TCU Horned Frogs History

The TCU Horned Frogs completed their most successful athletic season in school history, and several athletes were recognized for their achievements by earning All-America honors, as the 2000-01 campaign comes to a close.

TCU completed the year with eight Western Athletic Conference championships, including conference titles in football, women's cross country, women's basketball, men's indoor and outdoor track, men's and women's tennis and men's golf. The conference titles were the first in school history for the women's cross country team, the women's basketball team and the men's outdoor track team.

But TCU's success did not stop at the conference level. The men's indoor and outdoor track teams finished second at the national meet, while the men's tennis team reached the national semifinals. Both the women's basketball and women's tennis teams advanced to the second round of their respective NCAA tournaments. Both golf teams were regional participants, while the football squad made its third straight bowl appearance.

Individually, the Frogs featured three seniors who were regarded at the top of the field in their respective sports. LaDainian Tomlinson finished fourth in the Heisman Trophy balloting as the nation's top football player and earned the Doak Walker Award as the nation's top running back after leading the country in rushing for the second straight year. Esteban Carril led the TCU men's tennis team to a 24-4 record and a spot in the national team semi-finals en route to earning All-America status. He finished his career as the 11th-ranked collegiate singles player in the country. Only a late season injury kept him out of contention for the NCAA singles title. Kim Collins earned four All-America plaques this season as one of the nation's fastest runners. Collins captured the NCAA indoor title at both 60 and 200 meters, finished second in the outdoor 100 meters, and anchored TCU's NCAA champion 4x100-meter relay team, which posted the nation's fastest time this spring at 38.58 seconds.

Other TCU athletes that earned All-America status during the 2000-01 campaign included football players Aaron Schobel and David Bobo; the men's tennis doubles team of Trace Fielding and Jimmy Haney; and track standouts Darvis Patton (seven All-America plaques); Eliud Njubi (four), Lindel Frater (three), Monica Twum (two), David Spencer, Abdul Rasheed and Jason Howard.

Tomlinson and Schobel were named the WAC Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, Njubi and Glady's Keitany were named the WAC men's and women's Cross Country Athletes of the Year, Njubi was the high point scorer at both the conference indoor and outdoor track championships and Collins was the South Central Region Male Outdoor Track Athlete of the Year.

The cupboard is not bare for TCU Athletics as it begins play in Conference USA this fall. Reggie Harrell (men's indoor and outdoor track), Courtney Wood (women's golf) and Paty Aburto (women's tennis) all earned WAC Freshman of the Year accolades this spring.

The Frogs' fortunes are also tied to an outstanding collection of coaches. Jeff Mittie (women's basketball), Monte Stratton (men's indoor and outdoor track), Roland Ingram (women's tennis) and Dan Waters (women's cross country) were selected by their peers as the WAC 2000-01 Coach of the Year in their respective sports. Stratton (South Central) and Ingram (Southwest) also earned regional Coach of the Year honors.

What is a Horned Frog?

The Horned Frog (actually a lizard) has been TCU's mascot longer than TCU has been the university's name. Four students helped make the decision in 1897, when AddRan Christian University (renamed TCU in 1902) was located in Waco. Here are some other facts about the horned frog, one of the country's most unique mascots:

The scientific name for this Texas reptile is phrynosoma cornutum; in Greek, phrynos means "a toad" and soma means "body";in Latin, cornutus means "horned."

Horned Frogs are cold-blooded animals and have an unusual pineal gland, resembling a "third eye" on the top of the head, which zoologists believe is part of their system of thermoregulation.

When angered or frightened, horned frogs can squirt a fine,
four-foot stream of blood from their eyes.

FIGHT SONG CHANT

F-R-O-G-S F-I-G-H-T
Purple, White, Horned Frogs Fight
Victory, Victory, Right, Right, Right
Rah, Rah TCU! Rah, Rah, TCU

F-R-O-G-S F-I-G-H-T
Go, Go, Horned Frogs Go
TCU Frogs Fight

FIGHT SONG

We'll raise a song, both loud and long
To cheer our team to victor
For TCU, so tried and true,
We pledge eternal loyalty.
Rah, Rah, TCU!

Fight on boys, fight, with all your might
Roll up the scores for TCU
Hail white and purple flag whose heroes never lag,
Horned Frog, we are all for you!

Rif Ram
Riff, Ram, Bah Zoo
Lickety, Lickety, Zoo, Zoo
Who, Wah, Wah, Who
Give ‘em hell, TCU