Patterson, now a Hall of Fame coach, is taking the reins of the Trojans’ defense with renewed perspective on the sport. “I’ve been out for three years, so I got a chance to watch more football and evaluate people about how you play defense, how the game is going,” he says.
Gary Patterson had one box in mind that he had to check after leaving the TCU football program.
“You had to be three years out to qualify for the College Hall of Fame,” Patterson told reporters on Wednesday. “We hit all the other check marks. That was one of the reasons why I’ve been out of it.”
Patterson is returning to coach college football after leaving TCU – a program he spent 20 years with – in 2021. He’s taking the reins of USC’s defense with Hall of Fame status and a renewed perspective on the sport, cultivated in the four years he’s been off the field.
He spun tales of his time with the Horned Frogs during Wednesday afternoon’s introductory press conference, emphasizing the need to be tough while helping players grow as people and his simple defensive goal of holding opponents to one less point.
But more than anything, he convinced the room that the copious amounts of film he watched in recent seasons as an analyst with Texas and a consultant for Baylor have kept him sharp and ready to coach in the modern college football landscape.
“My wife watches Netflix. I watch film,” Patterson said. “The cool thing for me is I’ve been out for three years, so I got a chance to watch more football and evaluate people about how you play defense, how the game is going – how it all goes.
