Justin Fuente returns to Owen Field
Published: 9/23/2008 8:20 AM
Last Modified: 9/23/2008 8:20 AM
The most important coach on the TCU sideline Saturday will be head man Gary Patterson. It is Patterson's defense, after all, that just might keep the Horned Frogs closer to No. 2 Oklahoma than the 2-touchdown spread.
If you are looking for intrigue, however, fix your binoculars on the TCU running backs coach.
Fella by the name of Justin Fuente.
How is this for irony: Twelve years ago, Fuente made his debut as OU quarterback against the Horned Frogs in a 20-7 loss. He relieved Eric Moore in John Blake's first game as coach and didn't do very well. But he got his cleats wet, so to speak, and went on to throw a Sooner freshman-record 11 touchdown passes that year.
After a tumultuous '97 season, Fuente cut out for Div. I-AA Murray State, where things worked out much better. He set 11 Racer records, earned a finance degree and fell under the influence of head coach Denver Johnson. When Johnson took the Illinois State job following Fuente's senior season in '99, Fuente went along to coach quarterbacks.
Three years later, Fuente was coordinating Illinois State's offense. Now he's in his second season under Patterson in Fort Worth.
It seems a happy ending for a terrific young man. I remember interviewing Fuente at the '97 OU Media Day, but not before he had spent 10 or 15 minutes catching reporters up on his family back in Tulsa. He was so hopeful to build on his freshman season.
Just a couple weeks later, however, that hope was dashed at Chicago's Soldier Field in a humiliating 24-0 loss to Northwestern. It was the beginning of the end of his Sooner career.
I found some quotes Fuente gave the Daily Aztec newspaper the week before his first OU start against San Diego State in '96:
On the difference between Blake and Howard Schnellenberger, the one-year Sooner coach who lured Fuente to Norman out of Union High School... "Coach Blake is much more of a motivator and a player's coach. He's very close with all his players ... If you've got a problem, whether it's football-related or not, you can go talk to him about it, whereas Coach Schnellenberger was a little more distant."
On Schnellenberger's departure: "When (OU) didn't name a coach and Coach Schnellenberger resigned, I was really apprehensive about staying here. Really, the head coach wasn't a concern of mine; it was the offensive coordinator."
On why he stuck it out: "I sat down and had a talk with both of them (Blake and offensive coordinator Dick Winder). I've never had a second thought since then."
Then there was this, so hopeful at the time but so wistful looking back...
"When you come on a recruiting trip, it makes you realize the kind of greatness you're following," Fuente said. "It kind of makes you want to live up to their expectations."
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
