For the second straight season, ACU head football coach
Keith Patterson will have a homecoming of sorts.
In 2024, ACU opened the season at Texas Tech where Patterson worked for three seasons immediately before becoming the Wildcats' head coach. This Saturday, Patterson returns to the place he started his college coaching career as ACU faces the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.
Patterson had been a high school coach for nearly 20 years when he made the jump to the collegiate level at Tulsa in 2003. He served as linebackers coach for three seasons, and was promoted to co-defensive coordinator for the next five years.
Tulsa is not only where he got his first taste of coaching success at the Division I level. It is a special place because the proud Oklahoman -- quick to tell you about his small hometown of Marlow, about 175 miles southwest of Tulsa -- got to be surrounded by so many family members and friends, and make incredible memories.
Patterson's nephew played football at Tulsa, and his niece was a cheerleader. His daughter married another former TU player, and he and his wife, Melissa, even had their wedding in Sharp Chapel on the University of Tulsa campus.
"It's cool to know that you had a part in the history of a very successful period of University of Tulsa football," Patterson said. "We won a conference championship in 2005 and went to six different bowl games and almost won 70 football games in our time there."
It was a special time and place for Patterson. A proud native of Marlow, Okla., being able to coach in his home state meant being aroundÂ
Last season, Patterson led his Wildcats into Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock and nearly upset Texas Tech, where he had served as defensive coordinator from 2019-21. He said this Saturday's game will likely feel the same.
"It's almost very similar in a lot of ways to going back to Texas Tech last year, a place that I hold very near and dear to my heart," Patterson said. "Both those places had a tremendous impact on my career and development as a football coach."
This weekend, a 20-year reunion is being held for Tulsa's 2005 Conference USA championship team, the program's first league title since 1985. Patterson was the linebackers coach on that Golden Hurricane squad which won nine games and the Liberty Bowl. But he will not be at Friday's reception. His focus is squarely on making sure his Wildcats are prepared for an FBS opponents with a new head coach in Tre Lamb.
ACU also has the challenge of following up on last season's success --Â a 9-5 record, a United Athletic Conference title, and a first-round victory in the FCS Playoffs, all of which had never been accomplished in the Wildcats' Division I era.
"Yes, we're proud of what we've accomplished, but it's one thing to get there, and it's another thing to stay there," Patterson said. "We want to build a program that stays there. It's not about just reaching a goal and being satisfied. We have three goals every year: go undefeated at home, win the conference, and win a national championship."
Patterson knows the Wildcats have a long way to go to reach that final goal, but he's confident that last season was just the beginning of something special in Abilene.
"It's going to be a fun season," Patterson said. "I love this team, and I love where this program is headed."
Saturday's game kicks off at 7 p.m. at H.A. Chapman Stadium.
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