TCU Horned Frogs football

TCU Horned Frogs football
2016 TCU Horned Frogs football team
First season	1896
Athletic director	Chris Del Conte
Head coach	Gary Patterson 16th year, 149–52 (.741)
Stadium	Amon G. Carter Stadium
Seating capacity	45,000
Field surface	Grass
Location	Fort Worth, Texas
NCAA division	Division I FBS
Conference	Big 12
Past conferences	Mountain West (2005–2011) C-USA (2001–2004) WAC (1996–2000) SWC (1923–1995) TIAA (1914–1920)
All-time record	626–531–15 (.541)
Bowl record	15–15–1 (.500)
Claimed nat'l titles	2 (1935, 1938)[1]
Conference titles	18
Heisman winners	1
Consensus All-Americans	17[2]
Colors	Purple and White[3]
Fight song	TCU March
Mascot	Super Frog
Rivalries	Baylor Bears SMU Mustangs Texas Tech Texas Longhorns
Website	GoFrogs.com

The TCU Horned Frogs football team is the intercollegiate football team of Texas Christian University (TCU). The Horned Frogs compete in Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States.

Since 2012, the Horned Frogs have been a member of the Big 12 Conference, and were previously members of the Mountain West Conference (MWC), Western Athletic Conference (WAC), Conference USA (C-USA), Southwest Conference (SWC), and Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association (TIAA).

TCU began playing football in 1896 and claims national championships in 1935 and 1938. TCU has one Heisman Trophy winner, Davey O'Brien, and has had eight former players inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. The Horned Frogs play their home games in Amon G. Carter Stadium, which is located on the TCU campus in Fort Worth.

TCU ranks as the 28th best college football program of all time and the 4th best private college football school of all time. (Private schools#1Notre Dame, #2USC, #3Miami, #4TCU) http://collegefootballnews.com/2016/ap-college-football-rankings-greatest-programs-of-all-time.

History

Early Years (1896–1922)

TCU's first year of football started on December 7, 1896, when it still went by the name AddRan Male & Female College. TCU won its first game ever played by beating Toby's Business College to the score of 8–6, apparently not having to use any substitutes. TCU finished its first ever season with a record of 12–0–0. ^[4]

Prior to joining the Southwest Conference in 1923, TCU amassed a record of 165–15–0. In 1912, TCU went 8–1–0 and scored 230 points while only allowing 53 points the whole season.

In 1920, TCU won its first conference title as a member of the Texas Intercollegiate Athletic Association (TIAA). The Horned Frogs' 9–1–0 record earned them a spot in the Fort Worth Classic, also known as the Dixie Bowl, against Centre College. Although the game was played in Fort Worth, Centre won the game 63–7.^[5]

Early Southwest Conference years (1923–1933)

In 1923, TCU endured a 5-game winning streak during its first year in the SWC, but it earned a 2–1–0 conference record and a 5–4–0 overall record. One loss that year was a 40–21 decision against TCU's emerging rival, the SMU Mustangs, who went 9–0 en route to a conference championship.^[6] The next year, TCU finished second place in the conference with a 5–1 SWC record and another 5–2 overall record.^[7]

After two great seasons, the Horned Frogs righted the ship. Prior to 1923 TCU had had a revolving door of coaches, with no coaching the football for more than two years. Following entrance to the SWC, the school established a high degree of stability, employing just four coaches over the next 43 years, and would not hit last place again until 1953.^[5] Under those four coaches (Bell, Schmidt, Meyer, and Martin, the Frogs accumulated a record of 262–165–30.

Matty Bell, who began coaching the Frogs in 1923, had his best year in 1928, his last year as coach. That year's only losses came at home 7–6 to the Baylor Bears and to Texas by a score of 6–0. That year the Frogs finished in second place in the conference at 8–2–0 overall and 3–2 in conference play.^[8]

The 1929 season saw the arrival of Coach Francis Schmidt and TCU's first SWC title. The title was won in the last game of the year on November 30, 1929 against SMU. Coming into the game TCU led SMU in the conference standings. TCU had 4 wins, while SMU's conference record was 3–0–1. Since this was the last conference game of the year for both teams, TCU could win its first SWC title with a win or a tie. The first half of the game was scoreless, but in the third quarter Weldon "Speedy" Mason tacked on 40 yards to a 16-yard pass from SMU quarterback Bob Gilbert. After the extra point, the Mustangs led 7–0. TCU would not score until its second time on the SMU] 1-yard line in the fourth quarter. That is when TCU quarterback Howard Grubbs ran behind All-SWC fullback Harlos Green and Mike Brumbelow for the game-tying score. The Frogs left plenty of time on the clock for SMU to answer their score, but Grubbs, now playing defense, intercepted Gilbert's pass. TCU then ran the clock out to force the tie and to win its first SWC title.^[9]

The Dutch Meyer era (1934–1952)

1935 began the first year for TCU coach Dutch Meyer. That year TCU and SMU again met to decide not only the SWC title but the first trip to the Rose Bowl for a team from the SWC. Grantland Rice of the New York Sun called it the "Game of the Century" and reported the following:

In a TCU Stadium that seated 30,000 spectators, over 36,000 wildly excited Texans and visitors from every corner of the map packed, jammed, and fought their way into every square foot of standing and seating space to see one of the greatest football games ever played…this tense, keyed up crowd even leaped the wire fences from the top of automobiles…"^[10]

