It wasn’t done with a small fortune or a roster bursting with former elite prospects in dire need of the right educator. It was done the good ol’ fashion way—gradually and with failure sprinkled throughout. And it was all made possible because one young coach was bold enough to take a chance on a football program in a basketball town stuck on the bottom of the ocean floor.
In December 2011, the Memphis Tigers named Justin Fuente the head coach of one of the nation’s worst football teams. Not much was known of the then-35-year-old back then. He worked under Gary Patterson at TCU for five invaluable years.