text: It was the first Southwest Conference title for TCU since 1959.Invited to the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana, the Frogs lost, 20–10, to the Virginia Cavaliers. After 1994, the team regressed: the Frogs went 6–5 in 1995, the last year of the Southwest Conference. TCU struggled even more during Sullivan's final two seasons, when the team competed in the Western Athletic Conference. They finished 4–7 in 1996, and a disastrous 1–10 campaign in 1997 led to Sullivan's mid-season resignation; the lone win was in the season finale over SMU for the Iron Skillet. One of Coach Sullivan's greatest contributions to TCU was the recruitment of future NFL star running back LaDainian Tomlinson to Fort Worth. Dennis Franchione era (1998–2000)
  Franchione inherited a program that had posted a very poor .323 winning percentage from 1966 to 1997. However, he immediately turned the program around. Under Dennis Franchione, and with the stellar play of backs Tomlinson and Basil Mitchell, a 6–5 TCU defeated the USC Trojans in the 1998 Sun Bowl. The high point of the Franchione era was a 10–1 regular season record, a Mobile Alabama Bowl berth vs. Southern Miss and a season-ending No. 13 AP national ranking in 2000. 