FORT WORTH
Former TCU football coach F.A. Dry is 95 years old. He won 12 games in six unsuccessful seasons from 1977-82.
Now, he’s lived long enough to see a growing portion of the Horned Frogs’ fanbase want to fire a coach who has won 39 games in less than five seasons.
These are strange days to be a college football fan. A 24-team playoff on the horizon. The constant threat of another round of conference realignment. For TCU, an offense that can’t score more than two touchdowns against a Power Four opponent, coming up short again in Saturday’s 24-20 loss to West Virginia at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
On the one hand, TCU should probably erect a statue of Sonny Dykes, or name a building after him, or something. He guided the Horned Frogs to the national championship game in his first season (2022) and has posted back-to-back nine-win campaigns capped by bowl victories, a shocking rarity in the history of TCU football.
On the other hand, 2022 is ancient history, and Dykes is 15-16 in the Big 12 since then. Not good enough.
I don’t envy the decision the TCU brass faces. As someone who was born and raised in Fort Worth, and remembers who the Horned Frogs were before Dennis Franchione and Gary Patterson came to town, the question that keeps rattling around my brain is this: How good is TCU football supposed to be?
The history of TCU football
I was born in 1978, during the tenure of the aforementioned Dry. Thankfully, my infant brain didn’t retain memories of that.
The first time I registered that TCU football existed came in 1984 when Jim Wacker led the Horned Frogs to an 8-3 regular season and a loss in the Bluebonnet Bowl, the program’s first bowl appearance since 1965. I remember “Wacker Backer” merchandise and real excitement across the city.
In actuality, Wacker’s success was incredibly modest, though he was hampered by a scandal tied to Dry’s tenure. Wacker won 40 games in nine seasons, a number Dykes will pass in his fifth year unless this season takes an even darker turn. Wacker had two winning seasons; Dykes has already had three.
By the time I left Fort Worth to go to college, TCU still hadn’t won a bowl in my lifetime and had only made one other appearance (the 1994 Independence Bowl).
Then Franchione took over and laid the foundation for Patterson’s rightfully revered Hall of Fame tenure.
All of that is to say, TCU is not exactly Alabama. The Horned Frogs’ mark on the sport comes down to … Sammy Baugh. Davey O’Brien. Dutch Meyer. Bob Lilly. LaDainian Tomlinson. Gary Patterson. That’s about it. And three of those names predate World War II.
The Horned Frogs have won at least nine games including a bowl merely 15 times, and three of those are in the past four years under Dykes. But herein lies his biggest problem with a sizable portion of the fanbase: Nine of those other 12 seasons came under Dykes’ predecessor, Patterson.
Sonny Dykes cannot compete with the shadow of Gary Patterson. His 21-year run cannot be matched — 11 10-win seasons, 11 bowl victories, seven times finishing in the top 10 of the final Associated Press poll.
But let’s get real and take a hard look at those 21 years. Eight of the 10-win seasons, seven of the bowl victories and four of the top-10 finishes came when TCU played in Conference USA or the Mountain West, not the Big 12. In Patterson’s 10 years in a power conference, he had three tremendous 11-win seasons, and then his next-best season was going 6-4 in the 2020 COVID year. He had two 7-6 seasons, and four losing seasons.
Suddenly, Sonny Dykes posting records of 13-2, 5-7, 9-4 and 9-4 is not the embarrassment some fans seem to believe it is.
Sure, TCU would prefer to be in the mix for the conference title, but isn’t this more what the program is? A team that almost always has a winning record, and every now and then reaches another level and competes for the national championship?
Sonny Dykes’ problems this season
That brings us to this seemingly doomed 2026 campaign.
The Horned Frogs have lost games by the scores of 15-10, 21-13, 17-10 and 24-20. Now, admittedly, this is something that losing teams say, but TCU really could easily be 6-1 or even 7-0 instead of 3-4. Its defense has been excellent, while its new quarterback-offensive coordinator combo has not.
