Troubled TCU quarterback Casey Pachall will disenroll from school and enter an inpatient care facility, coach Gary Patterson announced Tuesday.
Patterson, however, left open the possibility of Pachall's return to the team.
"He can come back here in January if he gets clean," Patterson said. "Right now he's trying to find where he's at."
Pachall, 21, was suspended indefinitely after his arrest early last Thursday morning on suspicion of driving while intoxicated. He was pulled over after running a stop sign on the TCU campus.
"Hopefully what our plan is that he gets himself right and keeps the door open for us as far as an opportunity to come back here and enroll in the spring," Patterson said. "He sits at enough hours where he would be able to graduate in two semesters, which is the ultimate goal for us. And also we get a great kid and a good quarterback back."
Pachall did not play in Saturday's 37-23 loss to Iowa State, which snapped TCU's 12-game winning streak. Redshirt freshman Trevone Boykin started and threw three interceptions.
Patterson met with TCU chancellor Victor Boschini and athletic director Chris Del Conte on Sunday to discuss what actions should be taken.
Patterson then met with Pachall and his parents.
"Both Casey's parents and Casey and I all agree … there was only one way that we were going to be able to change the path that he was on. And that was, he just needed to step away from it all. For us, I think it's the best decision. For both, for this football team right now and for Casey Pachall," Patterson said.
Just eight months ago, Pachall admitted to police that he smoked marijuana and had failed a drug test, which TCU confirmed. Pachall was roommates with former TCU linebacker Tanner Brock, one of four football players arrested in a campus-wide drug sting last February.
Pachall was not suspended after failing the drug test, and Patterson said Pachall had completed drug and alcohol counseling required by the school.
"I don't think you can do things on hearsay," said Patterson when asked about criticism that he didn't do enough the first time he dealt with Pachall's substance abuse. "I don't think him being suspended for three games would have led us to this point. Things might have been worse."
Pachall, a junior, started all 13 games last season and has passed for 948 yards and 10 touchdowns in the first four games of this season.
He was a second-team All-Mountain West selection last season after setting TCU single-season records for completions (228), completion percentage (66.5) and passing yards (2,921).
As a redshirt freshman in 2010, Pachall appeared in eight games as a backup to Andy Dalton.
As a byproduct of the Pachall situation, Patterson announced that he and his wife, Kelsey, would pledge $100,000 to a new campus support group for those recovering from drug and alcohol abuse.
"Casey's just one of millions," Patterson said. "What we want to do is take this as an opportunity to make sure that this turns into a positive on other avenues, that others can be helped because of it."
Follow Keith Whitmire on Twitter: @Keith_Whitmire
