Gary Patterson responds to new video evidence in alleged helmet incident

TCU head coach Gary Patterson responded to new video evidence that showed TCU special assistant Jerry Kill get knocked down by his own players in a postgame scuffle that was set off by SMU wide receiver Rashee Rice attempting to plant a flag at midfield of TCU’s home stadium, in a story first reported by Forth Worth Star-Telegram’s Drew Davison.

“I cannot substantiate that it was a SMU or TCU person, but it did happen,” Patterson said during his weekly news conference Tuesday. “If we wouldn’t have had the flags, it wouldn’t have happened. OK?”

Kill was knocked down twice, once by his own players, and diagnosed with a concussion.

“A guy [Kill] got hurt,” Patterson said. “Why I’m upset about it, a guy got hurt that things like that usually cause seizures. A guy got hurt. He got pushed down by our kids once on film in the middle of it and he got hit because I’ve got the proof to show it.”

Kill, who was formerly the head coach at Minnesota from 2010-2015, was diagnosed with epilepsy in 2005 and retired in 2015 due to worsening health conditions. Kill returned to the sideline briefly as offensive coordinator for Rutgers in 2017, was assistant to the head coach at Virginia Tech in 2019 and joined Patterson’s staff in 2020.

Gary Patterson alleged that the attempted flag planting was planned.

“You don’t think it was planned? They had a media person from their office that was out filming the flag getting set in the middle of the field,” Patterson said. “It’s OK. But don’t tell me there wasn’t a plan somewhere there.”

After SMU defeated TCU 42-34 on Saturday, a scuffle broke out when Mustangs receiver Rashee Rice attempted to plant an SMU flag at midfield of Amon G. Carter stadium

In the postgame press conference on Saturday, Gary Patterson alleged that Kill was struck with a helmet by an unidentified SMU player.

“I do need to find out who the player is that hit coach Kill with a helmet is,” Patterson told reporters postgame. “I will find that out.”

Gary Patterson expressed his displeasure on Tuesday that SMU’s social media team used a song Patterson recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic as a slight at the Horned Frogs program after the Mustangs win.

“They hate you cause they take a song that you wrote about COVID and getting back to families and they make fun of you,” Patterson said. “If I had the time, I’d go out and get all the copyright laws and I’d get after their ass but I’ve got Longhorns on my mind right now. Not them. I’m glad they keep substantiating our existence of where we’re at and how we do things.”