After years of struggling TCU is currently 7-0 and off to its best start since the 1997-98 season, which is also the last time the Horned Frogs reached the NCAA tournament. That year is also the last time the program won a regular season conference title, with TCU being a member of the WAC at that time.
Overall the program has won 11 regular season conference titles, with ten being earned in the now-defunct Southwest Conference. And the heroics of a current Division I head coach factored into the Horned Frogs winning one of those SWC titles.
That coach: Pittsburgh’s Jamie Dixon.
In TCU’s home finale against Texas, Dixon knocked down a challenged 35-footer as time expired. Unfortunately for TCU they dropped games at Houston and Texas Tech the following week, meaning that they had to share the SWC regular season title with Texas and Texas A&M (the Aggies won four straight to claim their piece of the title). Interestingly enough none of those teams played in the NCAA tournament that season, with conference tournament champion Texas Tech being the lone SWC representative.
Below are two videos: the game-winning sequence and Dixon’s postgame interview. Also, note that Texas’ John Brownlee was named player of the game before TCU went the length of the floor for the win.
TCU’s trek to the Big 12 has featured numerous stops since four Southwest Conference schools joined the Big 12 when it was first founded, and they very well could have ended up in the Big East. Dixon was a factor in that potential move, with it not occurring thanks to other dominoes that fell during conference realignment (Pitt and Syracuse joining the ACC).