College Football

TCU's Gary Patterson: Comments weren't shot at LSU

Gary Patterson thinks everything was taken wayyyyyyy out of context when he was interpreted as criticizing Les Miles' disciplinary tactics. Everybody else agrees.

By Rodger Sherman Aug 9, 2013, 8:59am EDT

Wednesday, it seemed like Gary Patterson was pouring gasoline on the flames of the Jeremy Hill controversy by talking about the way he handled Devonte Fields' suspension against the way Les Miles handled his running back's. Thursday, he tried his best to douse them, saying that he hadn't intended to criticize his fellow coach, sending a transcript of his comments to show that they had been taken out of context, according to the Star-Telegram.

The coach entering his 14th season at TCU said that he and Miles are "good friends" and share an agent, who helped forward the full text of Patterson's Wednesday comments to Miles to show that there was no spite.

Patterson's comments -- about how teams tend to discipline players for games against bad teams, and how reinstating a player via team vote doesn't necessarily teach the player a life lesson -- seemed a little bit out of the ordinary for a coach with a less-than-fiery demeanor. Thursday's statements were more in line with Patterson's persona (via the Star-Telegram):

"I'm not Babe Ruth. I don't point at fences," he said. "Most of the time I play below the water. Anybody who knows me knows that's way outside of character, so why would I do it now? Why would I call up the Tiger? They don't need any more help."

It genuinely seems like Patterson was just kinda trying to make a joke about how bringing Hill back for the game meant LSU was somewhat cautious of the Horned Frogs as an opponent, and then context happened, but that's less fun, so all this happened.

TCU blog Frogs O' War had written that the whole thing was a tad overblown, while LSU blog And The Valley Shook called the hypothetical coaches' tiff "a meaningless story even by the rather lenient standards of the offseason."

Both blogs agreed on one thing in their respective ledes. ATVS:

Man, the season cannot get here soon enough. The offseason is truly the breeding ground for the non-story, as we all scrounge around looking for material.

FoW:

Football needs to happen ASAP, people. Why? Because right now the media will jump on anything for a story.

Amen to that, brethren. And that happens Saturday, Aug. 31 at 8 p.m. at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, and Jeremy Hill will be on the field for LSU against TCU, and we can forget about offseason storylines.