TCU’s Playoff Breakthrough Is a Credit to a Culture and a Coach

After a day of sweating out their CFP fate, Sonny Dykes and the Horned Frogs relished the moment.

FORT WORTH—With Ohio State’s Ryan Day and Alabama’s Nick Saban politicking like primary candidates on national television before and after TCU’s loss Saturday in the Big 12 championship, there was a bit of stress that evening that maybe the Horned Frogs would get bounced from the College Football Playoff in favor of bigger brands. After the overtime loss against Kansas State, TCU coach Sonny Dykes said he would trust the committee and put his program’s fate in its hands.

But on Sunday, when the TCU team, coaches, administrators, donors and their families met for a Selection Sunday watch party inside their stadium, some 25 miles from where the committee was making its final decisions, no one could really know what was going to happen.

“I was actually pretty nervous,” quarterback Max Duggan said. “My heart was beating waiting for it. They took so long waiting from announcing No. 2 to No. 3.”

Athletic director Jeremiah Donati says he barely slept Saturday night, firing off some texts like a “nervous Nelly.” Duggan didn’t sleep much, either.. Despite largely exhausting himself in the game against Kansas State, he tossed and turned with apprehension. Kate Dykes said she and her husband, Sonny, agreed in the morning, “we just had to make it till 11 a.m. [local time],” to manage the stress.

TCU players watch the selection show as they awaited their fate :: Richard Johnson/Sports Illustrated

They did, and in an event space on one side of Amon G. Carter Stadium, they watched as TCU was officially announced into the College Football Playoff field. Kate leapt for joy on one side of the room as Duggan hugged teammates on the other. Sonny embraced his daughters and initial excitement mixed with relief as hugs and handshakes were shared all around. TCU becomes the first program from Texas to make the Playoff—not lost on the Lone Star native Dykes. They’ll lord that forever over the Longhorns, the Aggies and the Red Raiders, and they’re only the second program from the Big 12 to make the Playoff in the format’s short history.

“It’s been quite a journey from where we were this time last year to where we are today,” Dykes said. “You gotta give our players and everybody associated with our program a ton of credit. Just believing. Believing in the journey and doing things the right way and understanding you get rewarded by working really hard and preparing. Emptying the tank every Saturday and refilling as soon as that’s over. Our guys have done an unbelievable job of doing that.”

What a difference a year makes: Just a little over 365 days ago, Dykes stood in front of this same room full of people after being hired and told those assembled, “I think the thing that we’ve got to do here, and our goal from the very beginning is to play and win championships. I talked to our players yesterday, and that’s our standard.”

Few coaches have delivered on that pledge so quickly. He joins Lincoln Riley and Ryan Day as coaches who have taken their programs to the Playoff in Year 1 at the helm. All three took over teams built by coaching legends (Bob Stoops, Urban Meyer, and Gary Patterson), but Dykes shepherded TCU to the highest level in the sport—the other two kept them there. These Frogs are not chock-full of the five-stars those Sooners or Buckeyes boasted, and they did it the hard way, with multiple second-half comebacks (TCU is seventh nationally in second-half points per game). Day and Riley inherited teams that lost three combined games in the seasons before they took over, and both those coaches were on staff when promoted to the head job. TCU went 5–7 last year, and Dykes was across the Metroplex coaching SMU and delivering one of those losses.

“The culture that he brought into this program, to shift us in the right direction in a year, shows a lot about coach Dykes and this coaching staff and this culture and where this program’s going,” said Duggan.

The other side of Amon G. Carter features many signs depicting TCU’s postseason history. There’s a spot for national championships, with the last one coming in 1938. There’s none for the Playoff, which the Frogs narrowly missed out on in 2014. One of those things is certain to change now. Duggan and this program have certainly been through a lot. But now they’re going to the College Football Playoff.