It was announced at tonight's National Signing Day dinner that Gary Patterson's long-time friend and defensive coordinator Richard "Dick" Bumpas is set to retire. The 'Stache, as he's lovingly known, has been TCU's defensive coordinator since 2004, and has helped Patterson craft tremendous defense after tremendous defense over the past 11 years.

Bumpas' history with Patterson extends well beyond TCU, though. The two Horned Frog coaches were on staff together at four different school prior to reuniting in Fort Worth. They worked together in a variety of positions at Kansas State, Tennessee Tech, Utah State, and Navy.

Here's more on the legendary coach from GoFrogs.com:

Bumpas came to TCU after serving as Western Michigan's defensive coordinator for one season. Bumpas worked at Houston from 1999-02, serving as assistant head coach and linebackers coach and later as co-defensive coordinator, installing the 4-2-5 defense in his initial season. Prior to his stint at Houston, Bumpas worked four seasons at Navy as assistant head coach, defensive coordinator and defensive line coach. His 1997 Navy unit ranked sixth in total defense and turnover margin. At season's end, he was invited to coach in the Blue-Gray All-Star Game. Bumpas spent three seasons (1992-94) as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Utah State, helping the Aggies to a 1993 Big West Championship and a Las Vegas Bowl victory over Ball State. Other coaching stops include two seasons as defensive line coach at Notre Dame (1990-92), during which time he mentored 1990 Lombardi Award winner Chris Zorich. In 1989, Bumpas coached the defensive line at his alma mater, Arkansas, a team that went on to win a Southwest Conference title and advanced to the 1990 Cotton Bowl. Bumpas coached seven years in the Volunteer state, splitting time between Tennessee (1985-88) as linebackers coach/special teams coordinator and Tennessee Tech (1983-84) as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. While with the Vols, Bumpas coached three bowl championship teams (1986 Sugar, 1986 Liberty, 1988 Peach) and was part of the SEC championship in 1985. Bumpas began his collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant at Arkansas in 1977. From there, he went to Army and implemented a new defense under Homer Smith in 1978. Installing new defenses would become a trend for Bumpas, who did the same thing as defensive line coach at Air Force during a two-year tenure (1979-80).

It's hard to say exactly how Bumpas' departure will affect the TCU defense, but to simply write the unit off as "Gary's defense" would be to minimize the impact Bumpas has had on the program. He was instrumental in developing the defensive line over the years, and has seen guys like Jerry Hughes and Stansly Maponga reach the NFL. He also deserves credit for the careers of Tommy Blake, Chase Ortiz, and Devonte Fields (on the field), all of whom exceeded expectations.

Coach Bumpas will be greatly missed, and it'll be interesting to see who takes over at the DC position. Will Patterson promote from within, or will he go outside the program? It'll be interesting.