As TCU’s fame has increased so has that of coach Gary Patterson – and it’s not always been positive.
Patterson has often come off as a surly coach, who speaks his mind (sometimes to his detriment) and was under the microscope last offseason for a drug culture that was seemingly brewing in his program and left four players dismissed and one, quarterback Casey Pachall, in a rehab center last season.
But that’s not the Gary Patterson the Fort Worth Star-Telegram wants you to know. As the Horned Frogs open the 2013 season in a marquee game against LSU at Dallas Cowboys Stadium, the Star-Telegram got a rare glimpse of Patterson as a guitar wielding, raspy voiced man, who loves to play music while his wife swoons.
And he’s quite good at it.
In one of the Star-Telegram’s “Unplugged” videos, Patterson sings Hal Ketchum’s Small Town on a Saturday Night, and he sings it well.
His playing is impressive, his voice raspy but strong. Patterson introduces his second country song, Everything That Glitters (Is not Gold), by Dan Seals. It’s about a barrel racer who left her husband and young daughter to pursue glory on the rodeo circuit.
“It always reminds me … because coaching, we always seem to be gone,” he says. “We’re always doing something else. It’s one of those songs I play every once in a while that sets up the tone of what you’re all about.”
As he sings, his wife, Kelsey, sits behind the cameras, eyes glistening. It is a tender moment a world apart from the noise and intensity of the sidelines. And the plaintive country songs say much about the man who sings them.
This is a rare glimpse at the soft, more jovial side of one of the nation’s most impressive coaches. In fact, the entire story is filled with anecdotes and information that make Patterson seem more like a buddy than a coach.
Not many coaches open like this, and quite honestly, Patterson probably would have been the last person we would have picked to do it, but it’s a great opportunity to appreciate Patterson as a person and as a great coach.
- - -
Want to join the conversation? Hit us up on Twitter @YahooDrSaturday be sure to "Like" Dr. Saturday on Facebook for football conversations and stuff you won't see on the blog.
And don’t forget to join our pick’em league for college football braggin’ rights by entering group code 9970 and password Doc Sat.