SMU scored the first 14 points of the game. TCU, led by All-American quarterback Sammy Baugh, tied the game at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Then, with seven minutes left in the game SMU, on a 4th and 4 on the Frogs' 37 yard-line, lined up to punt. Quarterback Bob Finley threw a 50-yard pass to running back Bobby Wilson who made what is described as a "jumping, twisting catch that swept him over the line for the touchdown."^[10] TCU would lose the game 20–14, but would be invited to play the LSU Tigers in the 1936 Sugar Bowl, where the Frogs would be victorious 3–2 at messy and muddy Tulane Stadium.^[11]

Even with the loss to SMU, who later lost to Stanford in the 1936 Rose Bowl, TCU claims 1935 as a national championship year. Dan Jenkins states that one of the first statistical national polls was created by Frank G. Dickinson in 1924. By 1935 there were several other polls, and "…only one of them was big and caught on big and rivaled Dickinson. This was the Paul O. Williamson System out of New Orleans. It quickly gained nation-wide respect and a large syndicated circulation."^[12] The Williamson System awarded TCU a shared championship with LSU in 1935, the year before the first sportswriter poll by the Associated Press. The Dickinson poll awarded SMU the national title, and several smaller polls designated the University of Minnesota and Princeton University as their champions^[13]

Meyer led TCU to a win in the inaugural Cotton Bowl Classic in 1937. A year later, TCU would go undefeated in 1938 behind TCU's only Heisman Trophy winner—quarterback Davey O'Brien. That year the Frogs' closest game came against the University of Arkansas where they beat the Razorbacks 21–14 in Fort Worth. They were invited to the 1939 Sugar Bowl and beat the Carnegie Tech Tartans from Pittsburgh by a score of 15–7 in front of more than 50,000 spectators.^[14]

Meyer coached TCU from 1934 to 1952, compiling a record of 109–79–13.^[15] He also won seven Southwest Conference titles. During Meyer's tenure, TCU played in the first nationally televised regular season game against Kansas.

The Abe Martin era (1953–1966)

When Dutch Meyer retired, his backfield assistant, Abe Martin, became head coach at TCU. One of his three tries at a SWC title came in 1958. The Frogs only losses were to Iowa by a score of 0–17 and at #18 SMU, 13–20.^[16] The 1958 season ended in a scoreless tie against the Air Force Falcons in the 1959 Cotton Bowl Classic. Martin-led TCU teams amassed a 1–3–1 record in bowl games. The lone win came in the 1957 Cotton Bowl Classic against a Jim Brown-led Syracuse team in front of 68,000 spectators.^[17] A blocked extra-point attempt was the difference in the game and allowed the Horned Frogs to win 28–27.^[18]

After TCU won the 1959 SWC championship, the Horned Frogs did not earn another share of the conference title for twenty years. During this time, TCU played the role of the underdog. In 1961, Bill Van Fleet of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram called the Horned Frogs' 6–0 win at then-No. 1 Texas, "the season's greatest upset of the year."[17] In 1965, TCU traveled to El Paso to play in the Sun Bowl against UTEP; the Frogs lost[18] 13–12.

Taylor/Pittman/Shofner/Dry Era (1967–1982)

After Abe Martin's coaching retirement, the state of football at TCU declined in the late 1960s and into the 1970s. Coaches Fred Taylor, Jim Pittman, and Billy Tohill showed limited success from 1967 until 1973. Pittman had a .500 (3–3–1) record in his lone season when he succumbed to a sideline heart attack at Baylor in game eight of 1971. Under Coach Jim Shofner ('74–'76) the Frogs struggled mightily to a 2–31 record that included a winless 1976 campaign. F.A. Dry's coaching administration commenced in 1977 and reveled in a 2–9 record after the previous poor seasons. In his six seasons, Dry's Frog teams mustered only 12 wins total and no seasons with more than 3 wins.

Jim Wacker (1983–1991) and NCAA Probation

TCU would have a successful year in 1984 under coach Jim Wacker. That year TCU leaned on All-American running back Kenneth Davis. The squad started the season 8–0 finishing the regular season with three losses. The Frogs got invited to the Bluebonnet Bowl in Houston that year to play the West Virginia Mountaineers. The Frogs would lose against the Mountaineers 31–14 and finish with a record of 8–4. TCU wouldn't attend another bowl game until the 1994 Independence Bowl.

In 1986, the NCAA placed TCU on three-year probation.^[19] They found that 6 boosters provided football recruits and football players with cash and other forms of payment. The final penalty of the NCAA was to ban TCU from post-season play for one season, a forfeiture of TV revenue for the 1983 and 1984 seasons, only 10 scholarships for the 1987–88 academic year and only 15 scholarships for the 1988–89 season. The NCAA said it would have given TCU a harsher penalty: a three-year ban from postseason play, a three-year television appearance ban and no new scholarships for two years.^[19] In the NCAA's public release they imposed a reduced penalty because TCU self-reported the violations, suspended the players in question, fully cooperated with the enforcement committee and presented a lack of previous infractions.^[19]

The Pat Sullivan era (1992–1997)

In 1992, TCU hired Pat Sullivan, the 1971 Heisman Trophy winner from Auburn, as head coach. His tenure at TCU was plagued with inconsistency, but marked the beginning of the new TCU renaissance.

