Patterson receives new contract through 2016

By David May / KillerFrogs.com Staff Writer

TCU head football coach Gary Patterson Wednesday formally announced his acceptance of a six-year contract extension that will carry him to the year 2016.

No dollar amounts were made public by the school, though some media reports put his new annual salary at $2.5 million.

In his ninth season as head coach, his first head coaching stint, Patterson is second all time in coaching victories at TCU with a record of 85-27.

His Horned Frogs, currently ranked fourth in the nation, just completed an undefeated regular season, recording the best record in school history at 12-0. TCU has qualified for its first BCS bowl game, and awaits Sunday evening's official bowl selection announcements.

“We've had a lot of extensions, and I don't want to jinx myself,” Paterson said at a Wednesday morning press conference. “We've just kind of gone on about business and we still have a bowl game to win.”

A bowl win would give TCU a record 13^th win in a season. The 2009 season is the team's best in 71 years, capped by its second Mountain West Conference championship and 19 players named all-MWC, including Patterson's selection as MWC Coach of the Year.

Patterson thanked TCU Chancellor Victor Boschini, new Athletic Director Chris Del Conte and the university's board of trustees for showing their confidence in himself, his staff and the program.

“I think it takes a lot of work by everybody,” Patterson said. “I became a better football coach when I met (his wife) Kelsey. She helped me clean up my act. I've always said I'm the keeper of the keys. I've always felt like this is TCU's university. I've just been the guy in charge of it.”

Patterson noted that the new contract provides raises for his staff to help provide continued continuity and success.

“I think sometimes as head coaches we forget, as coaches are moving all over the nation, it means you have great success, a great program, great coaches, great athletes and a university backing you up,” he said. “There is no we could do this as a university or a football program without them.”

Patterson said if he fulfills this contract it will mean he has been at TCU for 18 years, after arriving in 1998 as defensive coordinator on Dennis Franchione's staff.

“It's hard in this profession to stay anywhere 18 or 20 years. I don't think people understand what kind of people and place Fort Worth is,” Paterson said, adding later in the press conference that while he has “never said never” concerning other coaching positions across the nation. “I have spoken with my actions.”

“We feel like we are blessed. Our work is not done. We still have a mountain to climb,” the Frogs coach stated.

In introducing Patterson, Del Conte noted, “This truly is a team. What you have done for this institution is remarkable. This is not the pinnacle of who we are. We still have a long way to go.”

Patterson concurred in his press conference remarks.

“I've said before we are like Cinderella, we are just trying to get to the ball,” he said. “We're getting closer. We're going to keep working.”

Patterson said when he arrived at TCU, and when he became head coach in 2001, there was a vision to gradually build the team into a national power.

“A lot of people just shook there heads and said, 'that's nice,'” Paterson said.

“I think we have built it the right way. It hasn't been fast. We thought about it, the things we have needed to do to move forward.”

Patterson said the improvements at TCU have been not confined to the football team's won-loss record, but in the commitment the university has shown in campus improvements for both academics and athletics.

“This university has not just been about athletics,” he said.

“As I said a long time ago, we are just the front porch. We are not the most important part of the house, but we are the most visible. We're just trying to put a new coat of paint on it.”

Patterson said this year has been special in many ways, such as having ESPN GameDay come to the campus for the Utah game.

“We were trying to reach out and take in all of Fort Worth, and now we are trying to reach out and take in all of Texas and all of the nation,” he said.

“It's special. Like all of us in our lives, you like to prove people wrong,” he said. “We couldn't do this without other people's help. I don't want to try and jinx myself and what we are trying to do. But I would like to say, 'go Frogs.'”