The Bond Between a Coach and His Quarterback
11/20/2024 8:03:00 AM | Football
ACU head coach Keith Patterson vividly remembers the first time Wildcat quarterback Maverick McIvor impressed him.
It wasn't during a game or practice during his three seasons as the ACU starter. It wasn't Saturday night when he led the Wildcats on a 75-yard touchdown march in the final two minutes to beat Tarleton State, 35-31, win the United Athletic Conference championship, and secure a berth in the FCS playoffs. And it wasn't in any of the other three games this season that McIvor led a game-winning or game-tying drive on the Wildcats' final possession.
No. It came in the Spring of 2020 when he stood in the back of the end zone at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, watching his Texas Tech defense run a drill against the scout-team offense.
"We're running red-zone drills, and Derek Jones – who had just been hired from Duke to coach defensive backs – walks over to me and asks, 'Who is that kid?' " Patterson said. "It was Maverick. I knew he had the arm talent, but nobody had seen what he could do in a couple of years."
That's because he hadn't been playing.
He suffered a torn ACL in the season-opening game of his senior season at San Angelo Central High School in 2018, was injured as a freshman at Texas Tech in 2019, and again as a redshirt freshman during the COVID season of 2020. He was healthy in 2021 but didn't play, as the Red Raiders used Donovan Smith, Tyler Shough, and Henry Colombi to take most of the snaps.
Patterson was the interim head coach in the Red Raiders' 34-7 win over Mississippi State in the Liberty Bowl. After that game, he returned to ACU for good, and a few months later, the quarterback who had impressed him with his play in that red-zone drill joined him in Abilene.
It's been a growing process for Patterson, McIvor, and the program overall.
No player has been more critical to the 2024 Wildcats' success than McIvor, the quarterback who has grown with Patterson and the Wildcats and has been in the spotlight throughout this conference championship season. His growth has mirrored that of the program.
McIvor got off to a good start in 2002 as he won the starting job out of fall camp, leading the Wildcats to a 7-4 record (3-1 in the Western Athletic Conference) while throwing for 2,212 yards and 16 touchdowns. Then, a small step back in 2023 as the Wildcats finished 5-6 overall and 3-3 in the United Athletic Conference, while McIvor threw for 1,972 yards and 17 touchdowns but completed just 55.8 percent of his passes.
"I knew he wouldn't come in here and have everything click like he had been playing for two or three years," Patterson said.
In his first two seasons, he played for two offensive coordinators with different styles. But he found his lifeline in Rick Bowie, hired in January 2024 as the Wildcats' offensive coordinator. Patterson had coached defense on staffs led by coaches and offensive coordinators who employed the "Air Raid" offense, and he wanted his players to be in a system he believed could win, especially for a season he had been pointing to since 2022.
Bowie, the offensive coordinator at NCAA Division II powerhouse Valdosta State (Ga.), immediately began working with McIvor. Bowie's aggressive style took hold during spring ball when Patterson openly told anyone who asked that his team would play for a conference championship in 2024. After the UAC preseason poll revealed the Wildcats picked to finish sixth, Patterson said in public that polls don't mean anything and only served to give fans something to discuss. Privately, it gave him something to use to motivate his team.
McIvor's leadership is evident on the field. He's the decision-maker, determining where to go with the football in seconds. He has terrific skill players around him: Blayne Taylor, Nehemiah Martinez, Trey Cleveland, J.J. Henry, Javon Gipson, Jed Castles, Sam Hicks, Isaiah Johnson, and others. But it's McIvor who is the key to it all.
And he's been up to the task. He has taken almost 800 snaps this year, and he's the shoo-in for UAC Player of the Year and should be a candidate for the Walter Payton Award as the top player in the FCS.
McIvor started the season hot, throwing for 506 yards and three touchdowns in a 52-51 overtime loss to Texas Tech in the season-opener. He hasn't slowed down. He's topped 300 yards passing in six games and has thrown multiple touchdowns in nine of 11 games.