In 1992, his first year as head coach, Sullivan introduced a new arched TCU logo. This change to the uniforms was part of a broader plan by Sullivan and the school to replace the expectation of losing with a new look and attitude, including returning to a natural grass playing field. Since its introduction the arched TCU has become the preferred and most popular of the school's logos.

In 1992 Sullivan's team finished 2–8–1, but one of their victories was a 28–14 triumph over the Texas Longhorns, which was a major accomplishment for the program at that time.

The 1993 team continued to show signs of improvement, finishing 4–7.

1994 was Sullivan's best year. In the final game of that season, Sullivan led TCU to a 24–17 victory over Texas Tech before a crowd of 43,000 at Amon Carter Stadium. That victory propelled the Frogs to a 7–5 record and a share of the Southwest Conference title. It was the first Southwest Conference title for TCU since 1959. Invited to the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana the Frogs lost, 20–10, to the Virginia Cavaliers.

After 1994, the team regressed: the Frogs went 6–5 in 1995, the last year of the Southwest Conference. TCU struggled even more during Sullivan's final two seasons, when the team competed in the Western Athletic Conference. They finished 4–7 in 1996, and a disastrous 1–10 campaign in 1997 led to Sullivan's mid-season resignation.

One of Coach Sullivan's greatest contributions to TCU was the recruitment of future NFL star running back LaDainian Tomlinson to Fort Worth.

Dennis Franchione (1998–2000)

Under Dennis Franchione, and with the stellar play of backs Tomlinson and Basil Mitchell, a 6–5 TCU defeated the USC Trojans in the 1998 Sun Bowl. The high point of the Franchione era was a 10–1 regular season record, a Mobile Alabama Bowl berth vs. Southern Miss and a season-ending #13 AP national ranking in 2000. In the three years Coach Franchione coached TCU, his bowl record was 2–0 and he accumulated three WAC Championships. Franchione coached the entire 2000 regular season, but left for the head coaching position at the University of Alabama prior to the 2000 Mobile Alabama Bowl.

The Gary Patterson era (2000–present)

Defensive Coordinator Gary Patterson took over as head coach for the bowl game in 2000, a 28–21 loss to Southern Miss. In 2001 TCU left the WAC for Conference USA (C-USA). TCU would stay in C-USA for only four years before accepting an invitation to join the newly formed Mountain West Conference (MWC).

Patterson led the Horned Frogs to six conference championships. In 2002, TCU shared the C-USA title with Cincinnati. In 2005, TCU won the MWC title their first year in the league, and the Frogs claimed additional conference crowns in 2009, 2010, and 2011, and Patterson's first conference championship in a "Power 5" conference, the Big 12, sharing the conference crown with rival Baylor in 2014. Patterson has had a winning season every year except 2004 and 2013, and TCU has gone to a bowl game every year except 2004 and 2013.

In the 2005 Houston Bowl, played at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas, the Horned Frogs defeated the Iowa State Cyclones by a score of 27–24.

In the 2006 Poinsettia Bowl TCU defeated the Northern Illinois Huskies 37–7.

In 2007, the Horned Frogs returned to play in the 2007 Texas Bowl, a revival of the old Houston Bowl, and defeated the Houston Cougars, 20–13.

In a return to the Poinsettia Bowl in 2008, the #11 Frogs defeated unbeaten #9 Boise State 17–16. Boise State was the second-to-last unbeaten team in the nation in 2008 besides the Utah Utes. TCU's Poinsettia Bowl victory helped them finish the 2008 season ranked #7 in the country.

In 2009, TCU again attained national prominence with its second undefeated regular season (12–0) and first since Dutch Meyer led the Frogs to perfection in 1938. They lost in the 2010 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl 17–10 to the Boise State Broncos, on January 4, 2010—their first major-bowl appearance since the 1959 Cotton Bowl.

In the following year, the Horned Frogs capped their second consecutive perfect regular season with a win in their first Rose Bowl, a 21–19 victory over Big Ten co-champion Wisconsin on New Year's Day, 2011. This capped off only the second undefeated and untied season in school history.

After going 11–2 and winning the Mountain West title again in 2011, the Horned Frogs played Louisiana Tech in the Poinsettia Bowl. TCU won 31–24 in a somewhat lackluster performance after narrowly (and somewhat controversially) missing their third BCS Bowl bid in a row. TCU finished 16th in the final BCS rankings, two slots below the cutoff for a non-AQ team to get a BCS bid. The win allowed Patterson to tie Meyer as the winningest coach in TCU history. On October 10, 2011, the TCU Board of Trustees approved an invitation to join the Big 12 Conference, and entered that conference on July 1, 2012. The move to the Big 12 was a return "home" in a sense for the Horned Frogs, as they renewed many of their in-state rivalries from the old Southwest Conference. Before the move to the Big 12, the Horned Frogs had been reckoned as one of the closest things to a major football power in a mid-major conference.

