TCU is living through the same college football chaos Baylor just gave in to, and right now that noise is coming from every direction.
On Sunday morning, rumors spread that Sonny Dykes was about to be fired. That part was false.
What did happen was Dykes dismissed offensive line coach A.J. Ricker.
But in a year like this, at a school like this, the line between rumor and reality gets blurry fast.
The chatter around TCU has not been limited to the coaching staff. Another claim making the rounds was that some members of the school’s Board of Trustees were raising money to cover the rest of Dykes’ contract.
Multiple school administrators denied that as well. Still, the fact that the rumor had enough legs to travel says plenty about the moment TCU is in.
TCU has 48 people listed as Board of Trustees, and a few are said to be pushing the idea that Dykes will be gone any second. At a private school, not every trustee carries the same influence, even if the invitation to join often comes wrapped in the promise of opening wallets. Some people are trying to will a coaching change into existence, and athletic director Mike Buddie and chancellor Victor Boschini can only do so much to keep that from becoming the story.
Then Baylor went ahead and fired Dave Aranda.
That leaves TCU in the same ugly place as so many Power 4 programs right now: if they can’t sell the dream of a playoff run, the next best sales pitch is a new coach and an overhaul. It’s expensive, and it’s become routine.
The speculation doesn’t stop at Fort Worth, either. On Tuesday morning, Dan Patrick talked on his radio show about the state of USC under Lincoln Riley. The Trojans are 6-2, unranked, 3-2 in the Big 10, and disappointing under Riley despite the addition of former TCU coach Gary Patterson as defensive coordinator.
With Baylor’s job open, Patrick said he had spoken to “someone in the know,” who told him he could not see Riley going to Baylor, but TCU is a possibility. Patrick also said he doesn’t know what TCU is doing this season, which is its own problem.
Both Riley and Dykes were part of the Great Coaching Fire ‘n’ Hire of 2021, and both had their best season at their new stop in Year 1. Riley’s came in 2022, when USC finished 11-3 with Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Caleb Williams. Dykes now finds himself in a very different place.
For TCU, the football has simply not been good enough. The offense is among the worst in the Power Four, and Dykes is trying to avoid a losing record for the second time in four years. Firing Ricker may not move the needle much, but Dykes needed to do something.
The bigger issue is how expensive it all looks from the outside. TCU has the second-highest payroll in the Big 12, yet it has one of the league’s worst records.
If Dykes survives, there will be even more attention on general manager Ryan Dorchester. The offensive line development has lagged, and the decision to bring in Harvard quarterback Jaden Craig from the transfer portal stands out as one of the personnel misses.
The move on Ricker came one day after TCU was upset by West Virginia in Fort Worth on Homecoming. The score was bad enough, but the scene at Amon G. Carter Stadium was almost as damning.
The weather was perfect and it was Homecoming, yet the announced crowd was 36,216, a number that only looks good if you ignore the roughly 15,000 missing from the picture. Even the parking lot told the story, with open spaces where tailgaters usually fill things in.
There won’t be much relief on that front this week. TCU hosts unranked Kansas on Saturday in a matchup of No. 14 and No. 15 in the 16-team Big 12.
That attendance problem is part of why this keeps happening across the sport. Programs that aren’t near the playoff no longer have the same staying power with fans, and coaching changes are often used to reset the mood. It’s one reason the College Football Playoff is set to expand from 12 to 24 teams.
Baylor is already acting on that reality. TCU is now stuck in the same place, with the rumors getting louder and the pressure building.
Administrations can understand that winning a conference title every year is unrealistic in an era of the transfer portal, player movement and spread-out talent. But not everyone around the program sees it that way.
And so the noise keeps building. Some trustees may be trying to talk a firing into existence, and if the season doesn’t change course, the “right trustees” could eventually make the rumor real.
In Other News...
Jacobe Hayes Just Gave TCU A Needed Boost On Offense
Jacobe Hayes has started to look like more than just a promising young piece in TCUs offense. The sophomore receiver showed real progress against West Virginia, continuing a stretch in which he has become a more reliable option and a welcome sign for a group that has needed steadier production from its pass catchers.
Hayes growth has stood out because it comes in the middle of an uneven season, when TCU has been searching for answers and consistency on offense. His development suggests the Horned Frogs may be finding another dependable target, and the next question is how much larger his role can become as the season moves along. [Read more 🡒]
TCU Faces A Big 12 Problem Kansas Could Exploit Again
Kansas comes into its Big 12 matchup with TCU feeling a little better about itself after picking up its first conference win of the season against Baylor. The Jayhawks have built their offense around balance, with quarterback Isaiah Marshall and a rushing attack that has given them some life, and running back Dylan Edwards has been a big part of that formula. For TCU, the task is pretty clear: slow down the ground game and keep Kansas from turning the contest into one of those grind-it-out afternoons where the Frogs are chasing the pace.
The matchup also carries some added weight because Kansas has had a hard time solving TCU in recent years, and Fort Worth has not exactly been a friendly stop for the Jayhawks. Still, this version of Kansas looks more capable of creating problems with its run game and enough passing help to make defenses think twice about loading up. If TCU is going to protect home field, it will need to keep Kansas from getting comfortable early and find a way to take away the kind of balance that has made the Jayhawks tougher to handle. [Read more 🡒]
TCUs Defense Faces Its Toughest Test Yet Against Kansas
TCUs defense has spent most of the fall looking like one of the Big 12s best, and the numbers back it up. Even after a loss to West Virginia, the Horned Frogs still held the Mountaineers to their lowest scoring output of the season, a sign the unit is carrying plenty of momentum into its next challenge. The assignment only gets trickier from here, with Kansas bringing a more athletic, more varied offense that will ask TCU to stay disciplined snap after snap.
Inside the building, the focus has been on the details that can decide a game like this before it ever becomes a track meet. The Horned Frogs know they need to cut down on penalties and keep their communication clean against an offense that can stress a defense in different ways, and they are preparing for a Kansas attack that is built to test eyes, spacing and discipline. For a TCU defense that has handled plenty already, this one looks like the kind of matchup that can reveal just how real those national rankings are. [Read more 🡒]