McIvor's recent performance has been nothing short of spectacular. Since a 47-34 loss at North Alabama on Oct. 12, the Wildcats are 4-0 with home wins over Eastern Kentucky and Southern Utah and fourth-quarter come-from-behind road wins over Austin Peay and Tarleton State the last two weeks. McIvor has completed 64 percent of his passes for 1,392 yards (348.0 per game) and 11 touchdowns in those four games.
In the win over Austin Peay, he drove the Wildcats down the field and threw a fourth-down touchdown pass to Castles in the final minutes for the win, and then whipped ACU 75 yards down the field Saturday at Tarleton State to pull out a 35-31 victory. On the final drive, he was 9 for 12 for all 75 yards, including a 24-yard pass to Henry to the 1-yard line and a 1-yard touchdown pass to Hicks with 19 seconds left, finishing a drive that started with 1:48 left in the game.
The three incompletions? Clock-killing spikes to save time. Otherwise, perfection on the most crucial drive of the season.
It was a master class in the two-minute offense by a quarterback whose growth mirrors the program he leads on the field. He didn't force anything. He didn't rush a throw. He didn't let pressure from the Tarleton defense fluster him. McIvor passed with flying colors if it was the final exam in Bowie's offensive system.
"I can't say enough about what Rick has done for Maverick," Patterson said after the game in Stephenville. "He's been tremendous coaching and getting him to understand to be comfortable taking what the defense gives him. Rick has repeatedly told him not to tire of taking what's available. That's precisely what he did on the last drive. He didn't force the ball and took what Tarleton's defense gave him. I'm so proud of how he matured over the last three years and brought this program with him."
As McIvor celebrated on the field after the win over the Texans, someone asked him what leading ACU to the program's first conference championship in football in the Division I era meant to him and the other 25 players left from Patterson's first team in 2022. He didn't have to think very long to come up with an answer.
"I've been on this ride with KP for the last three years, and he's talked about this night almost every day since 2022," McIvor said. "He was talking about it when I got to ACU, and he's never wavered in his belief in what this team could and would accomplish. He's stuck to the script, and we all know we can trust him 100 percent. He has a purpose; he's a great coach and an even better person."
About that impression that McIvor made on Patterson back in Lubbock? It's safe to say that Patterson has made a similar impression on that young quarterback.
It wasn't during a game or practice during his three seasons as the ACU starter. It wasn't Saturday night when he led the Wildcats on a 75-yard touchdown march in the final two minutes to beat Tarleton State, 35-31, win the United Athletic Conference championship, and secure a berth in the FCS playoffs. And it wasn't in any of the other three games this season that McIvor led a game-winning or game-tying drive on the Wildcats' final possession.
No. It came in the Spring of 2020 when he stood in the back of the end zone at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, watching his Texas Tech defense run a drill against the scout-team offense.
"We're running red-zone drills, and Derek Jones – who had just been hired from Duke to coach defensive backs – walks over to me and asks, 'Who is that kid?' " Patterson said. "It was Maverick. I knew he had the arm talent, but nobody had seen what he could do in a couple of years."
That's because he hadn't been playing.
He suffered a torn ACL in the season-opening game of his senior season at San Angelo Central High School in 2018, was injured as a freshman at Texas Tech in 2019, and again as a redshirt freshman during the COVID season of 2020. He was healthy in 2021 but didn't play, as the Red Raiders used Donovan Smith, Tyler Shough, and Henry Colombi to take most of the snaps.
Patterson was the interim head coach in the Red Raiders' 34-7 win over Mississippi State in the Liberty Bowl. After that game, he returned to ACU for good, and a few months later, the quarterback who had impressed him with his play in that red-zone drill joined him in Abilene.
It's been a growing process for Patterson, McIvor, and the program overall.
No player has been more critical to the 2024 Wildcats' success than McIvor, the quarterback who has grown with Patterson and the Wildcats and has been in the spotlight throughout this conference championship season. His growth has mirrored that of the program.
McIvor got off to a good start in 2002 as he won the starting job out of fall camp, leading the Wildcats to a 7-4 record (3-1 in the Western Athletic Conference) while throwing for 2,212 yards and 16 touchdowns. Then, a small step back in 2023 as the Wildcats finished 5-6 overall and 3-3 in the United Athletic Conference, while McIvor threw for 1,972 yards and 17 touchdowns but completed just 55.8 percent of his passes.