Amon G. Carter Stadium, the Horned Frogs' home field since 1929, concluded large renovations prior to the 2012 season. It featured a new press box, suites, club seats and improved fan amenities in many areas — new and more comfortable seating, wider concourses, new and improved restrooms and concessions areas, handicapped-accessible accommodations, elevators and escalators to move patrons among levels, and new lighting. The stadium was used during the 2011 season while being renovated.^[20]

The Horned Frogs played their first game in the renovated stadium on September 8, 2012, and routed Grambling 56–0. The win was also Patterson's 110th win with the Horned Frogs, making him the winningest coach in TCU history. TCU would finish their first regular season in the Big 12 at 7–5 before losing to Michigan State in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl 17–16.

The Horned Frogs returned to national prominence in 2014, after they finished the 2013 season with a disappointing 4–8 record. The Horned Frogs started with a 4–0 record to begin the year, with wins over Samford, SMU, #24-ranked Minnesota which would finish the season unranked, and rallying in the 4th quarter to beat #4-ranked Oklahoma, which would also finish the season unranked. After the upset of Oklahoma, the Horned Frogs rose to the #9 ranking going into their October 11 meeting with then #7-ranked Baylor. With approximately 11 minutes remaining in the game and despite Baylor leading in every offensive statistical category, TCU had a commanding 58–37 lead over the Bears. Baylor then dominated TCU by scoring 24 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to defeat the Horned Frogs 61–58. Baylor would finish the game with 782 yards of offense and 39 first downs compared to TCU's 485 yards of offense and 23 first downs.^[21] The Baylor game would be the lone loss for TCU in 2014, and despite having to rally against Big 12 bottom-dweller Kansas, they would win their remaining seven games behind the leadership of their Heisman Trophy finalist quarterback, Trevone Boykin. The Horned Frogs began to emerge as a National Championship contender after their convincing 41–20 win over then #7-ranked Kansas State. Despite their struggles against last-place Kansas and Oklahoma and their loss to Baylor, going into the final week of the regular season, TCU was ranked #3 in the newly formed College Football Playoff poll, which coincided with the new College Football Playoff system, whose format selects the Top 4 teams in the rankings at the end of the season to participate in a four-team playoff system to decide a National Champion. TCU soundly defeated Iowa State in their final regular season game to finish the 2014 season with an 11–1 record. Due to the Big 12 recognizing co-champions in football through 2014, the Horned Frogs also claimed a share of the Big 12 Conference Championship along with Baylor, despite their earlier head-to-head loss to Baylor. The Big 12 has since changed the tiebreaker rule, giving the head-to-head winner of tied teams the conference championship trophy, starting in 2015.^[22] On December 7, 2014, the final College Football Playoff rankings were released, and the Horned Frogs dropped to the #6 ranking in the poll, abruptly ending the Horned Frogs' National Championship hopes. TCU decimated #9 Ole Miss 42–3 in the Peach Bowl.^[23]

Home Stadium

The Horned Frogs have played their home football games at Amon G. Carter Stadium, located on the campus of TCU, since 1930.

Named for the famous Fort Worth newspaper magnate who made the original donation to finance the stadium, Amon G. Carter Stadium opened in 1930 with an original seating capacity of 22,000. The first game played in the stadium was in October, a 70–6 TCU victory over the Arkansas Razorbacks. Renovations in 1947 and 1955 added additional seating and an upper deck, which increased capacity to roughly 45,000. The stadium remained in this configuration until 2010, when a major renovation reduced the entire stadium to its original lower bowl, before erecting a new stadium on the same site. The design of the current Amon Carter stadium was influenced heavily by the surrounding architecture of Fort Worth, with emphasis on Art Deco style. The Frogs opened the new stadium in time for the 2012 season.

Amon G. Carter stadium features a natural grass field and a seating capacity of roughly 45,000. Standing-room only concourses allow capacity to exceed this number when ticket demand exceeds seating availability. The record attendance is 50,307 which took place on November 14, 2009 when the Frogs played the then No. 16 ranked Utah Utes. The final score was a whopping 55–28 in favor of the Frogs. The 2012-2012 renovation added a 54 ft. video board over the North endzone, with a smaller videoboard located in the Southeast corner.

Before Amon G. Carter Stadium, the Horned Frogs played their home games on campus at Clark Field, located at the current site of Mary Couts Burnett Library.

Uniforms

Colors

TCU's school colors are purple and white. Historically, black has also featured prominently in the school's uniforms. As early as 1935 the football team wore black leather helmets with a purple stripe, or occasionally purple helmets with a black stripe. Jerseys were purple with white numbers were, worn with beige or khaki pants.

Beginning with the introduction of plastic helmets in the 1946 TCU dropped black from their uniforms and introduced a new purple helmet with a white stripe. The team's pants remained khaki colored until the 1950s, when they were changed to white.

During this period the exact shade of TCU purple varied wildly depending on the uniforms worn, though a royal purple was most common. In 1971 the school hired Jim Pittman as its head coach. Pittman had been an assistant at the University of Texas when the Longhorns had changed their color from orange to burnt orange, and wanted to do something similar at TCU. Pittman chose to introduce a very pale shade of lilac into the TCU uniforms, and the team quickly became known as the "Lavender Hill Mob." These uniforms are often regarded as the worst in TCU's history. TCU returned to a royal purple in 1974 following Pittman's premature and tragic death on the sidelines.

Beginning in 1998, TCU began once again incorporating black into the uniforms. The practice was started by Coach Franchione, who introduced a new helmet with black facemask, and purple jerseys with black pants. In 2012 the school debuted helmets which featured a black stripe in addition to the black facemask, reflecting the helmets worn during the TCU championship years of the 1930s.

