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AFM Magazine

AFM Magazine


Letter From The Publisher

by: John Gallup
Editor and Publisher
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Gary Patterson’s first season as head coach of TCU in 2001 was a challenge. The Horned Frogs had lost 28 seniors to graduation, including LaDanian Tomlinson, and had to play a full slate of games against unfamiliar opponents, having moved from the WAC to Conference USA that year. After a 4-5 start, Patterson was on the hot seat. 

    But a strong finish that year and 10-2 and 11-2 records the following two seasons put his career on the fast track. He even landed a spot on the August 2004 cover of AFM as the top coach on our then-annual “Hot List” of up-and-coming coaching talents. That list included Urban Meyer of Utah, Paul Johnson of Navy, Bobby Petrino of Louisville and Jimbo Fisher of LSU, among others.

    What stands out is that, of our 11 “Hot” coaches from what was then I-A, Gary Patterson is the only one who is coaching at the same school today as he was in 2004. That dedication to the TCU program has paid off. In 2010, the Horned Frogs ran the table – beating an imposing Wisconsin team in the Rose Bowl and ending the season as the nation’s #2 ranked team.

    We are proud to recognize Gary Patterson as AFM’s 2010 FBS Coach of the Year. He is joined by five other college coaches and six high school coaches as recipients of our annual coaching award. 

    Patterson’s success on the national stage is remarkable, considering that TCU only has about 8,000 students and has to compete with Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma in the Texas recruiting talent pool. Add in the difficulty of breaking into a BCS game despite being a non-automatic qualifier and the Horned Frogs’ achievement in 2010 gets put into perspective. 

    Looking forward, TCU has one more year in the Mountain West conference (and an intriguing regular season matchup with Boise State) before joining the Big East in 2012. That will be the school’s fourth conference in 12 years, which is surely a record. With the move to the Big East, however, TCU will no longer be a BCS outsider. Patterson’s contract was recently extended through 2018, so he’ll have the opportunity to make the Horned Frogs a regular contender for the Big East crown and the automatic BCS berth that comes with it. 

    On behalf of everyone at AFM, congratulations to Gary Patterson and all of our Coach of the Year winners. Starting on page 18, you can read about them and learn from them as they share the secrets of their success in 2010.
                            John Gallup
                            Editor & Publisher







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