As Tennessee embarks on its fourth coaching search in ten years, here’s a quick look at Vols coaching candidate Gary Patterson.
Gary Patterson’s coaching experience (57 years old)
Patteron has been TCU’s head coach since 2000, has a statue outside the stadium and currently has the Horned Frogs at 5-2. Prior to his time at TCU, he was the defensive coordinator at the school and was New Mexico’s before that. Also was an assistant at Kansas State, Tennessee Tech, UC Davis, Cal Lutheran, Pittsburgh State, Sonoma State, Utah State and Navy prior to that.
GRT taxonomy of college football coaches: The Proven Winner, Level Two – Major Conference Champion; Guru (defense)
Why the Tennessee Vols might want Gary Patterson
He’s one of the best standing coaches in all of college football and has proven his prowess building powerhouses on both sides of the ball and turning them into national contenders. He’s only making $5.1 million, and while that’s a good bit of money, the Vols could sweeten that pot. Patterson would be an instant-impact hire with ties to Texas, and he’d be a perfect fit.
Why the Tennessee Vols might not want Gary Patterson
Tennessee shouldn’t have any. But, much like the Mike Gundy situation in 2012, if Patterson was “interested” would it only be to get a raise? TCU has deep pockets and likely could match a price to keep him. Patterson is 57, so does he really want to start over somewhere else, especially at a place that snubbed him back in 2009 when Mike Hamilton reportedly told Patterson he believed he wasn’t ready for the big stage? Would he publicly turn the Vols down? Based on what happened in 2009, you’d probably want a sure sign of interest before you went that direction.