How Hot is the Coaching Seats in the Mountain West Conference?

The Mountain West Conference will enter the 2011 season without two of their powerhouse football programs, Brigham Young University and the University of Utah, as they head for proverbial greener pastures.
The Boise State Broncos will take the place of one of those teams and is expected to battle TCU for the top spot in the conference.


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 Another battle which will take place this season is who will lose their job first? While the coaches at the top of the conference are relatively safe, the bottom half of the conference could be hoping for at least a mediocre season in order for them to have another year to work on what has or has not been working.

National Football Authority takes a look at who is safe and who could be handed the pink slip when the 2011 college football season comes to an end.

Air Force - Troy Calhoun
Coaching Record: Overall - (34-18) Bowls - (2-2)
After winning five of their first six games, the only loss coming against the Oklahoma Sooners in Norman, it looked like Falcons' head coach Troy Calhoun had his team on the right track. A track which could take them to the top of the Mountain West Conference.

Unfortunately, Air Force would drop their next three games against San Diego State, TCU, and Utah before winning three straight against Army, New Mexico, and UNLV to close out the 2010 regular season schedule.

A 14-7 win over the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in the Independence Bowl ended Air Force's season on a high note with a 9-4 overall record. Their best record since Calhoun's first season as head coach in 2007.

It's not easy being the coach who replaced Fisher DeBerry. Those are big shoes to fill.

Hot Seat Status: Cool (there will never be another Fisher DeBerry)

Boise State - Chris Petersen
Coaching Record: Overall - (61-5) Bowls - (3-2)
I don't think I need to say much about the head coach at Boise State University, but I will anyway.

Since Petersen came on the scene in 2006, replacing departed head coach Dan Hawkins, the Broncos have been a mid-major powerhouse. How many coaches do you know who can put up 61 wins in five seasons including two unbeaten and two one-loss seasons?

He is one of the more sought after coaches in college football, just ask Stanford who thought they were going to be the one team who was going to be able to pry him away from Boise, Idaho.

Surprisingly, Petersen decided to remain with Boise State and could be looking at an even more lucrative job somewhere down the line.

Hot Seat Status: Ice Cold (colder than Alaska in winter-cold)


Colorado State - Steve Fairchild
Coaching Record: Overall - (13-24) Bowls - (1-0)
Steve Fairchild, before being named the head coach at Colorado State, was known as the starting quarterback for the Rams in 1980.

After Sonny Lubick was fired by the school in a controversial decision, Fairchild came back to his alma mater to take over the head coaching duties.

Unfortunately for Fairchild, things have not exactly gone any better for him in three seasons at the helm than Lubick's final two years.

While the Rams would win land a bowl bid in the first season under Fairchild, a 40-35 win over Fresno State, they have finished their last two seasons with a 6-18 record.

Hot Seat Status: Warm (and getting warmer)


New Mexico - Mike Locksley
Coaching Record: Overall - (2-22) Bowls - (N/A)
Mike Locksley has to be wondering how much worse this could possibly go for his coaching tenure at New Mexico.

Since taking over for Rocky Long, who left New Mexico after leading the team to five bowl games in his final seven seasons, the New Mexico Lobos have been the whipping post for just about every college football team they faced.

After two seasons, Locksley is staring at back-to-back 1-11 seasons and a possibility the school is running short on patience. Whether it is a recruiting problem or scheduling teams too tough for them to be playing, something has to change-soon.

The Lobos do not have quite the schedule they faced in 2010 so maybe things will not be as painful this time around.

Coaching Hot Seat: Boiling


San Diego State - Rocky Long
Coaching Record: Overall - (65-69) Bowls - (1-4)
The San Diego State Aztecs seemed to be on the right track and under the leadership of a head coach who believed in this team and it showed.

Quarterback Ryan Lindley and true freshman running back Ronnie Hillman put their stamp on the Aztecs football team, showing the Mountain West Conference they were going to be a player from here on out.