Of course, Sonny Dykes recruited Jaden Craig in the transfer portal and hired Gordon Sammis. Their shortcomings are on him. But both of those moves made perfect sense when they happened. Craig was highly rated, and the plan to try to be more physical with Sammis’ pro-style attack in a league increasingly dominated by teams built in the trenches like Texas Tech, BYU and Utah seemed smart.
Things just haven’t worked out. The more the season goes on, TCU’s main problem lies on the offensive line and the lack of a running game, not with Craig. (Injuries to wide receiver Jordan Dwyer and running back Jeremy Payne haven’t helped.) Sammis was hired as an offensive line guru, and I’d be interested to see what he can do with a full offseason and recruiting/portal cycle.
All of this is easy for me to say. I’m not a TCU alum, and my self-worth isn’t wrapped up in how the football team performs.
There’s a lot of that going around college football. Looking just at Power Four teams in Texas, only Houston’s Willie Fritz and SMU’s Rhett Lashlee seem to have their fans’ full approval as coaches. Dave Aranda is all but gone at Baylor. Texas A&M’s Mike Elko won’t be fired this season, but he’s burned up a lot of goodwill from last year’s playoff berth. And as crazy as it sounds, Texas’ Steve Sarkisian and even Texas Tech’s Joey McGuire are each a loss away from facing some real scrutiny.
So, TCU fans, consider this a word of warning: You could do a lot worse than Sonny Dykes. You have done a lot worse.
The days of F.A. Dry and going crazy over a Bluebonnet Bowl bid weren’t that long ago.
Game schedule dates, times, locations Sept. 13 N.Y. Giants 28, Cowboys 20 Sept. 20 Cowboys 37, Washington 20 Sept. 27 Baltimore 34, Cowboys 31 Oct. 4 Cowboys 34, Houston 30 Oct. 8 Tampa Bay 24, Cowboys 16 Oct. 18 Green Bay 23, Cowboys 13 Oct. 26 at Philadelphia, 7:15 p.m., ESPN, ABC Nov. 1 vs. Arizona, 12 p.m., Fox Nov. 8 at Indianapolis, 12 p.m., Fox Nov. 15 vs. San Francisco, 3:25 p.m., Fox Nov. 22 vs. Tennessee, 12 p.m., Fox Nov. 26 vs. Philadelphia, 3:30 p.m., Fox Dec. 7 at Seattle, 7:15 p.m., ESPN, ABC Dec. 20 at L.A. Rams, 3:25 p.m., CBS Dec. 27 vs. Jacksonville, 7:20 p.m., NBC Jan. 3 vs. N.Y. Giants, 12 p.m., Fox Jan. 9 or 10 at Washington, TBA Aug. 29 North Carolina 15, TCU 10 Sept. 12 TCU 63, Grambling State 7 Sept. 19 TCU 31, Arkansas State 7 Sept. 26 Central Florida 21, TCU 13 Oct. 3 BYU 17, TCU 10 Oct. 17 TCU 17, Baylor 6 Oct. 24 West Virginia 24, TCU 20 Oct. 31 vs. Kansas, 2:30 p.m., FS1 Nov. 6 at Arizona, 9:15 p.m., ESPN Nov. 14 vs. Kansas State, TBA Nov. 21 vs. Utah, TBA Nov. 26 at Texas Tech, 7 p.m., ESPN Sept. 5 Indiana 52, North Texas 16 Sept. 12 North Texas 44, UNLV 6 Sept. 19 Texas State 49, North Texas 35 Sept. 26 North Texas 63, Houston Christian 14 Oct. 1 North Texas 45, Tulsa 44 (OT) Oct. 10 North Texas 