The TCU Horned Frogs are rounding out their new staff with a replacement for former assistant AD for football human performance, Kaz Kazadi, who reportedly parted ways with the university a week ago. On
Sunday, TCU announced that it has hired Darl Bauer, who previously worked at Troy as the football program’s director of strength and conditioning, to replace Kazadi in Fort Worth. Bauer’s previous experience includes five years at Houston and 10 years at West Virginia, where he started his career as a graduate assistant in 2009. At WVU, Bauer worked alongside former head coach Dana Holgorsen, who briefly served as an advisor at TCU.
Bauer takes over for Kazadi, who had served as TCU’s assistant AD for football human performance since December 2021, joining the Horned Frogs around the time head coach Sonny Dykes replaced Gary Patterson. Kazadi, who worked alongside Dykes at SMU, previously worked at Baylor under former head coach Art Briles, whose son Kendal Briles recently departed TCU after serving as offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and associate head coach from 2023-25. With Briles, Kazadi and assistant wide receivers coach Corey Coleman, a former star pass catcher at Baylor during his college career, no longer at TCU, the Horned Frogs have dispatched of three former Baylor staff members this offseason.
While at Houston, Bauer helped the Cougars post a 12-win season in 2021, and he saw 12 players selected during his five-year tenure. In Morgantown, Bauer was a part of nine bowl appearances including a victory in the 2012 Orange Bowl with MVP Geno Smith. During his tenure, 30 Mountaineers were selected in the NFL draft. Bauer originally started at WVU as a graduate assistant in 2009 before earning a full-time promotion in 2010. He was promoted to assistant director of strength and conditioning/director of applied performance prior to the 2018 season. Bauer, a Master Strength and Conditioning Coach by the Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coaches Association (CSCCA), the highest distinction in the strength profession, interned at Eastern Michigan in 2007.