Then, just as fast as the good news continued to roll in, head coach Brady Hoke departed San Diego to return to his alma mater and took the head coaching gig for the Michigan Wolverines. Just like that, the Aztecs were left without their head man and needed answers in a hurry.

Rocky Long took the position, coming from the University of New Mexico, leaving one Mountain West team to another. He comes in with a team already built for success and will only need to keep that rolling. Time will tell if he is the right man for the job.

Coaching Hot Seat: Cold (at least for now)


TCU - Gary Patterson
Coaching Record: Overall - (98-28) Bowls - (6-4)
When you talk about TCU head coach Gary Patterson you talk about success and you talk about greatness. Next to Boise State head coach Chris Petersen, Patterson is one of those coaches who just about every other Division-I team would love to have.

Say what you want about the players who have come through the TCU program during Patterson's tenure, the head coach has become a recruiting tool in himself. High school players who are trying to decide where to go only have to look as far as who is coaching the team and the success that coach has had to make their decision so much easier.

Since the team made the transition from Conference USA to the Mountain West, they have had just one season with less than 10 wins (2007). Take that one season away and Patterson's teams have finished with a combined record of 58-6 over the last six seasons including five wins in six bowl appearances.

Coaching Hot Seat: Freezing Cold (top of Mt. Everest-cold)


UNLV - Bobby Hauck
Coaching Record: Overall - (88-28, 2-11 at UNLV) Bowls - (NA)
Bobby Hauck did not exactly get off to the kind of start he would have hoped for in his first season as the head coach at UNLV. The team finished with a disappointing 2-11 record, the only two wins coming against New Mexico and Wyoming who had a combined 4-20 record last season.

Hauck's success at Montana (80-17) did not translate to a Division-I program but there is no doubt they will give him at least three to four years to try to turn this team into a contender year in and year out.

While he has a long way to go, Hauck will be up to the challenge.

Coaching Hot Seat: Cool


Wyoming - Dave Christensen
Coaching Record: Overall - (10-15) Bowls - (1-0)
Dave Christensen ended his first year as a head coach with a surprising 35-28 win in the 2009 New Mexico Bowl against Fresno State. Though it meant finishing with a 7-6 record, a bowl win was completely unexpected.

One might thing, with that kind of momentum, the Cowboys might carry it into the 2010 season. Unfortunately it didn't quite go down that way.

The 2010 squad finishing with a disappointing 3-7 record including just one win in conference.

One bad season does not spell doom for Christensen as he heads into his third year at the helm but another losing record might turn up the heat just a little bit more.

Coaching Hot Seat: Lukewarm (wow it's getting warm in here)


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Could the TCU Horned Frogs Overtake the Dallas Cowboys For Football Supremacy?

In North Texas football is king. For the Dallas Cowboys, the team who once were crowned "America's Team," they are about to be replaced by a team who used to be 'that cute little team in Fort Worth.'

The TCU Horned Frogs, fresh off an unbeaten season and a Rose Bowl victory over the Wisconsin Badgers, it seems fans are beginning to stray away from the big silver star and over to the team named for a strange looking animal. And who can blame them?


Tom Pennington/Getty Images



Since his hiring in 2000, head coach Gary Patterson has led his team to top 25 finishes in eight of his 10 seasons including top 10 finishes in each of the last three seasons.

He has his team and his players at the highest level they have seen in years. Sure the TCU football program has had their share of great players, such as NFL running back LaDainian Tomlinson, but the 2010 team wasn't filled with big time "stars."

The team had a quarterback, Andy Dalton, who did his job and put up record numbers in his final year. They had the nation's best defense led by hard hitting linebacker, Tank Carder, and departed cornerback Tejay Johnson. Everything went their way and it ended with a goose egg in the loss column and a celebration in Pasadena, California.

For the fans here in the Dallas and Forth Worth areas, they have gotten use to the Dallas Cowboys being the only football in town.

