Coronado, Calif. – The new kids in school came dressed for success the first day of class, strictly coats and ties in a sea of Mountain West Conference polo shirts.
Texas Christian coach Gary Patterson, free safety Jeremy Modkins and quarterback Tye Gunn were as unfamiliar with the dress code – or lack thereof – at the MWC football preview as they are with the 7,200-foot elevation in Laramie.
“This is how we represent TCU on and off the field,” Modkins said.
Or maybe Gunn was closer to the truth. “The football secretary said pack a coat and tie,” he said. “We do what we’re told.”
No matter.
The Horned Frogs, jumping into the school’s fourth conference in a decade, appear thrilled to adopt yet another league logo, and hopefully, a more permanent home. If the 8,632-student private school in Fort Worth, Texas, didn’t want to become the MWC’s ninth member, certainly Fresno State, Boise State and Hawaii coveted the spot.
“This is a great opportunity for us,” Modkins said. “Utah went to a BCS game (last season), and we almost did a couple of years ago. I know we will enjoy this.”
Both sides of this marriage anticipate the unknowns balancing out, from the altitude in Colorado to the humidity in Fort Worth, from the travel headaches for TCU to the potential BCS payoff awaiting in the MWC. Modkins and Gunn seem surprised they were welcomed by their peers.
“The Mountain West is a very friendly league,” Modkins said. “In Conference USA, there is more arrogance.”
Said Utah center Jesse Boone: “No one has any beef with TCU. We haven’t developed any rivalries.”
Patterson said C-USA lacked passionate fan bases in football.
“Our kids are excited,” he said. “Instead of playing at (Alabama- Birmingham) in front of 8,000 people, it’s about playing in front of big crowds. Eventually that has a lot to do with recruiting.”
TCU won’t lack for early TV exposure with its Sept. 3 opener at Oklahoma. And the Horned Frogs have fewer midweek games, which are commonplace in C-USA, with a Thursday game against Utah this fall and all other games on Saturdays.
“It’s a great addition to the conference,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “They bring speed and athleticism. It’s good for the conference, bad for us.”
From the time the eight- school MWC was created, football coaches sought nine schools so they would have a balanced schedule of four home and four road games.
Patterson knows some of the faces in the league, having served as a defensive coordinator at New Mexico from 1996-97 under Dennis Franchione, whom he succeeded at TCU.
The Horned Frogs got a far different reception nine years ago when they joined the Western Athletic Conference and former BYU coach LaVell Edwards grumbled about letting in “half the free world.”
Historians may long debate whether TCU would have been a more attractive addition than Baylor when the Big 12 was formed from the Big Eight and Southwest Conference merger in 1996. Left on the sideline, along with neighboring SMU, TCU joined the WAC and then bolted for C-USA in 2000, won the conference title in 2002 and beat Colorado State in the Liberty Bowl. In 2003, the Horned Frogs made a run at an undefeated season and possible BCS berth before a late-season loss to Southern Mississippi.
The shuffling in that league left TCU looking west again.
Natalie Meisler can be reached at 303-820-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com.
