Kelsey Patterson and appreciate everything they have meant to TCU and the Fort Worth community. Under his leadership, TCU has become a nationally recognized brand name in football and in collegiate athletics. “Chancellor [Victor] Boschini and I met with Coach Patterson today (Sunday, October 31) and mutually agreed that the time has come for a new voice and leadership in our football program. We asked him to continue on as our head coach for the remainder of the season, and take on a different role in 2022, but he believed it was in the team’s and TCU’s best interests to begin the transition immediately. 

“We respect Coach Patterson’s perspective and will move forward in that direction. Coach Patterson will assist TCU in the transition to take place.”  

TCU reportedly owes an $18-million buyout for Patterson and his staff. 

Patterson came to TCU in 1998 as the defensive coordinator for head coach Dennis Franchione, whom TCU hired away from the University of New Mexico. When Franchione was hired as Alabama's head football coach in 2000, Patterson was named TCU's head football coach.

Over his time as head coach, Patterson became TCU's winningest head football coach. He finished with a record of 181-79.

In college football, Patterson was the country's second-longest tenured coach, behind Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz. 

Highlights of the Gary Patterson-era at TCU include:

• TCU is one of seven programs nationally to finish with an Associated Press Top-10 final ranking in at least three of the last seven seasons (2014, 2015, 2017). The others are Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Penn State. 
• Over the last 13 years, the Frogs own six AP top-10 finishes, twice as many as Texas and two more than USC and Washington combined.
• During Patterson’s tenure, TCU earned 20 bowl trips. TCU was 13-6 in bowl games played under Patterson (the 2020 Texas Bowl was canceled).
• After the 2010 regular season, the Horned Frogs received the first Rose Bowl invitation offered to a team from a non-automatic-qualifying conference during the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) era. The Horned Frogs won the 2011 Rose Bowl, 21–19, over Wisconsin. The win climaxed an undefeated and untied season that earned TCU a No. 2 national ranking.
• Patterson’s 181 victories were the most by an active head coach nationally at his current school. His winning percentage ranks fourth among active FBS coaches (minimum 10 years).
• Patterson was tied for second nationally among active FBS head coaches in most AP Top-10 finishes with six (2008, 2009, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2017). He also was second among active head coaches in most top-25 finishes with 11.
• Under Patterson, TCU won six conference championships, in three different leagues -- Conference USA (2002), the Mountain West (2005, 2009, 2010, 2011) and the Big 12 Conference (2014). Patterson was named Coach of the Year in each of those conferences.
• The Horned Frogs won at least 10 games in 11 seasons under Patterson. Prior to his arrival on campus in 1998, TCU had four 10-win seasons in its history.
• During his TCU tenure, including three seasons as defensive coordinator (1998-00), Patterson has seen TCU earn 20 bowl trips. TCU is 13-6 in bowl games with Patterson on its coaching staff and 11-6 with him as head coach. Before the Patterson era, the Horned Frogs had only four bowl wins in their history. 
• Under Patterson, the Frogs went 7-3 against the University of Texas since joining the Big 12 Conference in 2012, including 4-2 in Fort Worth and 3-1 in Austin.
•  In 2020, Patterson and TCU beat Texas for the sixth time in seven seasons. 
• Gary Patterson was 7-4 against Texas as the Horned Frogs’ head coach. Since 1996, he ranked No. 1 in the nation among all head coaches past and present (minimum five games) in career winning percentage against Texas.
• In 2012, TCU upset Mack Brown and No. 18 Texas, 20-13, in the first Thanksgiving night game in Austin following the demise of the Lone Star showdown with the Texas A&M Aggies, who had bolted for the Southeastern Conference.