Helmets

TCU was the last school in college football to wear leather helmets, switching to hard plastic helmets in 1946. Prior to 1946 the TCU football team wore either black helmets with a purple stripe, or purple helmets with a black stripe. Since the introduction of plastic TCU helmet has gone through a number of designs.

In the 1950s TCU wore a purple helmet with white stripe down the middle. In 1954 a gray facemask was introduced, and in 1958 white numbers were added to the sides of the helmet.

In 1965 a new helmet was introduced featuring a purple shell and a white stylized Horned Frog on the side. A different, fiercer Horned Frog design was used for the 1966 helmets, featuring just the Frog's head. In 1967 the school used a pattern similar to that of Texas A&M.

In 1977 the school introduced a "Flying TCU" logo, which remained on the helmets until 1991, and remains popular with the school and especially students today. In 1992 Head Coach Pat Sullivan introduced an arched TCU design, which eventually became the official logo of the school. This logo has been featured on every TCU helmet, with slight variations, ever since.

Championships and bowl games

National Championships (2)

Year	Coach	Selector	Record	Bowl	Result
1935	Dutch Meyer	Williamson Poll	12–1	Sugar Bowl	TCU 3, LSU 2
1938	Dutch Meyer	AP Poll	11–0	Sugar Bowl	TCU 15, Carnegie Mellon 7
Total national championships:					2

TCU holds two national championships in football, one from 1935 and the other from 1938. In 1935, TCU spent most of the season ranked No. 1 in the country before losing a regular season game to then No. 2 ranked SMU in the "Game of the Century." SMU went on to lose to Stanford in the Rose Bowl, while TCU went on to beat LSU in the Sugar Bowl. Since the Associated Press and wire services didn't award national championships until 1936, TCU recognizes a statistical poll created by Paul O. Williamson who awarded his national title to LSU and TCU for the 1935 season. The 1938 team was undefeated and was the consensus #1 team in the Associated Press Poll.

Conference Championships (18)

TCU has won a combined 18 conference championships in six different conferences

Year	Conference	Coach	Record
1920	TIAA	W. L. Driver	9–1–0
1929	Southwest Conference	Francis Schmidt	9–0–1
1932	Southwest Conference	Francis Schmidt	10–0–1
1938	Southwest Conference	Dutch Meyer	11–0–0
1944	Southwest Conference	Dutch Meyer	8–3–0
1951	Southwest Conference	Dutch Meyer	6–5–0
1955	Southwest Conference	Abe Martin	9–2–0
1958	Southwest Conference	Abe Martin	8–2–1
1959 §	Southwest Conference	Abe Martin	8–3–0
1994 §	Southwest Conference	Pat Sullivan	7–5–0
1999 §	Western Athletic Conference	Dennis Franchione	8–4
2000 §	Western Athletic Conference	Dennis Franchione	10–2
2002 §	Conference USA	Gary Patterson	11–2
2005	Mountain West Conference	Gary Patterson	11–1
2009	Mountain West Conference	Gary Patterson	12–1
2010	Mountain West Conference	Gary Patterson	13–0
2011	Mountain West Conference	Gary Patterson	11–2
2014 §	Big 12 Conference	Gary Patterson	12–1
Total conference championships:		18

§ – Conference co-champions

• Note that the 1920 TIAA Championship was disputed between TCU and Austin College. Although TCU defeated the Kangaroos 9–7 on October 9, 1920, one of the TCU players, Allen Rowson, was declared ineligible after the 1920 season due to transfer rules.

Conference affiliations

Bowl games

In 2014, TCU became just the fourth program in history to have competed in all six of the modern day CFP bowls (Rose, Fiesta, Sugar, Cotton, Peach and Orange). TCU joined Florida State University, Miami(FL) and the University of Tennessee to earn this distinction. TCU has a combined 6–5–1 record in those bowls, notching wins in all but the Fiesta and Orange.

Date	Bowl	W/L	Opponent	PF	PA
January 1, 1921	Fort Worth Classic	L	Centre College	7	63
January 1, 1936	Sugar Bowl**	W	LSU	3	2
January 1, 1937	Cotton Bowl Classic**	W	Marquette	16	6
January 2, 1939	Sugar Bowl**	W	Carnegie Tech	15	7
January 1, 1942	Orange Bowl**	L	Georgia	26	40
January 1, 1945	Cotton Bowl Classic**	L	Oklahoma State	0	34
January 1, 1948	Delta Bowl	L	Mississippi	9	13
January 1, 1952	Cotton Bowl Classic**	L	Kentucky	7	20
January 2, 1956	Cotton Bowl Classic**	L	Mississippi	13	14
January 1, 1957	Cotton Bowl Classic**	W	Syracuse	28	27
January 1, 1959	Cotton Bowl Classic**	T	Air Force	0	0
December 19, 1959	Bluebonnet Bowl	L	Clemson	7	23
December 31, 1965	Sun Bowl	L	UTEP	12	13
December 31, 1984	Bluebonnet Bowl	L	West Virginia	14	31
December 28, 1994	Independence Bowl	L	Virginia	10	20
December 31, 1998	Sun Bowl	W	USC	28	19
December 22, 1999	Mobile Alabama Bowl	W	East Carolina	28	14
December 20, 2000	Mobile Alabama Bowl	L	Southern Miss	21	28
December 28, 2001	Galleryfurniture.com Bowl	L	Texas A&M	9	28
December 31, 2002	Liberty Bowl	W	Colorado State	17	3
December 23, 2003	Fort Worth Bowl	L	Boise State	31	34
December 31, 2005	Houston Bowl	W	Iowa State	27	24
December 19, 2006	Poinsettia Bowl	W	NIU	37	7
December 28, 2007	Texas Bowl	W	Houston	20	13
December 23, 2008	Poinsettia Bowl	W	Boise State	17	16
January 4, 2010	Fiesta Bowl*	L	Boise State	10	17
January 1, 2011	Rose Bowl*	W	Wisconsin	21	19
December 21, 2011	Poinsettia Bowl	W	Louisiana Tech	31	24
December 29, 2012	Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl	L	Michigan State	16	17
December 31, 2014	Peach Bowl**	W	Ole Miss	42	3
January 2, 2016	Alamo Bowl	W	Oregon	47	41
December 30, 2016	Liberty Bowl Georgia
Total	32 bowl games	15–15–1