Nevermind the fact they had Southern Methodist University to the east, led by new head coach June Jones who has them on the right track for the first time in a long time, and Texas Christian University to the west. They wanted the far-too-big television screen and the stadium that cost over a billion dollars to build.

For years, Cowboys' owner Jerry Jones had done and said the right things to keep fans coming back to his team and his stadium. Even after he built a brand new state of the art football stadium, raised parking prices to $75, and ticket prices to, well, out of range of families and the average fan, people still showed up.

But for the past 16 seasons, the fans have walked away from every NFL season in disappointment. Their team had not won a Super Bowl since 1996 and had just a single playoff victory. Despite all that, still the fans came and brought the same expectations they had the year before.

Could there finally be a changing of the guard? Could the Dallas Cowboys possibly play second fiddle to a college football team?

At this point one might wonder if Jones wouldn't love to have Patterson as his head coach. He has not had any luck finding the right guy since Jimmy Johnson left for greener pastures.

But, for reasons passing understanding, Patterson remains in Fort Worth and with a school who will finish up their final season in the Mountain West Conference before heading to the Big East Conference and a shot at an automatic BCS bid year in and year out.

The Cowboys have had their time in the sun and now it seems the Horned Frogs are making a strong case for fans in the metroplex to believe in what they are selling.

Like them or not, they are no longer the cute little team anymore. Now they have national attention and the fans who normally would not give them a second look, are buying up tickets like it's the last time they will get to see this team.

The final nail in the coffin of the Dallas Cowboys, whether you want to believe it or not, will be the continuation of the NFL lockout. If there is no professional football in 2011, the TCU Horned Frogs are the team who will benefit the most from it.

Before the 2010 college football season began, I remember listening to a good friend of mine on his radio show calling TCU "that cute little team." I laughed and knew it was just the biased opinion that seems to resonate here in Dallas.

But, when the season ended, he admitted to me that he never saw this kind of season coming from a team in the Mountain West.

If his opinion has changed, what are the odds the opinions of the rest of the naysayers have also changed?


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Can the TCU Horned Frogs Throw Up Yet Another Dominant Defensive Unit?

Over the past two seasons, the TCU defensive unit has been known for shutting down opponents. But can they have the same kind of success in 2011 even after losing five starters from their defensive unit from last season?

The Horned Frogs will lose five starters from their defensive unit from last season and some might wonder if they have the players to replace who is on their way out.


Eric Draper/Getty Images



TCU will return six of their 11 starters from last season, linebackers Tanner Brock and Tank Carder, safety Tekerrein Cuba, cornerback Greg McCoy, defensive end Stansly Maponga and defensive tackle D.J. Yendrey.

"Carder had his coming out party at the Rose Bowl last year and many are expecting him to pick up where he left off," CBS Sports' Bryan Fischer told me. "He didn't go through spring practice yet again but that hasn't stopped him from having a good year in the past. With [cornerback] Tejay Johnson gone, Carder is the leader of the defense and as he goes, so does the defense.

Johnson, one of TCU's starting safties last season, had three interceptions which was a quarter of the team's interception total (12) from 2010. Fischer says he might be one player TCU will have a hard time replacing.

"I think [Tejay] Johnson will be the Horned Frogs biggest loss," Fischer said. "He was their leader and one of the smartest players on the team, directing guys to where they needed to be. It's always tough to replace a guy in the secondary and TCU, because of the way they play their safeties, will struggle to fill the hole left by Johnson's departure."

Without him, as well as another starting safety, Colin Jones, who registered 80 total tackles last season including 11 and a half for a loss, it definitely leaves two gaping holes in the secondary.

There are also two other large holes in the TCU defense from 2010, both coming up front. Defensive end Wayne Daniels and defensive tackle Cory Grant, combining for 10 sacks and 19 tackles for a loss last season, will depart leaving Maponga and Yendrey to try and step into very large shoes.

