Three things to know about TCU
1
Safari superstition
Before TCU’s 13-0 season in 2010, head coach Gary Patterson and his wife, Kelsey, went to Africa, primarily to look at and photograph animals (Patterson’s Twitter account shows wildlife pictures are among his passions).
They went again before last season, when the Horned Frogs went 12-1 and beat Mississippi in the Peach Bowl, narrowly missing a berth in the College Football Playoff.
At that point, Patterson sensed a trend. Maybe it was just a coincidence the two best seasons of his coaching career were preceded by photo safaris. But he wasn’t going to leave anything to chance.
“I always went in March, and it’s May and we hadn’t gone yet and the baseball team is doing really well. I’m like, ‘ This is not going to be my fault,’ ” Patterson said. “It’s the most expensive superstition I’ve ever been part of.”
This year’s trip to the Lebombo region of southern Africa included a microlight flight through the mist of Victoria Falls.
“Just the propeller and the guy and you,” Patterson said. “TCU probably wouldn’t have been real fired up about that, but sometimes it’s better to beg for forgiveness.”
2
Thinking thin
Unless you were familiar with Oklahoma State football in the 1980s when he blocked for future Pro Football Hall of Famers Barry Sanders and Thurman Thomas, it would be impossible to tell these days that Doug Meacham was a former offensive lineman.
“I don’t even tell anybody that,” said TCU’s co-offensive coordinator, who stands out on the sideline as a tall and slender figure with slicked hair flowing from the back of his headset. “I say I played tight end because you get that reaction. It’s funny, because sometimes (the players) will Google me and pull up a pic- ture of my face; it’s (huge), and I have a mullet.”
Unlike some former offensive linemen who struggle to lose weight after their playing careers, Meacham had to eat constantly to keep his weight on as a player. After graduating college, he said, he went to work dumping wheat on a grain elevator in Apache, Okla., and lost 40 pounds in one summer.
“It’s a heck of a lot easier to lose weight than to have to eat when you’re not hungry. That sucks,” he said. “I probably haven’t gained a pound in seven or eight years.”
3
Marital bliss
Though Meacham and Sonny Cumbie knew each other through coaching and recruiting circles — they met at a junior college national title game six years ago — their union as TCU’s co-offensive coordinators last season was essentially an arranged marriage.
Looking to install an up-tempo, spread offense and revitalize TCU after a 4-8 season, Patterson hired Meacham off Houston’s staff and 34-year-old Cumbie from Texas Tech, where he played quarterback under Mike Leach and was co-offensive coordinator for a year under Kliff Kingsbury.
TCU finished last season fifth in the country in yards a game (533) and second in points a game (46.5).
“Our personalities fit well together. And the things that I may be weak at Doug ’s really strong at, and vice versa,” said Cumbie, who coaches the quarterbacks. “We fit well together. It’s a good working relationship, and we have a lot of trust. All the inhibitions with one another are off. The interactions are lighter now than they were a year ago. Doug has a great personality, and he’s very easy to get along with.”
Meacham, who calls the plays, says the weekly preparation with Cumbie is intensely collaborative.
“Coach Patterson deserves 100% of the credit for the transformation,” Meacham said. “He’s a defensive coach, and universally for defensive coaches that means run the football and run clock. He always says get comfortable being uncomfortable, and he did that. He deserves all the credit for making that hire and giving Sonny and me an opportunity to shake it up a little bit.”