Texas Christian's 'Small-Time Thinking'

Is Texas Christian coach Gary Patterson behind the banishment of student reporter Brian Smith?

Smith made headlines two weeks ago after he said that freshman quarterback Casey Pachall, who graduated early from high school to enroll at TCU, is good enough to unseat Andy Dalton as the starter.

Smith made the comment during an appearance on The Mtn. show "On Campus Cam," where student reporters from conference schools are asked to give their opinions. The video is below.

TCU director of media relations Mark Cohen decided to ban Smith from using the remote camera. Although the camera belongs to The Mtn., network officials agreed beforehand that Cohen would supervise the camera.

Patterson finally came out from hiding and told Jim Reeves of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that if you're looking for someone to blame, "Blame me."

"I didn't specifically tell Mark how to handle it," Patterson said. "I believe Brian Smith is entitled to his opinion, but when he's in front of that Campus Cam and our media relations office is setting it up, as far as I'm concerned, he's representing TCU and TCU football and that's my problem with it."

Patterson said of Smith, who he claims attended only one practice this spring: "In my opinion, he's not qualified to answer those questions. I am."

Patterson wasn't finished: "I've had more trouble with reporters from [the campus daily] The Skiff than I've ever had with anyone from the Star-Telegram or Dallas Morning News."

Former Star-Telegram editor and ombudsman Phil Record, who teaches ethics at TCU’s Bob Schieffer School of Journalism, told Reeves: "I just think it was a dumb decision by the school, and they acted before they knew all the details The athletic department overreacted. Ethically, I think they made a bad decision."

Comments

[bevo]

Sounds like nearly every tyrant, er coach, I ever had to work with. They are control freaks.

Why has Patterson never had this problem with the Star-Telegram and the Morning News? Because those papers and the Metroplex media in general do not care about the Horned Frogs.

[NMS]

This reminds me of what Urban Meyer said a few days ago. Meyer basically said that any former gators who criticized were big disloyal and were no longer welcome. College coaches are such little babies when it comes to any criticism, they need to shut up and coach.

Also, if what Patterson said was correct, the fact that he has had more problems with the school newspaper could mean that the bigger newspapers aren't doing their job in exchange for access. Typical.

[Jim]

Lets face it Gary Patterson has little man sendrome. He needs to worry more about his voice cracking up after a game. I really don't think he's reached puberty yet. He's nothing but a loud horses but.