Jerry Kill, Doug Meacham, and Bryan Applewhite to be added to TCU football’s offensive staff

We knew changes on the offensive side of the ball were coming. With the departure of running back coach Curtis Luper to Missouri and offensive line coach Chris Thomsen to Florida State, Gary Patterson’s hand was forced - he was going to have to make a few hires.

Over the course of the last few weeks we’ve seen quite a few names floated around, but now we have good reason to believe that the Frogs have found their men.

Doug Meacham had been linked to one of the positions for several weeks, and TCU’s former co-offensive coordinator is expected to coach the inside wide receivers. Meacham was originally with TCU from 2024-2016 before leaving to become the sole offensive coordinator at Kansas. He was relieved of his duties in Lawrence after less than two seasons, and recently was hired to be an OC in the XFL, for the St. Louis BattleHawks.

During his time at TCU, Meacham was one of the masterminds behind TCU’s offense that took the nation by storm in 2014 and 2015, launching them into the conversation as one of the best teams in the country.

It will be interesting to see the staff dynamics play out, with Cumbie and Meacham now in opposite roles in the power structure.

Meanwhile Bryan Applewhite comes from Colorado State, where he was the running backs coach from 2015-2019 and recruiting coordinator from 2018-2019. Prior to being in Fort Collins, Applewhite spent five years at Louisiana Monroe in the same capacity. Overall, he brings more than 20 years of experience to the coaching staff.

At both his CSU and ULM stops the backs under Applewhite’s care contributed to top offenses in the nation. Two of Applewhite’s seasons at Colorado State saw the offense finish in the top 5 in scoring offense in the nation, while a two more seasons saw the Rams boast a top five offense in yards per game.

Lastly, Jerry Kill is presumed to be filling a similar role to the one he recently held at Virginia Tech - special assistant to the head coach. Specifically, he’s expected to oversee the offensive staff. This would mean that Kill does not count as one of the 10 assistant coaches on staff, rather he would be in a role similar to that of Sonny Dykes in 2017.

Kill - along with being one of Patterson’s best friends - is the former head coach at Minnesota. Most recently Kill spent last season as a special assistant to Justin Fuente at Virginia Tech. Prior to his season at Virginia Tech, Kill was the Athletic Director at Southern Illinois for one year.

We’re still waiting on official confirmation from TCU regarding all three hires - but these are as good as done at this point.