50, Charlotte 10 Oct. 24 at Navy, 2:30 p.m. CBSSN Oct. 29 vs. Florida Atlantic, 6:30 p.m., ESPN or ESPN2 Nov. 7 vs. Rice, TBA Nov. 14 at UTSA, TBA Nov. 21 at Tulane, TBA Nov. 28 vs. UAB, TBA All home games at Crowley ISD Multi-Purpose Stadium Aug. 27 Central Oklahoma 59, Texas Wesleyan 7 Sept. 5 McNeese State 52, Texas Wesleyan 0 Sept. 12 Texas Wesleyan 56, Texas College 20 Sept. 26 Texas Wesleyan 41, Nelson 16 Oct. 3 Texas Wesleyan 34, Arkansas Baptist 27 Oct. 10 Louisiana Christian 42, Texas Wesleyan 27 Oct. 17 Mary Hardin-Baylor 38, Texas Wesleyan 22 Oct. 24 at Langston, 2 p.m. Oct. 31 vs. Oklahoma Panhandle State, 2 p.m. Nov. 7 at Ottawa (Arizona), 6 p.m. Nov. 14 at Wayland Baptist, 2 p.m. Oct. 21 Houston 128, Mavericks 110 Oct. 23 at Indiana, 6 p.m., KFAA, MavsTV+ Oct. 24 vs. San Antonio, 7 p.m., KFAA, MavsTV+ Oct. 26 at Miami, 6:30 p.m., KFAA, MavsTV+, NBA TV Oct. 28 vs. Oklahoma City, 8:30 p.m., ESPN, KFAA, MavsTV+ Oct. 30 vs. Houston, 7 p.m., ABC, KFAA, MavsTV+ Nov. 2 vs. Lindenwood, 7 p.m., ESPN+ Nov. 6 vs. Southern, 7 p.m., ESPN+ Nov. 10 vs. Louisiana-Monroe, 8 p.m., ESPN+ Nov. 13 vs. Milwaukee, 7 p.m., ESPN+ Nov. 19 vs. Texas A&M, 7 p.m., Peacock Nov. 3 vs. Oral Roberts, 6:30 p.m., ESPN+ Nov. 5 vs. Le Moyne, 6:30 p.m., ESPN+ Nov. 8 vs. Tarleton State, 2 p.m., ESPN+ Nov. 10 vs. Iona, 4 p.m., ESPN+ Nov. 12 vs. Southeastern Louisiana, 6:30 p.m., ESPN+ Oct. 10 Pittsburgh 2, Stars 1 (SO) Oct. 13 Colorado 3, Stars 2 Oct. 14 Stars 3, Colorado 2 (SO) Oct. 17 Stars 4, Chicago 0 Oct. 20 Stars 3, Boston 2 (OT) Oct. 22 vs. Winnipeg, 7 p.m., Fox, Amazon Prime Video Oct. 25 vs. N.Y. Islanders, 5 p.m., Amazon Prime Video Oct. 27 vs. New Jersey, 7 p.m., Amazon Prime Video Oct. 29 vs. Montreal, 7 p.m., Amazon Prime Video Oct. 31 vs. Columbus, 7 p.m., Amazon Prime Video Sept. 19 FC Dallas 0, Austin 0 Sept. 26 FC Dallas 1, LAFC 0 Oct. 10 Charlotte 3, FC Dallas 2 Oct. 14 FC Dallas 1, Seattle 0 Oct. 17 FC Dallas 2, Houston 2 Oct. 24 vs. San Jose, 7:30 p.m., Apple TV Oct. 28 vs. Columbus, 7:30 p.m., Apple TV Oct. 31 at Kansas City, 2 p.m., Apple TV Nov. 7 vs. Colorado, 6 p.m., Apple TV End of regular season Oct. 29-31 POWRi Racing Nov. 5-7 POWRi Racing Nov. 12-15 Southwest RV Supershow Dec. 5 Team Texas: David Starr’s Racing School Dec. 12 NASCAR Racing Experience April 30 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series SpeedyCash.com 250 May 1 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 May 2 NASCAR Cup Series Wurth 400
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Jim Barnes is the Star-Telegram’s sports editor. A Fort Worth native and graduate of Castleberry High School, he returned to Texas after 13 years at the Las Vegas Review-Journal. He previously was sports editor of the Waco Tribune-Herald and a freelance high school sports reporter for The Dallas Morning News.