"I knew he wouldn't come in here and have everything click like he had been playing for two or three years," Patterson said.
In his first two seasons, he played for two offensive coordinators with different styles. But he found his lifeline in Rick Bowie, hired in January 2024 as the Wildcats' offensive coordinator. Patterson had coached defense on staffs led by coaches and offensive coordinators who employed the "Air Raid" offense, and he wanted his players to be in a system he believed could win, especially for a season he had been pointing to since 2022.
Bowie, the offensive coordinator at NCAA Division II powerhouse Valdosta State (Ga.), immediately began working with McIvor. Bowie's aggressive style took hold during spring ball when Patterson openly told anyone who asked that his team would play for a conference championship in 2024. After the UAC preseason poll revealed the Wildcats picked to finish sixth, Patterson said in public that polls don't mean anything and only served to give fans something to discuss. Privately, it gave him something to use to motivate his team.
McIvor's leadership is evident on the field. He's the decision-maker, determining where to go with the football in seconds. He has terrific skill players around him: Blayne Taylor, Nehemiah Martinez, Trey Cleveland, J.J. Henry, Javon Gipson, Jed Castles, Sam Hicks, Isaiah Johnson, and others. But it's McIvor who is the key to it all.
And he's been up to the task. He has taken almost 800 snaps this year, and he's the shoo-in for UAC Player of the Year and should be a candidate for the Walter Payton Award as the top player in the FCS.
McIvor started the season hot, throwing for 506 yards and three touchdowns in a 52-51 overtime loss to Texas Tech in the season-opener. He hasn't slowed down. He's topped 300 yards passing in six games and has thrown multiple touchdowns in nine of 11 games.
McIvor's recent performance has been nothing short of spectacular. Since a 47-34 loss at North Alabama on Oct. 12, the Wildcats are 4-0 with home wins over Eastern Kentucky and Southern Utah and fourth-quarter come-from-behind road wins over Austin Peay and Tarleton State the last two weeks. McIvor has completed 64 percent of his passes for 1,392 yards (348.0 per game) and 11 touchdowns in those four games.
In the win over Austin Peay, he drove the Wildcats down the field and threw a fourth-down touchdown pass to Castles in the final minutes for the win, and then whipped ACU 75 yards down the field Saturday at Tarleton State to pull out a 35-31 victory. On the final drive, he was 9 for 12 for all 75 yards, including a 24-yard pass to Henry to the 1-yard line and a 1-yard touchdown pass to Hicks with 19 seconds left, finishing a drive that started with 1:48 left in the game.
The three incompletions? Clock-killing spikes to save time. Otherwise, perfection on the most crucial drive of the season.
It was a master class in the two-minute offense by a quarterback whose growth mirrors the program he leads on the field. He didn't force anything. He didn't rush a throw. He didn't let pressure from the Tarleton defense fluster him. McIvor passed with flying colors if it was the final exam in Bowie's offensive system.
"I can't say enough about what Rick has done for Maverick," Patterson said after the game in Stephenville. "He's been tremendous coaching and getting him to understand to be comfortable taking what the defense gives him. Rick has repeatedly told him not to tire of taking what's available. That's precisely what he did on the last drive. He didn't force the ball and took what Tarleton's defense gave him. I'm so proud of how he matured over the last three years and brought this program with him."
As McIvor celebrated on the field after the win over the Texans, someone asked him what leading ACU to the program's first conference championship in football in the Division I era meant to him and the other 25 players left from Patterson's first team in 2022. He didn't have to think very long to come up with an answer.
"I've been on this ride with KP for the last three years, and he's talked about this night almost every day since 2022," McIvor said. "He was talking about it when I got to ACU, and he's never wavered in his belief in what this team could and would accomplish. He's stuck to the script, and we all know we can trust him 100 percent. He has a purpose; he's a great coach and an even better person."
About that impression that McIvor made on Patterson back in Lubbock? It's safe to say that Patterson has made a similar impression on that young quarterback.
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