If it seems to you that the Horned Frogs have a lot of ground to make up a lot of holes to fill, Fischer says don't count out head coach Gary Patterson finding the right mix of guys to make their defense just as good as last season.

"We always say it will be tough for TCU to continue to have the defensive success they had the year before," he said. But year after year Patterson manages to have his team at the top of just about every defensive category. Not sure they can have the numbers they did last year but they certainly can still be one of the best defenses in the country."

In the final year in the Mountain West Conference, Patterson and his coaching staff have all the motivation they need to get their players ready for the upcoming season. They are going to work their players hard and fill the holes they have with exactly the right players.

It is the same thing TCU's head coach has been doing here throughout his entire tenure. He has his team at the top of the mountain and, with a tough conference showdown against Boise State looming large, it will show just how good this team as it heads to the BCS confines of the Big East Conference.


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TCU Takes Aim at Boise State in Their Final Year in the Mountain West Conference

The TCU Horned Frogs and the Boise State Broncos will finally battle in a game that does not have a BCS logo on the field. Both schools will play one season as conference foes in the Mountain West Conference before TCU ships off to the Big East for the 2012 season.

Three years ago, these two teams would meet in San Diego for the 2008 Poinsettia Bowl in a game that did not really mean all that much to either team. Not to say either team wanted to prove a point, it just was not the kind of bowl either of these teams were hoping for at the end of the season.



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Mid-way through the first half the Broncos had held TCU scoreless before Aaron Brown scored on a 16-yard touchdown run to pull the Horned Frogs to within six, 13-7, at the half.

It seemed to be the momentum TCU needed. Their defense stepped up and held Boise State to just three points in the second half and pulled out a 17-16 win.

Just over a year later, these two teams would face each other again. This time it would pit the two mid-major teams against each other in the 2010 Fiesta Bowl. It was the first time in BCS history that a mid-major team, Boise State, would get an at large bid to play in a BCS bowl game.

Just like in the Poinsettia Bowl, Boise State jumped out to a quick 10-0 lead but would give up a late touchdown to TCU quarterback Andy Dalton with under a minute left in the first half. This game was shaping up to go exactly the same way as the Poinsettia Bowl had gone.

By the end of the third quarter TCU had tied the game, 10-10, and looked to be on their way to beating Boise State in a bowl game for the second straight year.

The Broncos were not about to let that happen. After a Doug Martin touchdown to give the Broncos a 17-10 lead, their defense would do the rest shutting TCU down for the remainder of the game and allowing Boise State to walk away with their second Fiesta Bowl victory, 17-10.

After two bowl games and a combined 60 points between these two teams, you would have to think that a conference showdown between TCU and Boise State would be one to watch. The Broncos can play the underdog all they want but it's TCU who wants to play spoiler in more ways than one.

After the departure of the Utah Utes to the PAC-12 and BYU going independent, TCU was the only big time team left in the Mountain West Conference. Rumors began to spread that the Horned Frogs were looking for greener pastures of their own.

Some thought the WAC and Mountain West would join forces once again to create one big conference in order to chase an automatic BCS berth. Others believed the MWC was wooing such schools as Houston, SMU, and others to try and keep the Horned Frogs from jumping ship.

After bringing on Boise State and following that up with Fresno State, Nevada, and Hawaii, all from the Western Athletic Conference, it looked like the MWC was going to get their wish and would be able to keep TCU close to home.

However, the Big East came calling with their automatic BCS bid and TCU could not resist the temptation of playing in a BCS bowl game year in and year out. It would benefit the program, and the school itself, in a lot of ways. It was more than enough to convince them to sign on the dotted line, allowing them to look forward to things to come.

So, in 2011, TCU and Boise State will battle as conference foes for the first and last time. A rivalry, though a small one, has begun between these two teams and this game may hold implications for not only further showdowns but also with bragging rights.

As the Horned Frogs finish up their final season as members of the Mountain West Conference, they can end their time by stealing victories and the conference championship trophy. Taking it with them to their new conference, thumbing their nose the whole way.

