‘No disrespect' but Indiana QB Josh Hoover takes a swipe at TCU & Sonny Dykes

Mac Engel 'No disrespect' but Indiana QB Josh Hoover takes a swipe at TCU & Sonny Dykes Whatever splinters remain of the bridge that existed between Indiana University quarterback Josh Hoover and the place where he earned his college degree were effectively tossed into the White River near his new home in Bloomington. About 45 minutes after Hoover, who transferred from TCU to IU in January, made his debut for the defending national champion Hoosiers against North Texas on Saturday, he fired a message at his former coach that there is no way he did not hear, or see. After IU defeated UNT, Hoover said in the locker room to Indianapolis new station, WISH TV, 'In the spring, it's a big culture shock, coming to a place like this and that's not a dis' toward anybody else, it's just different, with the way coach runs it.' Had Hoover stopped there, he could have sold the 'it's not a dis' toward anybody else' part. But he continued. 'The way (IU coach Curt Cignetti) runs it, I think it was a lot different than some of the things that were asked of me playing quarterback.' Whatever Hoover wants to say, he completed a 75-yard bomb on top of Dykes, and former TCU offensive coordinator Kendal Briles. Even if Hoover's intention was not to include Briles, whom he reportedly liked and did not want to see go to South Carolina in the offseason, this comment hits the entire program. A program right now that is coming off a terrible start to its season where it kicked its starting safety off the team because he assaulted his teammate in the locker room; drawing national attention because it revoked media access to a local news organization (who could that be?); playing terrible in a season-opening loss in Dublin against a North Carolina team that looks like a frat house led by a bunch of horny old men on a college campus. In TCU's loss to North Carolina, Hoover's replacement, Harvard transfer Jaden Craig, played like an Ivy Leaguer. In Hoover's debut for Indiana, he played like the best quarterback who put his name in the transfer portal. Against a North Texas team that had to completely remake its roster because of mass defections, Hoover completed 13-of-16 passes for 231 yards with four touchdowns in a blowout win. He has an impossible task in replacing Heisman Trophy winner and No. 1 overall draft pick Fernando Mendoza, but Hoover could not have started any better. Hoover's post-game comments may not have been a conscious shot back at his former head coach, but this could be a case of a subconscious hard at work. Hoover's last-second exit from TCU before its appearance in the 2025 Alamo Bowl left a lot of people in the TCU community not exactly thrilled. TCU boosters and staffers, specifically Dykes, worked hard to keep Hoover at least through its bowl game against USC. But Hoover left, and TCU defeated USC in overtime. In March, Dykes said of TCU's offense, 'Josh started 31 games here as a quarterback, and we turned the ball over 40 — he turned the ball over 42 times in those 31 starts.' There is no escaping that in Hoover's two full seasons as its starting quarterback, TCU's record dipped when it turned the ball over frequently; it's a point that Dykes has repeatedly made when explaining the team's mid-season dips both in 2024 and 2025. That specific comment landed different because Dykes put Hoover's name on the numbers. It was perceived as a coach who was going after his former quarterback, and assigning blame to one specific player. Dykes repeatedly said he wants the best for Hoover, or any player, who elects to transfer. What Dykes didn't say is why some people in TCU's community were upset with Hoover. He took a big check, and then put his name in the transfer portal shortly thereafter. There are two views on this; Hoover's side felt this was money owed, whereas TCU felt it was money that would secure him for 2026. Hoover is now a part of an era of college players who will have played for multiple colleges in their careers, thus either making it hard, or impossible, to enjoy the type of networking possibilities that come from playing in one place for three to five years. One of the big consequences of the transfer portal is that it will create a generation of players whose affiliation with their 'alma mater' will be so brief, and so transactional, they will not have created any real relationships that will benefit them later in life. They won't be a part of the community, an increasingly big point of sale for colleges. Hoover was at TCU from 2022 to 2025, and he earned his degree. The amount of time, and number of games he played for TCU, should create a tight bond between Hoover and TCU's community. But after comments like these, that bond will need a fleet of therapists.