What a difference a second makes. One click of the clock and TCU is in the Big 12.
That happened at midnight, July 1, and around 800 or so fans gathered at Rodeo Plaza next to Billy Bob's Texas to celebrate.
What it was, was a pep rally with TCU coaches, the TCU Band, cheerleaders, showgirls, SuperFrog, the Frog Horn and fireworks. Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby was on hand to welcome the Frogs.
After 16 years of wandering from conference to conference, TCU is back in a league with many of its old Southwest Conference rivals, sans Texas A&M, which officially became a member of the SEC at the same instant TCU joined the Big 12.
"It's been a long time coming," TCU Athletic Director Chris Del Conte said. "We fought our way back, we earned our way back, and today we're in the Big 12."
Head Football Coach Gary Patterson reiterated his goals - and the goals for all TCU athletic teams - Big 12 Championships and a national title. Fan support obviously is there - TCU has already sold out its season tickets in the renovated Amon G. Carter Stadium.
TCU's first Big 12 football game is on the road, Sept. 15, against the Kansas Jayhawks. Patterson could enter that game as the most winning football coach in TCU history if the Frogs beat Grambling State, Sept. 8.
For the record, the Big 12 includes Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech and West Virginia. Since the breakup of the SWC in 1996, TCU has been in the Western Athletic Conference, Conference USA and the Mountain West Conference.