Their conference has already stolen from them, taking their home game against Boise State and handing it to the Broncos instead. The phrase "don't poke an angry dog with a stick," is exactly what the athletic directors from around the conference did by taking the home game away from the veteran and handing it to the rookie.

TCU wants to be the one to laugh last and laugh the longest. They would like nothing more than to throw a blowout on the Broncos and yelling out "how do you like us now" while boarding the team bus.

This could be an epic battle between these two super power mid-major programs and two already legendary coaches, Chris Petersen and Gary Patterson.

Boise State might get the most national attention, both good and bad, but TCU has waited a long time for their chance in the spotlight.

After their battle on November 12th, someone might end up writing a book titled, "The Silence of the Broncos."


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What Keeps Gary Patterson at TCU?

There are a few head coaches in college football who remain at their current jobs when most of wonder what keeps them from moving to a big time, BCS school. One of those is TCU head coach, Gary Patterson.

Like Kyle Whittingham of Utah and Chris Petersen of Boise State, Patterson has been one name who seems to be talked about during each and every college football off season. With every job opening, Patterson's name comes up and he becomes one of the hottest rumors on the internet.

But no sooner do these rumors come up, TCU and it's football coach are quick to make sure no one throws gas on the fire. They make it clear TCU is the place for him and it's where he is going to remain.

The question everyone seems to ask is, what keeps him with the Horned Frogs? Why stay at a school in the Mountain West Conference and not take a higher paying job in a big time BCS conference which would give him a chance at a national championship?

"There's been a lot of people in college football who left for where they think the grass is greener," TCU athletic director Chris Del Conte told ESPN's Pat Forde back in December of last year. "They're chasing ghosts. For every Urban Meyer, there's nine guys that caught the train on the way down and say, 'I should have never left.'

Patterson is someone who has become well known not only in the Fort Worth, Texas area but around every circle of college football. Del Conte even argues Patterson could very well become TCU's version of Penn State's Joe Paterno.

"He is that guy for us who can become a JoePa. Everyone knows him -- his strengths and his weaknesses, he told Forde. "Gary's strength is that he is true to himself -- honest, super intense, genuine. … It's him against the world to prove, 'Hey, I am a dang good coach.'"

Del Conte could not be more right. His reputation and coaching styles has led to the kind of recruits he has been able to bring in to the small school on the west side of the metroplex. Some would say TCU shouldn't be able to recruit against the likes of Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and the like but it seems the Horned Frogs are doing just fine.

All of Patterson's efforts came together during the 2010 season. The leadership of quarterback, Andy Dalton, and their shutdown defense led to the program's first ever birth into the granddaddy of them all--The Rose Bowl.

While a victory over the Wisconsin Badgers was sweet, it was just another notch in the belt for TCU's head coach. It was certainly a victory which put Patterson and his program on the national map. So much so that it allowed the university to begin, and finish, negotiations with the Big East Conference to make them the newest member as well as becoming a BCS conference team.

All of his accomplishments as well as the accomplishments of the teams he is able to put together have made the name, Gary Patterson, an even bigger name around the college football landscape. He has proved year in and year out that he is more than happy being the head coach of Texas Christian University and has no plans of being anywhere else.

You have to respect a coach who isn't out for a bigger pay day and a bigger program. Patterson is not the kind of guy who wants to build up his name at one place just to move on.

They have been loyal to him and he has return that loyalty a few times over. He is beloved among the fans and the players who have played for him and those who continue to suit up in TCU colors.

While they may not be the biggest school in college football or one of the more respected, Gary Patterson will continue to bring in some of the best recruits in college football and will continue to make noise on the national stage from one year to the next.

There is no doubt Patterson will continue to get interest from every school that has a job opening, it will not take long for them to realize they will not have enough to be able to pry him away.

Now that TCU will become the newest BCS member after the 2011 football season, it will give Patterson the opportunity to recruit even better players and, for the first time, make a legitimate run at the BCS National Championship.


