FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – TCU head football coach Gary Patterson and the university have agreed to mutually part ways during his 22nd season leading the program, the university confirmed Sunday night, Oct. 31.
Special assistant to the head coach Jerry Kill is set to take over as interim coach for the rest of the 2021 season.
Coach Patterson, 61, has the most wins of any coach in TCU history with 181.
His best season was 2014 when he led the Horned Frogs to a 12-1 record.
Head coach Gary Patterson of the TCU Horned Frogs stands on the field before the TCU Horned Frogs play the West Virginia Mountaineers at Amon G. Carter Stadium on November 29, 2019 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Ron Jenkins/Getty Images)
The Horned Frogs lost 31-12 to Kansas State on Saturday and dropped to 3-5 on the season including 1-4 in the Big 12.
Next Saturday’s game against 13th-ranked Baylor will be the first without Patterson on the TCU coaching staff since 1997.
TCU Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Jeremiah Donati released the following statement on Coach Patterson.
“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. We are grateful to Gary and 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 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. I’ve asked Jerry Kill to serve as interim head coach, and he has accepted the role for the remainder of the season. Coach Patterson will assist TCU in the transition to take place.”
Patterson is the second Big 12 head coach let go in two weeks.
Texas Tech fired third-year coach Matt Wells last week, also after a loss to Kansas State.
