TCU kicked off a busy weekend with the inauguration of the school’s 11th chancellor with a ceremonious affair showcasing TCU’s time-honored traditions and full of academic pop.
For some reason, Gordon Gee was there.
Gee, once crossed off every guest list in Fort Worth for insulting the TCU Rose Bowl-bound football team and the Little Sisters of the Poor in one single string of syllables, presumably appeared here last week to face Texas justice.
Instead, he made us all fall in love with him.
How dare this guy make us like him? We want him back — as soon as possible. He fits right in here with his Dickies Arena-caliber verbal bits and George Burns-with-a-bow-tie wit, a wise-cracking elder statesman of higher education who never misses a punchline, even when it’s aimed at himself.
We need him on that wall.
“A few months ago, my dear friend Daniel Pullin called and asked if I believed in free speech,” Gee said as a guest speaker at the formal installation Thursday of Daniel Pullin as chancellor at the Van Cliburn Concert Hall. “Of course, I replied. He said, ‘Good. I want you to give one.’”
Gee brought his A-game as a speaker and humorist while performing the opening act for the headliner, Pullin, who is now officially TCU’s chancellor. Pullin is the 10th successor to Addison Clark, co-founder of the university who served in the capacity from 1873-1899.
The new chief executive vowed to lead in communion with the founders’ original intent.
“TCU’s founders Addison and Randolph Clark were Disciples of Christ ministers,” said Pullin. “They believed that faith, unity, scholarship, and service transforms lives. They are still correct. The same values of integrity and excellence, community and engagement, they remind us of the importance of learning, and learning lifts the human spirit and fosters a shared connection that sustains us all.
“And I know, Clark Brothers, your plan has never been about chasing trends or navigating the flashpoint item of the moment. Your plan, which is our plan, is based upon how we prepare our students to meet the world with wisdom and resilience, and purpose.”
Gee threw himself on the mercy of the court in acknowledging his “foot-in-mouth disease.” You undoubtedly recall some 15 or so years ago he declared, as only he could, that TCU’s football team, then a member of the Mountain West Conference, couldn’t be compared to teams in power conferences because the Horned Frogs’ competition was tantamount to playing the Little Sisters of the Poor.
“Did I get an earful about that?” said Gee, then president of Ohio State University and, today, president emeritus of West Virginia University. “I discovered two things about TCU supporters. They love this institution and second, they have a hell of a lot of money because they bought every billboard in Columbus, Ohio.
“Another thing is I had no idea there was an order called Little Sisters of the Poor. I got a call from Sister Mary Francis. She said two things to me. She said, ‘One, we do not play football. Two, we accept donations. It was one of those moments, but I loved TCU because of the fact that you treated me with great respect, and I was really dumb.”
He then went on to list off his reasons why TCU is a “great American university,” one, among them all, that will play an integral part in America’s next 250 years.
So, we untied him and let him go in peace.
On Friday, the assembly moved west across campus for ribbon cuttings in the athletic department involving the TCU Athletics Human Performance Center Expansion and Renovation Projects. That included the renovation of the Bob Lilly Performance Center, the opening of the Simpson Family Restoration and Wellness Center — along with the intriguing snow room — and the Mike and Brenda Harrison Football Performance Center.
Speaking of football — cue the rolling dark clouds and ominous Cape Fear score.
The Horned Frogs slipped into a snare on Saturday in a frustrating 20-17 loss to Iowa State, falling to 3-3 in the Big 12 and 6-3 overall.
“If you look at the stat sheet and you say which team won the game, you’d assume it was us,” coach Sonny Dykes said afterward. “But we didn’t do what it took to win.”
Three turnovers, a missed field-goal attempt, and a 79-yard punt return by Aiden Flora in the fourth quarter will do in a football team— any football team — every time. Those are serious no-nos.
Iowa State (3-4, 6-4) turned one of those Josh Hoover interceptions into a touchdown. The Cyclones scored 14 points between that turnover and the punt return gaffe, which included outkicking the coverage on the punt return. Add in the missed field-goal try and we’re talking a 17-point swing.
We really shouldn’t even be talking about this. It’s on to BYU, with two more to play after that.
“We’ve got to get excited to play them,” Dykes said. “We’re very disappointed we lost this game. We felt like we let this get away from us. … But our guys are going to play hard, they love this football team, they love this university. They’ll play hard.”
Dr. Gordon Gee, our new friend, once reputedly said that to be a college president, one needed “a thick skin, a good sense of humor, and nerves like sewer pipes.”
Same thing for a college football coach. The critics start sharpening their claws. The jackals start howling.
But was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell, no.