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TCU's Move to the Big East Was the Right Move at the Right Time

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When TCU head coach Gary Patterson saw the writing on the wall after Utah departed and BYU was in the middle of considerations to follow them out the door, it seemed to him that there was no other decision to make. They needed to look for a way out of the Mountain West Conference which was quickly becoming the old version of the Western Athletic Conference.

Most of the talk shows in the Dallas/Ft Worth area had callers wondering why the Big 12 hadn't come calling. The answer to that was simple. There wasn't enough money in it for the conference to consider them. It's not that the Horned Frogs wouldn't have fit in and been better than schools like Baylor, Kansas, and Kansas State to name a few, at least in football. The conference wouldn't see enough revenue coming in from the school, especially in the television ratings.

There's no doubt there are some hardcore TCU fans in the area but let's not kid ourselves, this is a state ruled by either the Texas Longhorns or the Oklahoma Sooners. No offense to the Horned Frogs, you just don't get top billing around here.

But, that didn't mean they didn't need to make a decision about their future. Especially if they didn't want to get stuck in the same old rut they had been in over the past few years. Even though Boise State was coming in, TCU still knew that the MWC receiving an automatic BCS bid was still going to be close to impossible.

That's when a new conference came calling, one that Patterson and the university couldn't ignore. It meant a move to a conference east of the plain states and it meant a whole new realm of possibilities for each of the athletic programs.

The conference that came calling was the Big East and TCU wasted no time in accepting the invitation. It left the MWC stunned and unable to recover no matter what kind of moves they made.

Fresno State, Nevada and Hawaii were brought in but they knew the loss of Utah, BYU and now TCU was more than they would be able to recover from. They had built another version of the WAC, the same conference that split apart almost 12 years ago.

For those of you who blame them for leaving you might want to ask Boise State if they would have re-thought their decision about jumping to the MWC if they had known TCU was about to leave. My guess is, they would have held out for a better offer. Maybe they would have gotten the Big East offer that TCU received or possibly gotten an invite as well.

The Horned Frogs made a move that was beneficial to their university at the exact right time. They knocked down half of their football stadium and plan to rebuild it in time for the 2011 college football season. The stadium, when finished, will hold 40,000 fans and according to an article from CBS Sports' Dennis Dodd the weight room will go from 8,000 square feet up to 20,000 square feet.

Not a bad piece of real estate, right?

The changes being made at TCU, on top of their big Rose Bowl win over Wisconsin this past January, has put the Horned Frogs on the map when it comes to some of the top recruits in the country. After signing day had concluded, the Horned Frogs' recruiting class was ranked among the top 25 in the nation.

Though they lost 14 starters from last season, this wasn't a rebuilding class for TCU, this was a reloading class that will keep them as a dangerous team in college football for a long time to come.

Patterson has had his chance to walk away from the school. He's had job offers from other universities that have sought to bring him on and accomplish the same kind of success that he's built at TCU.

Unfortunately for them, as well as other schools who have gone after guys like Boise State's Chris Petersen and Utah's Kyle Whittingham, Patterson has stayed loyal to Texas Christian University. Though they've been known as just another small school in north Texas, he's built the name into so much more.

Now they're the school that won the Rose Bowl in their first ever appearance in the 'Grandaddy of Them All,' and the school that knocked off would be Big Ten powerhouse, Wisconsin.

It's no small feat to be sure but the head football coach at that small little school in Fort Worth uses the naysayers to get his players jacked up for each and every game on their schedule. They proved that going on the road to Utah who was ranked in the top five in the nation. They didn't beat Utah, the humiliated them on their home field in front of their home fans.

It was the start of what become a tremendous season for the Horned Frogs. One not to be forgotten.

But for those that think this team is a one-hit wonder, you might want to think again. As long as Gary Patterson is the head coach at TCU, this program is going to be hanging around the BCS rankings for a long time.

You better get used to that now, because it's not changing any time soon.


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