Michigan State and TCU Head Coaches Share Respect and Friendship as Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl Approaches, But Both Need a Win!

Most bowl games are rewards. You go to a warm place (usually) and your players and fans enjoy a new place and wallow in the joy of a great season. Not this

Most bowl games are rewards. You go to a warm place (usually) and your players and fans enjoy a new place and wallow in the joy of a great season. Not this year. The two head coaches in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl both will bring their teams, some fans and unrealized expectations in 2012 with them.

Both me carry themselves and their programs with the utmost of integrity. Neither man has ever had the slightest hint of inappropriate NCAA behavior, and in today’s era most importantly both men win. Add to that the personal respect that MSU head coach Mark Dantonio and TCU head coach Gary Patterson share for one another and it adds another layer of intrigue for a game that both schools would not have been excited about to start the season. I can assure you while both schools faced the real chance at garnering no bowl bid, both are probably relieved to be in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl. At least they are probably relieved until they remember that this trip isn’t a vacation. They need it. It’s all business.

Patterson wasted no time telling the media about Dantonio. He said, “Coach Dantonio and I are good friends. He and I have talked about football quite a bit.”  Patterson went on to relate about the relationship saying, “All the way back to when he was at Cincinnati as the head coach. We've been going on a Nike trip together, him and his wife. Really got to where we know each other pretty well.”

Patterson went on to elaborate that he, “Really like him as far as the kind of man he is, what he stands for. It's going to be fun being in a bowl game with him. Obviously you have to compete the three hours that night. But outside of that, we're excited about getting an opportunity.”

So heading to Phoenix to face Dantonio is a good thing to Patterson. He said, “You always like it when you can be in a situation where you're around friends, when you get more time around them. As coaches, we never get a chance to do that.”

So is the relationship one that involves swapping strategy? Patterson said, “No. More it's just about what you do in your off‑season. Both places have been successful, how do you run your program, get your kids to play hard, those kinds of questions. How do we keep our wives happy, being a coach's wife, how hard it is to do that.”

Dantonio also recounted his time with Patterson on the Nike trips. He said, “I think I've been going to these since 2008. He's gone as well. We've always enjoyed each other's company out there. He's a great guy. I think he's obviously a great football coach. We had an opportunity to participate when he was in Conference USA at the University of Cincinnati when TCU was still in that conference. Just an excellent football coach. His players are very well‑disciplined, play extremely hard, with toughness. I think there's a lot of similarities in the things we believe in as coaches.”

Bowl games are fun for coaches and players when they are rewards. Not after bad seasons. They are a time for hard work. This year with both teams not meeting very high expectations the fun is not as prevalent for the coaches or the fans.

These two teams met back in 1953 at Spartan Stadium. The Spartans won that tilt 26-19. Don’t expect that many points this time.

TCU comes in 7-5 and MSU at 6-6. Both schools enter with stellar defenses and questionable offenses to their name. One thing is certain. Both men may be friends, but when December 29, 2012 rolls around at 10:15 EST, the desert will get cold and the warm comfort of friendship fades away.

This isn’t a Western Kentucky that is just happy to make their first bowl game. This is two teams who both at some point this season were ranked at or near the top ten. Both schools kept long running consecutive bowl streaks with Patterson having the Frogs under his leadership making their 11th straight, and Dantonio leading the Spartans to their sixth.Â

This matchup is two under achieving teams that both need a win to end a bad season on a somewhat better note. They are friends, but this is not like most bowls. This one is all business.