FORT WORTH, Texas _ There will never be another Bill Snyder, and the man's "young apprentice" is neither quite as young, but he is now The Master.
Horrendous Star Wars analogies aside, the retirement of Bill Snyder from Kansas State as head football coach leaves Gary Patterson as college football's remaining Purple Wizard, not of the plains but the prairie.
TCU's Wizard is now the second-longest tenured football coach in America, second only to Iowa's Kirk Ferentz. Ferentz was hired in 1999, and Gary followed him the next year at TCU.
As TCU will do its part on day one of Big 12 Media Days at Jerry's Night Club on Monday, the quiet question for the school is how much longer can this all go?
Those close to GP have started to wonder, aloud, that their favorite coach simply has aspirations for a life after being a head football coach. Others, specifically at TCU, are quite certain he will coach until 3034, because he doesn't know what else to do.
The TCU admins want him for as long as he wants, but few of the higher ups at the school know there will be a day when his presence is that statue. There is no escape plan or coach in waiting, but merely a willingness to acknowledge the obvious, that even the most successful periods in history have a conclusion.
Gary has intimated he has no interest in following Snyder's path; Snyder retired after the 2018 season, for the second time, at the age of 79.
Snyder's exit, both of them, were more sad than they were a celebration for a person who deserved it.
Patterson is a young 59. For a point of reference, Alabama's Nick Saban is 67.
Gary is in good health and can easily go another eight years. The question is if he wants to, and whether he has the necessary energy to keep TCU relevant.
