Coach candidates: Gary Patterson

Head Coach at TCU, was the DC under Francione from 1998 until Coach Fran left for Alabama in 2000. In that time, he's gone 62-25 with 4 bowl wins (not counting this year). He has pulled off upsets over 4 Big XII opponents including a huge win over Oklahoma in Norman, and has had 4 10-win seasons with 2 conference championships.

Patterson is a defensive minded coach, and like most he's going to put together an OL that can run the damn football and keep his defense on the sidelines. The offense he's had at TCU is a run-oriented pro-style, designed to have some balance but concentrated on the rushing attack. Despite that, in 2004, the Frogs finished in the top 20 in the nation in scoring offense, passing offense and total offense.

His defense (DC Dick Bumpas) is an attacking 4-3/4-2-5 that does very well against the run, and leads the MWC in takeaways, and have been ranked in the Top 10 of national total defense several times.

He is from Kansas State, and if that job opens, as it might, you can expect him to be offered. He turned down a $2 million per annum job offer from Minnesota last year. He founded a non-profit organization for disadvantaged children as well, here. Why Texas A&M didnt go after him and picked Sherman is beyond me.

His philosophy and the things he sayson his website are not that different from what you could say about Clemson as well.

Recruiting? In Texas even the also-rans are good. The pickings left over from A&M, UT, OU, Nebraska, T. Tech, etc. are better than what we have here in S.C., but he has pulled in a few gems, and several of his young players have made national all-freshman teams and all-conference in the MWC. It would be beneficial to Clemson to strengthen ties and create a base in TX.

I’ve heard that Patterson is thought of highly by Terry Don Phillips and Patterson would be interested in coming to Clemson.

Some articles have made mention of it, and some believe its his time for a bigger stage.

Patterson seems to be a good guy and coach, so he would be in my Top 3 for the job.