Patterson Receives Eddie Robinson Award
12/15/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
DALLAS -- TCU head football coach Gary Patterson has been named the recipient of the 2014 FWAA/Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award.
Patterson is one of just eight multiple recipients of the national coaching award presented by members of the Football Writers Association of America.
Patterson joins Nick Saban (LSU, Alabama), Lou Holtz (Arkansas, Notre Dame), Darrell Royal (Texas), John McKay (USC) and Johnny Majors (Pittsburgh) as two-time winners of the 58-year-old National Coach of the Year Award. Woody Hayes (Ohio State) and Joe Paterno (Penn State) each won the award three times during their careers.
Patterson led the Horned Frogs to their first Big 12 championship in just their third season in the conference. TCU was picked seventh in the preseason Big 12 poll.
"The Sugar Bowl Committee is pleased to recognize Coach Patterson for the outstanding job he did with his TCU squad this year," said Dennis Waldron, President of the Allstate Sugar Bowl. "Throughout the season, Coach Patterson exhibited many of the same great characteristics for which Eddie Robinson was known over his lifetime in coaching. All of us here look forward to joining the Football Writers in honoring Coach Patterson with this great award next month in Dallas."
"Congrats to Coach Gary Patterson, the TCU football program and the Big 12 on his winning the 2014 FWAA Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award," said Eddie Robinson III, grandson of the legendary coach. "It is indeed a well deserved honor to be bestowed upon Coach Patterson, and his program's accomplishments this 2014 season are reflective of what this award represents."
"Gary Patterson had a phenomenal season," said 2014 FWAA President Kirk Bohls from the Austin American-Statesman. "He was bold enough to revamp his offensive philosophy and hire a pair of new offensive coordinators, and the results were outstanding. He took TCU from a four-win season in 2013 to within a whisker of the College Football Playoff semifinals in 2014 and coached the Frogs to a Big 12 co-championship with an amazing turnaround."
The Horned Frogs' all-time winningest coach with 131 victories, Patterson has now won six conference championships in three different leagues during his 14 seasons as TCU's head coach.
Patterson has guided the Horned Frogs (11-1) to the 11-win mark for the eighth time in the last 12 campaigns.
Patterson's .744 winning percentage (131-45) ranks fourth among active coaches nationally (minimum 10 years). He is one of just five active coaches with at least 100 victories at their current school. TCU is 29-3 when taking the field as a top-10 team under Patterson, including a 19-1 mark when in the top 5.
The nation's fifth-longest tenured head coach, Patterson has won a total of 15 National Coach of the Year honors at TCU. In addition to the Eddie Robinson Award, he has also been recognized this season as the Coach of the Year by the Walter Camp Football Foundation, ESPN/Home Depot, CBSSports.com and Scout.com. He was also the Chuck Neinas Big 12 Coach of the Year as well as the Associated Press Big 12 Coach of the Year.
TCU faces Ole Miss on Dec. 31 in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta.
