When envisioning the future of ACU football, it just doesn’t sit right to think of it without Head Coach Keith Patterson. But that looming question has crept up recently, and with just 18 months to figure it out, the university needs to act quickly to keep the big guy in purple and white.
Last season, in his third year as the Wildcats’ head coach, Patterson led ACU to a 9-5 overall record and a 7-1 conference record. This resulted in claiming the United Athletic Conference championship, the first championship crown in the Div. I era.
That championship was part of Patterson’s three-year plan for his team, and it was full of thrills.
The season:
In Stephenville, the Wildcats took down a formidable 8-2 Tarleton State team on a two-minute drill to win the game. With 1:48 left on the clock, down 31-28, the offense came up big, treading 75 yards down the field and ending with a touchdown by Sam Hicks.
On top of that, to start the season, ACU did something nobody expected. Against Texas Tech, the Wildcats went into overtime against a Power Four opponent, then lost by opting for a two-point conversion with the score 52-51. That game captured all the headlines, as the gutsy play call by Patterson could have caused the first loss for the Red Raiders.
Later in the year, beating then-No. 5 Central Arkansas 41-34, ACU broke into the top 10 of the FCS for the first time in its Div. I era.
That success carried into the postseason.
In the opening round of the playoffs, ACU hosted and won for the first time in its Div. I history, 24-0 against Northern Arizona.
That then moved the Wildcats to face the 18-time college football national champion North Dakota State, with star quarterback Maverick McIvor coming fresh off a concussion stint. They started the game out 17-3, but after costly mistakes, fell 51-31 to the eventual 2024 FCS champions.
Overall, statistically, the 2024 season showed tremendous growth.
Scouting:
In 2024, ACU scored an average of 34 points per game on offense, showing defensively minded Patterson’s ability to find and attract talent. In the portal, he found quarterback Maverick McIvor from Texas Tech, who redshirted and battled injuries in Lubbock, and offensive coordinator Rick Bowie from Div. II Valdosta State, whose offense ranked in the top 10 nationally in passing yards per game and touchdowns during Bowie’s time there.
That’s just a glimpse of Patterson’s scouting. He brought in talent like Blayne Taylor, who, after playing for the Wildcats, signed as a free agent with the Colts. In addition to players like Nehemiah Martinez, the transfer found at Tech, and J.J. Henry from Ole Miss, KP’s offense had a Cowboys scout say it was one of the best he had ever seen in college football.
While recruiting talent is definitely a strong suit for Patterson, some would argue that he is also one of the best playcallers.
In ACU’s final FBS matchup of 2025, the Wildcats held the TCU Horned Frogs six points under what eight-time Super Bowl-winning Head Coach Bill Belichick’s North Carolina team allowed when it faced TCU the week before.
Also, going back to his time at Texas Tech as defensive coordinator, he held historic coach Mike Leach’s Mississippi State team to just seven points in the Liberty Bowl.
On that note, to be honest, Patterson was a steal in the first place.
He came to ACU with deep experience in college football. Before this head coaching stint, he spent 19 years as an assistant or defensive coordinator at the FBS level, having been at Texas Tech, Arizona State, West Virginia and other programs, with strong coaching ties to Dan Lanning of Oregon.
When ACU finally found its guy after all his time in the FBS, Patterson finished his first year as ACU head coach in 2022 at 7-4 overall, which was the best Div. I record in school history at that time. This later translated into Patterson being awarded Western Athletic Conference Coach of the Year and named a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award.
2025:
But the past is in the past, and the 2025 season for the Wildcats has yet to claim its final verdict.
Now the No. 19-ranked team nationally, ACU has a lot of games left to play. The Wildcats currently sit at 3-3 overall, 1-0 in conference and a perfect 3-0 at home.
Patterson regrouped this offseason to find quarterback Stone Earle after losing McIvor to Western Kentucky.
Earle has already thrown for 1,400 yards through six games, the best of his career.
Patterson also brought in Graham Harrell, a College Football Hall of Fame quarterback at Tech and Super Bowl champion with the Green Bay Packers in 2010, as his new offensive coordinator.
Star players Will Shaffer and Kaghen Roach have stayed in Wildcat uniforms on the defensive side, following the new NIL changes promoting players to transfer for capital incentives.
So this is big time.
If ACU wants to continue being relevant in the Div. I athletic sphere, it is vitally important to keep KP at the helm. In just three years, this program has reached new heights, which has advanced the brand of the university, brought hardware back home and made Big Country football exciting again.
Something we have never seen before, and may never see again, without Patterson at the helm.
