FORT WORTH, Texas -- Gary Patterson has no idea where or when the "2014 Big 12 Champions" sign will go on the grounds of a renovated Amon G. Carter Stadium.
He says yesterday was his first conversation about it--and that's only because I asked him about it.
A breakthrough moment? Evidence of an arrival?
You could call the Frogs' first Big 12 title both if you're interested in insulting and infuriating TCU's head man.
A conference title and a major bowl win? Gary Patterson would like a word with you if you consider TCU's 2014 Big 12 title and Peach Bowl win the program's "arrival."
For two reasons, really. We'll get to the second a little later.
"We've already been here. We've won a Rose Bowl, been to a Fiesta. We've been ranked in the top five of the nation before," Patterson said this week. "We've been winning ball games for awhile."
When TCU finished No. 2 after the Rose Bowl win in 2010, it was the Frogs third consecutive season that finished with them in the top 10 of the final polls.
Eventually, Patterson's mind draws back eight years--an eternity by college football's clock--to a 12-3 win over Texas Tech early in the 2006 season.
"I didn't see anybody else in the Big 12 back in 2006 when Mike Leach was there--besides Nebraska the first year--who held them without a touchdown," Patterson said.
There was that whole matter of being one of just two teams in Bob Stoops' first 77 games as a head coach to beat Oklahoma in Norman.
The excuse thrown in Boise State and TCU's faces most often was anyone could win a big game with a month (or an offseason) to prepare. But week to week? With legitimate opponents waiting on either side of a big game? No chance.
Patterson, of course, never bought it. You shouldn't be surprised when he says the undefeated Rose Bowl season in 2010 was bigger for the program than last year's Big 12 title.
"Maybe in somebody's mind that thought we had won ballgames because we hadn't played anybody, but we played a lot of people everybody else played," Patterson said, "and they were counting them as wins."
It was Patterson's sixth conference title and to hear him tell it, it didn't prove to him anything he didn't already know.
Patterson is a rare breed in a profession of copycats. Every so often, a coach can turn what most see as a stepping stone job into his own personal destination job. Oklahoma State and Mike Gundy and Missouri and Gary Pinkel are two perfect examples of such marriages.
But Patterson and TCU are (perhaps more accurately, were) different. Most rare is the coach who finds his forever home outside of a major conference, especially in the BCS era. As job interest and offers showed up on his desk on a near annual basis over the past decade-plus, he stayed loyal to TCU. He's in a major conference now, and the list of people who see TCU as a destination job is only growing.
"Financially, TCU's been real good to me. The town has been unbelievable. Very few times in a coach's life do you get a chance to have true friends. I think we have them here," Patterson said. "It's getting tougher in our business to have quality of life."
Now, he's the first coach in the latest round of realignment to win a ring in his new league. That's especially relevant considering TCU and Utah were the only two schools to move from smaller leagues into power conferences.
So back to that second reason why you shouldn't call TCU's Big 12 title an arrival.
While using that word to describe TCU's latest conference title insults the Frogs' past, it also presents a problematic picture of how Patterson views his program's future.
"As soon as you think you've arrived, what you find out is, you're already going the other direction," he said.
So where is TCU? To suggest it has arrived misrepresents the program's mindset. To suggest it last year's title did the trick is to discount the previous decade of historic success. Really, it's best to just avoid the "A word" all together. The safe bet is future titles await, perhaps one or two of the national variety. Patterson, who turned 55 two weeks ago, only sees himself coaching another decade at most. With TCU's recruiting base in the middle of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and the program's financial backing that's allowed upgrades to the stadium, facilities and locker room, among other things, it's easy to see the program grasping unreached heights before then.
We haven't stopped trying," Patterson said. "We haven't won eight national championships, but one thing TCU has done is reinvested in the foundation. We kept building facilities, kept doing things you need to do and to me, that's why TCU has potential. I'm not ready to anoint us in any shape, form or way you do. I think we have the potential to keep growing the way we want to be."
MORE FROM FOX SPORTS SOUTHWEST:
- Ranking NFL quarterback salaries
- Five-star recruits who were never stars in college
- Biggest football recruiting steals of the past decade
- Highest paid coaches in college football
