Giving Thanks, Go Frogs!

CORY - in 2022, I’m thankful to be a contributor for my alma mater, covering the sports I’m most passionate about and collaborating with a group of like-minded fanatics and followers. Getting the opportunity to spend time writing about TCU sports is the perfect way for me to express myself outside of my day job, and I look forward to each week’s matchups and stories. I’m thankful for the insane football season we’ve experienced as a fandom, and I’m also thankful we’ve taken it to Baylor 7 of the last 8 years. Lastly, I’d be most thankful if I had Jamie Dixon’s secret to keeping his hair perfectly slicked back during an entire game.

MATTHEW - Happy Thanksgiving all! This is the best time as any to give thanks, and this season I’m thankful for change, and fresh starts. Change, at its root, is scary and daunting, but TCU Athletics has shown its fans that it’s also necessary, and can lead to much bigger and better things. Change has turned a 5-7 football team to one of the nation’s best, in a single year. It’s turned Max Duggan into a national name, and a Heisman contender. Change brought a completely new, and fresh, outlook to TCU Football, and change has energized this fan base to a level I’ve never seen before. Not just in football too!! TCU Athletics has shown program after program that change is crucial to progress. Change promoted Kirk Saarloos to head coach of TCU Baseball, and, the change has already culminated in a Big 12 regular season championship and a Super Regional. Change brought Jason Williams to Fort Worth, to refresh a volleyball program that had struggled for years, and change is what led to TCU Volleyball upsetting #10 Baylor the other week. TCU Athletics also noticed something had to change within the basketball program, and are now sending more resources than ever to it. A program which has changed its outlook, and now should be competing for NCAA Tournament appearances year after year. Change has made all this happen already. Change isn’t scary. I’m thankful for change, because as TCU Athletics has shown, there can’t be progress without it.

DREW - Happy Thanksgiving! This year I am especially thankful for the passion of Frog fans. TCU is one of the smallest power 5 schools in the country in terms of enrollment size but what Frog fans might lack in numbers, they make up for in dedication. I’ve had the pleasure of attending four away games for TCU football this season and at every game, Frog fans have shown out. Even in Lawrence, Kansas there was a great amount of purple cheering on the Frogs. In basketball last year, we saw the biggest fan turnouts to TCU basketball games in the history of TCU basketball and it made a real impact on the team, providing a true home court advantage for the Frogs. It is not a coincidence that with increased fan attendance, the Frogs had one of, if not the most successful season in program history. TCU baseball has been the benefactor of Frog fans for many seasons as the atmosphere around the program has created Lupton Magic at TCU home games. Whether it was the 16 inning game in the Super Regional against the Aggies or the 7 run comeback in a win or go home game in the Regionals against NC State, the Frog faithful have provided a ton of support for Frogball. The support for TCU athletics has been awesome this year and I look forward to seeing it grow in the future.

RUSS - I’m thankful for the opportunity to share my fandom with TCU fans and alumni from all around the country. I began contributing with Frogs O’War in the spring of 2020 as a way to make some extra money and write about TCU athletics while I waited for the COVID-19 pandemic to allow prep and collegiate sports to restart in my area (I’m a sports editor for a living). My opportunities with Frogs O’War have grown significantly since then and I’m very thankful to have this platform to express my thoughts and opinions about everything TCU. As a Horned Frog alum (Class of 2016!) I’m thankful for the great friends I made during my time at TCU and I’m looking forward to being a regular contributor at Frogs O’War. I’m excited to see how this football season unfolds and I’m looking forward to enjoying the ride with the TCU fans!

ANTHONY - What an incredible time to be a Horned Frog fan! There is so much to be thankful for in Fort Worth as every program on campus is excelling, with many pushing towards its all-time peak. To give my Horned Frog holiday thanks to just one thing, I’ll say I’m thankful for Jeremiah Donati and the work he’s accomplished as Athletics Director for TCU. Many of the amazing things we’ve seen this past year are due to the decisions he’s made and the efforts of the entire Athletics Department. TCU Basketball wins its first NCAA Tournament game in over 30 years: Donati fought to keep coach Jamie Dixon in Fort Worth when UCLA came calling and has since signed him to an extension. TCU Baseball loses longtime head coach Jim Schlossnagle and Donati made the (perhaps easy) choice to promote Kirk Saarloos who promptly led the Frogs to a Big 12 regular season championship and the Super Regional. TCU made a change for Indoor Volleyball, letting go of longtime coach Jill Kramer, bringing in Jason Williams from Baylor; in his first campaign the Frogs are undefeated in home conference play and currently sit 3rd in the Big 12. And of course the incredibly difficult decision to part ways with the legend Gary Patterson, a man whose statue stands on campus and whose legacy looms over everything that has happened to the University for the previous two decades. It was a decision that had to have come with great stress for Donati personally and professionally; it was the hard choice when others may have taken the easier route. With an 11-0 start to the Sonny Dykes era, it appears to have been the right choice in order to return TCU Football to a place of prominence, for which we all are thankful. If Donati is able to rile up a few opposing fan bases and create some great catch phrases along the way, all the better.

I am thankful for Jamie Plunkett and Melissa Triebwasser for building this particular community of TCU fans into a go-to source for TCU coverage and a platform for some incredible talent to pass through these virtual halls. I am grateful for the opportunity they gave me some years back to publish my nonsense on this site; I am grateful for Ryan Bunnell for trusting me as his co-managing editor to navigate the challenge of the staff turnover and massive transition. I am honored to hold the burden of attempting to fill even a fraction of their shoes here.

And in the words of Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark’s former colleague Jay-Z, “Most importantly, you: the customer.” We are so appreciative of all of you that follow us on Facebook, or Twitter, or YouTube, or listen to the podcast, or just read us here on the blog. We thank you for interacting with us, for the constructive criticism, for the laughs and the tears and the joy and the woe we are sure to experience together as TCU fans in the future. Go Frogs! Happy Thanksgiving!