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“It's hard to smell the roses when you're trying to scale the mountain,” football coach Gary Patterson said of the TCU renaissance. But “someday I'll look back, know that was pretty special.” TCU's pride comes from more than just its new football prowess (one of only four schools to finish ranked in the top 15 the last four years) and its new stadium and its new conference. The Frogs are as proud of how they reached the Big 12 as they are that they reached the Big 12. TCU Magazine recently displayed a “Welcome to the Big 12” spread. It opened with this: “Not by backroom politics. Not by threat of litigation. Not even by woe-is-me bellyaching. “Nope, all it took was good old-fashioned planning, fundraising, building and a whole lot of winning to get TCU from Southwest Conference castoff, through five leagues in 17 years, to BCS credibility, and finally, into the Big 12.” Read more: http://newsok.com/big-12-football-tcu-proud-of-hard-work-it-took-to-get-new-stadium-new-conference/article/3692650#ixzz20tG6smNQ

So sit back and picture this - you're a hot-shot high school football player from Texas. You'll be a high school grad in the spring and you've got 15 full-ride scholarship offers in that shoe box under your bed and these are big name programs. Texas, Florida State, Cal, Nebraska, and others want you. You're the man of the moment and they all want you. You see yourself down the road in college as a headliner in the newspapers and you dream of admiring your image on television along with all those big numbers that will shout your accomplishments to the world. You'll be the Big Man On Campus for sure and everyone will know you're a product of those famous Friday Night Lights back in Texas. In college you'll walk into class on Monday morning and there will be pats on the back and a number of young ladies hoping you'll ask them for a date. It's all going to be part of your new life and all you have left to do when you put aside those images of greatness is to choose a school and tie on your cleats. Gosh, we're pleased as punch that you've finally made a decision and you've chosen to play for the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Didn't take long for the headlines - "Five star Texas tailback commits to the Huskers" is shown. You can't wait to get on campus and hear your name whispered as you walk by a group of young fans. Read more: http://www.nptelegraph.com/sports/local_sports/butch_rasmussen/curious-tale-of-green/article_a89e9460-c6fa-5ded-adff-8ca5e10d73a1.html

Mansfield Summit DE Bryson Henderson commits to the TCU Horned Frogs #txhsfb Van Alstyne DE CJ White has committed to Grambling State. #txhsfb Stephenville QB Tyler Jones has committed to the Texas State Bobcats #txhsfb

For the first time ever, all three schools hired new coaches in the same off-season. You’d have to go back to 1975 to find the last time two of the schools hired new coaches the same year, much less three. And that’s great news for high school basketball in Dallas, Fort Worth and all the suburbs that surround the two hubs of the Dallas area. The stakes have been raised. All three coaches — Larry Brown at SMU, Trent Johnson at TCU and Tony Benford at North Texas — plan to make local talent an emphasis in their recruiting. “I was shocked when I saw the talent here,” Brown said. “I’ve seen some kids who are pretty special. I don’t know that we have a chance [at them], but I don’t want to lower the bar for us.” Don’t look for any of the three new coaches to lower the bar. Brown has the cachet. He’s the only coach in history to have won an NCAA and NBA title and has already been enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame. What recruit isn’t going to answer the door when Larry Brown comes a knocking? Johnson has been selected coach of the year in three different conferences — the WAC (Nevada) in 2003, Pac-10 (Stanford) in 2008 and SEC (LSU) in 2009. He’s taken teams to five NCAA Tournaments and reached a pair of Sweet 16s. What recruit isn’t going to answer the door when Johnson comes a knocking? This is the first head coaching opportunity for Benford, but he arrives in Texas with a slight edge over Brown and Johnson. His primary recruiting responsibility over the last 20 seasons as an assistant at New Mexico, Arizona State, Nebraska and Marquette has been the state of Texas. Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/sports/college-sports/headlines/20120510-gosselin-new-smu-tcu-unt-basketball-coaches-to-pan-area-for-gold.ece