Gary Patterson, TCU Horned Frogs Dropped Ball on Casey Pachall Punishment
In the past few months, the world of college football has changed, but TCU Horned Frogs Football coach Gary Patterson must not have gotten that memo. Penn State University was handed down unprecedented sanctions for the sins of its administrators and UCF was just slammed for its use of third-parties in recruiting.
Mark Richt, Jimbo Fisher, Gene Chizik, and Gus Malzahn have all taken a stand, ridding themselves of players whose conduct would prove detrimental to the team. Not 3rd string walk-ons, but standouts oozing with talent.
Meanwhile,when coaches were deciding to take a stand for the integrity of college football, sending a message to their teams that no one is above the program standards, Patterson was letting his quarterback, Casey Pachall do what he pleases with no consequence
To recap the situation, last season 4 football players were arrested for their involvement in distributing drugs on the TCU campus. One of the players involved, Tanner Brock was a roommate of Pachall and upon being interviewed by police, Pachall admitted to smoking marijuana before a failed drug text along with experimenting with harder drugs the year prior.
Look, I am not the moral police and I am well aware that drug use occurs on nearly every single college campus in some form. But as common as it is, it is still against the law. Gary Patterson had an opportunity to send a message to his team, but dropped the ball.
I’m not saying suspend him for the season, or even multiple games. I am saying Pachall should sit for the first game. Before TCU fans blow up my twitter, let me just say, I think TCU would still be ok against Grambling State in the season opener.
Imagine you are a TCU player at a party with drugs galore, wouldn’t you be more inclined to experiment knowing that Pachall did essentially the same thing and got off scott-free? Or imagine you’re a 2nd string player at TCU who fails their drug test. How are you going to be able to take your punishment quietly knowing your quarterback got off on the same thing?
Simply put, Patterson’s handling of the Pachall situation has set a horrible president for his team.
College football sent the message this summer that no one man is bigger than the institution, while coaches shouted through their high-profile dismissals that one player is not bigger than the team’s goals.
Gary Patterson’s memo got lost in the mail.
