Who is the Alford family?
This is from a 2010 article from Texas Monthly
More than anything else,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Patterson’s success at TCU has been defined by his ability to recruit talent</span> and coach defense.</p>
As a recruiter, he employs a unique method to mine for players in
Texas, a state that represents perhaps the richest quarry of high school
talent in the country. To compete against recruiting gurus like Mack
Brown and Bob Stoops, he has developed a penchant for taking fast
offensive players and transforming them into fast but muscular defensive
players. Jerry Hughes serves as the most prominent example. A quick
running back at Fort Bend High School, he muscled up and developed into
an All-America defensive lineman at TCU and the Indianapolis Colts’
first round draft pick.</p>
“It’s not rocket science what we’ve done on recruiting,” Patterson
says. “In Texas, high school coaches play their best athletes at two
positions: quarterback and running back. So we look there first. If we
see some talent, we look for ways to get the kid on the field, and that
often means defense.”</p>
<p style="font-weight: bold;">College football experts have taken notice. “You can’t say enough
about the job Gary’s done at TCU,” says CBS Sports college football
analyst Archie Manning. “To have to recruit against Texas and OU and yet
your school isn’t even in a BCS conference? That’s a huge disadvantage.
Yet great players still come to TCU.”</p>