* denotes BCS game. ** denotes New Year's Six Bowl game. ** Still denotes (New Year's Six) bowl games before BCS and CFP era

Top 25 finishes

Year	Record	AP Poll	UPI/Coaches Poll
1935	12–1	--	Shared National Championship (w LSU)
1936	9–2–2	12
1937	4–4–2	8
1938	11–0	1	Consensus National Championship
1951	6–5	11	10
1955	9–2	6	6
1956	8–3	14	14
1958	8–2–1	10	9
1959	8–3	7	9
2000	10–2	21	18
2002	10–2	23	22
2003	11–2	25	24
2005	11–1	11	9
2006	11–2	22	21
2008	11–2	7	7
2009	12–1	6	6
2010	13–0	2	2
2011	11–2	14	13
2014	12–1	3	3
2015	11–2	7	7

Individual awards

Retired numbers

• 5 LaDainian Tomlinson (2005)
• 8 Davey O'Brien (1939)
• 45 Sammy Baugh (1993)

National Awards

Coaching awards

College Football Hall of Fame inductees

The following Horned Frogs have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame:

AP 1st-Team All-Americans

Note: Unless otherwise indicated, all hometowns are in Texas.

Year	Position	Jersey #	Name	Hometown
1927	E	31	Rags Matthews	Fort Worth
1929	G	44	Mike Brumbelow	Jacksboro
1930	HB	5	Cy Leland	Lubbock
1932	G	44	Johnny Vaught	Fort Worth
1934	C	22	Darrell Lester	Jacksboro
1935	C	22	Darrell Lester	Jacksboro
1935	QB	45	Sammy Baugh	Sweetwater
1936	QB	45	Sammy Baugh	Sweetwater
1937	QB	8	Davey O'Brien	Dallas
1937	T	22	I. B. Hale	Dallas
1937	C	48	Ki Aldrich	Temple
1938	QB	8	Davey O'Brien	Dallas
1938	T	22	I. B. Hale	Dallas
1938	C	48	Ki Aldrich	Temple
1942	T	71	Derrell Palmer	Albany
1944	T	32	Clyde Flowers	Perryton
1949	QB	43	Lindy Berry	Wichita Falls
1951	C	34	Keith Flowers	Perryton
1951	QB	49	Ray McKown	Dumas
1951	T	77	Doug Conaway	Hillsboro
1955	HB	23	Jim Swink	Rusk
1955	C	54	Hugh Pitts	Dumas
1956	T	75	Norman Hamilton	Vanderbilt
1956	HB	23	Jim Swink	Rusk
1958	T	75	Don Floyd	Midlothian
1958	FB	20	Jack Spikes	Snyder
1960	T	72	Bob Lilly	Throckmorton
1963	FB	38	Tommy Crutcher	McKinney
1981	WR	7	Stanley Washington	Dallas
1984	RB	36	Kenneth Davis	Temple
1991	TE	86	Kelly Blackwell	Richland Hills
1995	K	17	Michael Reeder	Sulphur, LA
2000	RB	5	LaDainian Tomlinson	Waco
2002	LB	44	LaMarcus McDonald	Waco
2003	K	9	Nick Browne	Garland
2005	KR	17	Cory Rodgers	Houston
2009	DE	98	Jerry Hughes	Sugar Land
2010	S	3	Tejay Johnson	Garland
2015	WR	9	Josh Doctson	Mansfield
Total	39

