With the departure of Co-Offensive Coordinator and play caller Doug Meacham from last year’s staff, Sonny Cumbie will take over calling the plays for the TCU offense in 2017. Despite the new play caller, the offensive system remains the same for the Frogs.
“Not much,” Patterson said of what will change with Cumbie calling the shots offensively. “Sonny’s been part of our offense, and the way we do it, it’s everybody’s all in as far as the ideas and how we do things.”
Cumbie is entering his fourth season on the staff for TCU, coming on as Co-Coordinator with Meacham in 2014. The impact of the two was felt immediately, as a new air-raid scheme revamped an offense that averaged just 25.1 points per game and shy of 350 yards per game in a 4-8 2013 season. In 2014, the offense scored 46.5 points and 533 yards per game. In the pairs second season at TCU, the Frogs offense scored 42.1 points and 563 yards per game.
The offense tailed off some last season (31 points and 463 yards per game), and with Meacham taking over the offense at Kansas, Cumbie will be the one to help TCU get back to an elite level.
“How much [the offense] will change, I don’t know,” Patterson said. “We’re teaching the same thing. It’s more back to the essence of making sure that we can run a base offense and run it really well and then add things to it and not change on a game-to-game basis.”
Patterson noted that whether or not the offense will click under Cumbie relies largely on the production from all the players.
“You can blame the quarterback, you can blame the coach, you can blame whatever, but at the end of the day, you have to make plays,” Patterson said.
