It’s truly the end of the era.
There are a thousand platitudes that can be utilized alongside the two decades long Gary Patterson era: greatest ever, program builder, the cornerstone of TCU Athletics, winner. None are overstating his impact on TCU, TCU Football and Fort Worth as a whole.
Patterson came to TCU in 1998 as the defensive coordinator for Dennis Franchione, who was hired to turn around a program that had been mired in the abyss before the dissolution of the Southwest Conference. When Fran bolted for Bama late in the year 2000, Patterson was named Head Coach, a role he has held to this day.