Coaches

Head coaches

Years	Coach	Wins	Losses	Ties	Pct.
1897	Joe Field	3	1	0	.750
1898	James Morrison	1	3	1	.300
1902	H. E. Hildebrand	0	5	1	.083
1904	C.E. Cronk	1	4	1	.250
1905–1907	E.J. Hyde	10	11	2	.478
1908–1909	J.R. Langley	11	5	1	.676
1910	Kemp Lewis	2	6	1	.278
1911	Henry W. Lever	4	5	0	.444
1912	W.T. Stewart	8	1	0	.889
1913	Fred Cahoon	3	1	2	.667
1914	S. A. Boles	4	4	2	.500
1915	E. Y. Freeland	4	5	0	.444
1916–1917	Milton Daniel	14	4	1	.763
1918	E.M. Tipton	4	4	0	.500
1919	T.E.D. Hackney	1	7	0	.125
1920–1921	W. L. Driver	15	4	1	.775
1922	John McKnight	2	5	3	.350
1923–1928	Matty Bell	33	17	5	.645
1929–1933	Francis Schmidt	45	6	5	.848
1934–1952	Dutch Meyer	109	79	13	.575
1953–1966	Abe Martin	74	64	7	.534
1967–1970	Fred Taylor	15	25	1	.378
1971	Jim Pittman	3	3	1	.500
1971–1973	Billy Tohill	11	15	0	.423
1974–1976	Jim Shofner	2	31	0	.061
1977–1982	F. A. Dry	12	51	3	.205
1983–1991	Jim Wacker	40	58	2	.410
1992–1997	Pat Sullivan	24	42	1	.366
1998–2000	Dennis Franchione	25	10	0	.714
2000– present	Gary Patterson	143	47	0	.753

Current coaching staff

Name	Title
Gary Patterson	Head Coach
Jarrett Anderson	Offensive Line Coach
Rusty Burns	Outside Receivers
Sonny Cumbie	Co-Offensive Coordinator / Quarterbacks Coach
Zarnell Fitch	Director of High School Relations
Chad Glasgow	Safeties
Matt Lewis	Director of Football Operations
Curtis Luper	Running Backs
Doug Meacham	Co-Offensive Coordinator / Inside Wide Receivers
Dominique Neville	Asst Director of Football Operations
Kenny Perry	Cornerbacks Coach
Dan Sharp	Special Teams / Dir Player Personnel
Jake Brown	Graduate Assistant – Offense
David Gable	Associate Director of Sports Medicine
Paul Gonzales	Graduate Assistant – Defense
Bryson Oliver	Graduate Assistant – Offense
Don Sommer	Head strength and conditioning coach
Jason Teague	Graduate Assistant – Defense
Jeremy Modkins	Defensive Analyst
Matt Parker	Assistant strength and conditioning coach

Recruiting

Texas Christian University Horned Frogs Football Scout.com team recruiting rankings:

Class	Scout.com Rank	Commits	Top Commit
2013	44	23	Kyle Hicks
2012	38	24	Griffin Gilbert
2011	28	25	Ladarius Brown
2010	63	18	Sam Carter
2009	54	20	Malcolm Williams
2008	114	15	Walker Dille
2007	73	24	Jeremy Kerley
2006	73	19	Wayne Daniels
2005	63	21	Corderra Hunter
2004	70	21	Quincy Butler
2003	66	20	James Battle
2002	61	10	Robert Merrill

Rivalries

Because TCU was a member of the Southwest Conference for 72 years, rivalries remain with many of the schools that once participated in that conference. Most of former Southwest Conference members are located within the state of Texas.

Southern Methodist University

This rivalry is prominent for both schools, as both are located in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and were long-time members of the SWC before its dissolution. TCU leads the football series with SMU, 48–40–7.^[24] The SMU – TCU football game is called "The Battle for the Iron Skillet", with the winning team gaining possession of a ceremonial iron skillet. Since 1915, when SMU was founded and began football competition, the game has not been played in only three years when both fielded football teams — 1919, 1920 and 2006. The schools are scheduled to compete through at least 2016. Because they are no longer members of the same conference, annual meetings may or may not be scheduled after 2016.

Baylor University

The TCU-Baylor rivalry is one of the most-played rivalry games in college football. The series, which dates back to 1899, is also one of the most evenly-matched rivalries in the country and is currently split evenly with a 52–52–7 record. At its inception, the TCU–Baylor game, unofficially referred to as "The Revivalry" by some fans, was a battle of two cross-town rivals in Waco, Texas. When the main administration building at TCU, then known as AddRan Christian University, was destroyed by fire in the early 1900s, TCU relocated to Fort Worth, Texas, but the rivalry between two of the state's premier private universities continued.

Appropriately, given the more than century-long history of this highly-competitive rivalry, the first game between TCU and Baylor, played October 27, 1899, ended in a 0–0 tie. Each school achieved various period of dominance between 1899 and the breakup of the Southwest Conference at the conclusion of the 1995 season, but at the time the Southwest Conference disbanded, the Bears held only a slight 49–47–7 advantage. After a 10-year, post-Southwest Conference breakup hiatus, the series was renewed for 4 non-conference games in 2006, 2007, 2010 and 2011. TCU, then a member of the Mountain West Conference, notched a 3–1 non-conference record over Baylor in these games. The 2010 game, won by the Horned Frogs, featured a TCU team that would go on to complete a perfect 13–0 season and win the 2011 Rose Bowl Game. That 2010 TCU football season, to many, represented the reemergence of TCU football as a national power and carried great weight in earning the Horned Frogs an invitation to join the Big 12 Conference. The 2011 game, won by Baylor, featured Baylor's first Heisman Trophy winner, quarterback Robert Griffin, III. That 2011 Baylor football season, to many, represented the emergence of Baylor football to national relevance. After these consequential non-conference games, the series was tied at 50–50–7 when TCU joined Baylor as a member of the Big 12 Conference in 2012.

