FORT WORTH, Texas — TCU athletic director Jeremiah Donati pleaded with Gary Patterson to finish out the season on Sunday. He didn’t want the veteran head coach’s tenure to end in the abrupt fashion it did. Donati envisioned the school celebrating TCU’s winningest head coach before the home finale against Kansas on Nov. 20.
Donati hoped Patterson would be agreeable to such a gesture, despite knowing he would no longer be coaching at the school come 2022.
“One of the things we wanted to do with Gary for the month of November was to really celebrate and honor him. If you know Gary, that’s not what he wants,” Donati said. “But I do believe there will be a time where we can do that appropriately and I look forward to that. But it just wasn’t in the cards to do that right now.”
Once Donati informed Patterson that the decision had been reached to make a coaching change on Sunday, Patterson wanted to move on. He had no interest in being a lame-duck coach for the rest of the season, or moving into a different role within the athletic department next year.
TCU’s exit strategy has been criticized by a number of fans and alums. Pro Football Hall of Famer Gil Brandt was among the many who ripped how the Patterson era came to an end.
“I’m absolutely sickened by what happened to Gary Patterson at TCU,” Brandt wrote on Twitter. “Most unfair dismissal of a coach that I can remember in college football. TCU should be embarrassed.”
Donati understands the criticism but defended his decision and the timing of it. Once a decision was made to move on from Patterson, Donati felt it was right to inform him. Donati didn’t want to conduct a coaching search behind Patterson’s back, which would have been almost necessary with the NCAA’s early signing period starting Dec. 15.
“It’s probably a fair criticism because I don’t think anyone wanted it to end this way,” Donati said. “I thought we handled this very fairly. We could’ve gone through the season and hired a search firm behind coach’s back … would that have been fair?
“What we’ve done here at TCU, which I’m very proud of, is that whenever we determine what’s the right move or decision for the university, we then turn to what’s the right and fair way to treat the employee. I have 100 percent confidence we did that.”
Patterson leaves with an all-time record of 181-79.
TCU (3-5, 1-4 Big 12) is on a three-game losing streak going into its game against No. 14 Baylor on Saturday.
