TCU’s Sonny Dykes, Jeremiah Donati apologize for miscommunication on postgame tradition

A frustrating day for TCU culminated with apologies from athletic director Jeremiah Donati and football coach Sonny Dykes.

Fans expressed displeasure Saturday when football team members cleared the field at Amon G. Carter Stadium instead of staying behind to sing the school’s fight song and alma mater. The Horned Frogs opened their season with a 45-42 loss to Deion Sanders’ Colorado.

While it has become tradition for the team to line up in front of the marching band after each game, only a few players remained on the field following Saturday’s season opener. Donati addressed the situation first, tweeting about a miscommunication with Dykes’ coaching staff.

“The team leaving the field before the alma mater is 100 pct on me. This was our first home loss with our new coaching staff and clearly we didn’t communicate the expectation - which is to stay on the field W or L in front of the band,” Donati’s tweet read. “It won’t happen again. I apologize. Thanks to all our fans who expressed their concern.”

Dykes seemed to echo Donati’s statement on social media, making a promise to Horned Frog fans that the issue won’t happen again.

During last year’s run to the CFP national championship game, TCU maintained an unbeaten mark throughout the regular season. That included six victories at home.

“They showed up. They were more ready to play than we were, think more excited to play, think they played harder,” Dykes said following TCU’s loss to Colorado. “It seemed like they had more determination down the stretch than we did. So against that’s a real credit to them. I think their coaching staff, they really did a good job getting them ready to play.”

The Associated Press contributed to this post.

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