Christian family values: She sells the house, he goes recruiting

You saw the big smile.

And the purple ball cap.

Jim Christian has a better gig at TCU, but it's a big sacrifice for the family. (Getty Images)

And the microphones and the cameras and the handshakes and it all looked like a whole bunch of fun, didn't it? Of course it did! Because it always looks like a whole bunch of fun -- just a man and his family standing in front of a crowd of strangers, telling them how happy they are to be there, how thankful they are for the opportunity.

Then the reporters pack up the microphones and the cameras, and the handshakes stop and the press conference ends and what comes next is what you never see.

The drive back to the airport.

The kiss goodbye.

The life disrupted.

"I was just kinda like, 'OK, I guess I'll see you later,'" said Patty Christian, wife of new TCU coach Jim Christian. "He didn't even walk me into the airport. He just kinda dropped me off at the curb."

That was March 30.

"I think he's been back home one time since then," Patty said Tuesday by phone. "And when he came home he didn't even have time to sort through his clothes and show me what he wanted to get rid of. So I'm sorting through all his clothes now."

I'm not asking you to feel sorry for the Christian family.

Let me make that clear.

They more than doubled their income by moving from Kent State to TCU last month, and Jim's base salary is now reportedly $600,000 a year. That's a nice paycheck for teaching guys to dunk, a pretty good gig if you can get it.