Gary Patterson likes to complain.
If it isn't sandbagging over being picked second in the Big 12 ...
"Two years ago we were picked sixth," TCU's coach reminded reporters.
... it's the uneasiness with having his own statue on campus.
"The first thing he told us is, 'Now I have to win even more. They have a statue of me,'" defensive end Josh Carraway said. "That's only for people that have died."
The Frogs' coach never seems to be satisfied with much of anything. That doesn't make Patterson much different than most FBS coaches. It does make it easy to cut the kinetic coach some slack when TCU's fortunes slump.
When they do, GP doesn't make excuses. There were plenty of them available last season. Ten defensive starters lost playing time in 2015 due to injuries, four of them were season ending.
Because of that disabled list math, TCU can accurately claim 11 returning defensive starters this season. (The official number is seven).
Considering an otherwise excellent 11-2 season, the injuries might have cost the Frogs a Big 12 championship. But you'll never hear it that way from Patterson, 143-47 in 15 seasons at TCU.
"You don't try to manufacture chaos," the coach said. "For me you try to solve as many problems as quickly as you can."
At one point, a couple of backup safeties found themselves starting at linebacker. The Frogs had to win games with the arm and feet of quarterback Trevone Boykin. The 27.2 points allowed were the most by a Patterson defense in over a decade.
The Frogs still started 8-0, reaching the top five in the polls.
Not exactly a failure. In the end Patterson enjoyed his 10th season of at least 10 wins.
The Frogs could compile a similar 11-win season in 2016. If, as expected, Texas A&M transfer Kenny Hill snags the quarterback job, the drop-off from Boykin won't be severe.
We know Hill's floor. He ran into off-field problems at College Station and lost the job. But in the in middle of all of it, Kenny "Trill" also set the Aggies' single-game passing record against South Carolina in 2014. For a while, there was Heisman talk.
"I think [Hill] has a chip on his shoulder," Carraway said.
The quarterback's ceiling suggests he could be the perfect fit in Year 3 of the hurry-up spread offense directed by co-coordinators Sonny Cumbie and Doug Meacham. Both have been approached for jobs after TCU's mad offensive scientists have combined for a 23-3 record in two seasons.
They have remained loyal to Patterson, college football's ultimate mad scientist. GP was smart enough to re-tool is offense two seasons ago to fit the Big 12 culture. He also has a dislike of rival Baylor that cannot be stifled.
What you don't hear is much talk about No. 13 TCU actually winning the Big 12 for the second time in three years. No. 3 Oklahoma is bordering on being prohibitive favorite over the Frogs.
But TCU doesn't leave the state of Texas to play a game until Oct. 8. The OU game is at home on Oct. 1.
If anything, Patterson doesn't get enough credit for holding things together last season. When Boykin was suspended for the Alamo Bowl due to a late-night altercation, Bram Kolhausen made his only career start.
He led the biggest comeback in bowl history after the Frogs fell behind Oregon 31-0. Twenty-seven of the 30 receptions that night went to freshmen or sophomores. That suggests Patterson will be able to absorb the loss of Josh Doctson and Kolby Listenbee.
There are only a handful of coaches anywhere who've gotten their own statues while their still above ground. Nick Saban, Bill Snyder and Joe Paterno -- until he passed in January 2012 - come to mind.
Patterson's own personal bronze likeness was unveiled in early April. He had long since felt mortal. The coach lost 30 pounds following knee replacement surgery in January.
That didn't stop him from swimming with sharks on vacation in the Galapagos Islands.
" ... obviously not being retired and not being dead," the flesh-and-blood GP hopes to make his statue proud.