Texas Tech University

The football series dates back to 1926, 25–30–3.^[25] TCU was the first Southwest Conference team to play Texas Tech. The Texas Tech University Goin' Band from Raiderland was the first college marching band to travel to an away game when Will Rogers financed their trip to accompany the Red Raiders to Fort Worth.^[26][27]

After the collapse of the Southwest Conference, Texas Tech was the first of the schools that joined the Big 12 Conference in 1996 to schedule a non-conference game with TCU. This first post-Southwest Conference game between TCU and its former conference mate was played in the regular season in 2004.

Prior to Texas Tech joining the SWC, a traveling trophy was exchanged between the Horned Frogs and Red Raiders. The trophy was of a miniature saddle and the game between the teams was dubbed "The West Texas Championship."^[28] TCU and Texas Tech return to being conference mates, competing in football annually, in 2012. In 2014, 109 points combined was put up, in a 82–27 rout by TCU.

Other rivalries

Former SWC rivals include Houston, Rice, Arkansas, and Texas A&M. While in the C-USA, TCU engaged in new rivalries with Louisville and Southern Miss. In 2005, after joining (and winning) the Mountain West, TCU immediately started new rivalries with Utah and BYU, as they were the conference's top two programs. Because the Mountain West wasn't an automatic qualifier in the BCS, these 3 teams were always battling for an At-Large spot in one of the 4 BCS Bowls. Boise State was also in contention for one of the At-Large BCS spots, which led to a rivalry between TCU and Boise St. In 2011, after splitting bowl games in the 2008 and 2009 seasons (and Utah and BYU defecting to the Pac-12 and Independence/WCC, respectively), Boise State moved over from the WAC to join TCU in the Mountain West. Because Boise State replaced Utah in the conference schedule, the TCU-BSU game was supposed to be played in Ft. Worth, but as TCU was leaving for the Big East in 2012, the conference voted to have the game take place in Boise; this led to even more tension between the two schools. In fall 2010, after announcing intentions of moving to the Big East in 2012, fans of TCU and West Virginia, the class of the Big East, began debating which team would win the conference during their first season together, the "unproven" BCS Buster (TCU) or the established Big East power (WVU). In fall 2011, after Texas A&M and Missouri announced their intentions of moving to the SEC for 2012, TCU and West Virginia accepted invitations to join the Big 12 in that year. This only furthered the TCU-WVU debate, which has led to a small new rivalry. Also, with TCU replacing Texas A&M in the Big 12, their former rivalry sparked back up within the state through recruiting, press, and the fans, although not on the field.

All-time records versus rivals

Team	Traveling trophy	Games Played	TCU Win	TCU Loss	Ties	Win %	First Meeting	Last Meeting	Next scheduled Meeting
Baylor Bears		111	52	52	7	.500	1899	2015 won 21–28	2016 @ BU
SMU Mustangs	Iron Skillet	95	48	40	7	.542	1915	2015 won 56–37	2016 @ SMU
Texas A&M Aggies		92	29	56	7	.353	1897	2001 lost 9–28
Texas Longhorns		85	23	62	1	.273	1897	2015 won 50–7	2016 @ Texas
Rice Owls		79	41	35	3	.538	1914	2000 won 37–0
Arkansas Razorbacks		68	23	43	2	.353	1920	1991 lost 21–22	2016 @ TCU
Texas Tech Red Raiders	Saddle Trophy	57	24	30	3	.447	1926	2015 won 55–52	2016 @TCU
Houston Cougars		25	12	13	0	.480	1976	2007 won 20–13
BYU Cougars		11	6	5	0	.545	1987	2011 won 38–28
Utah Utes		8	3	5	0	.375	1996	2010 won 47–7
Boise State Broncos		4	2	2	0	.500	2003	2011 won 36–35

Future non-conference opponents

Announced schedules as of March 25, 2015^[29][30]

2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026	2027
vs Arkansas	at Arkansas	vs Ohio State	at Ohio State	at California	vs California	at Colorado	vs Colorado	at Stanford			vs Stanford
at SMU	vs SMU	at SMU
vs South Dakota State

Horned Frogs in professional football

Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees

• Sammy Baugh, QB (1963) Washington Redskins 1937–1952
• Bob Lilly, DT (1980) Dallas Cowboys 1961–1974

National Football League Most Valuable Player award

• LaDainian Tomlinson, RB (2006) San Diego Chargers

Super Bowl Most Valuable Player award

• Larry Brown, CB (1996) Dallas Cowboys

Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Player award

• Casey Printers, QB (2004) BC Lions

Grey Cup Most Valuable Player award

• Jason Tucker, WR (2003) Edmonton Eskimos

Horned Frogs currently in the NFL

As of November 30, 2015, there are 13 former TCU Football players on NFL active rosters.^[31]

• Jonathan Anderson, LB Chicago Bears
• Marcus Cannon, OT New England Patriots
• Tank Carder ILB Cleveland Browns
• Andy Dalton, QB Cincinnati Bengals
• P.J. Dawson, LB Cincinnati Bengals ^[32]
• Tayo Fabuluje, OT Chicago Bears
• Clint Gresham, LS Seattle Seahawks
• David Hawthorne, LB New Orleans Saints
• Jerry Hughes, OLB Buffalo Bills
• Colin Jones, S Carolina Panthers
• Jeremy Kerley, WR/KR, New York Jets
• Marshall Newhouse, OT, New York Giants
• Jason Verrett, CB San Diego Chargers

References

External links

• Official website