Report: University of Alabama's Franchione to coach at Texas A&M


DAHILL

DAHILL

Well-Known Member
Posted: Thursday December 05, 2002 3:53 PM
Updated: Thursday December 05, 2002 3:59 PM



COLLEGE STATION, Texas (CNNSI.com) -- Alabama coach Dennis Franchione agreed to a multiyear contract with Texas A&M on Thursday, according to a report in the Fort Worth Star Telegram.

Franchione will meet with the Aggies? athletic director, Bill Byrne, as well as other Texas A&M officials on Thursday to hammer out all the details, according to the report.

Texas A&M, which fired head coach R.C. Slocum earlier this week, received permission on Wednesday from Alabama athletic director Mal Moore to pursue the 51-year-old Franchione, who is expected to be named the new Aggies? head coach on Friday.

Franchione has five years left on his contract at Alabama, with the deal paying him about $1.1 million a year. He has not signed an extension reported to be worth $15 million over 10 years.

He guided the Crimson Tide to a 17-8 record over the past two seasons, including 10-3 this year. But Alabama can't play in a bowl game this year or next because it's on probation by the NCAA, for recruiting violations that occurred before Franchione arrived.

The A&M board of regents has proposed a five-year contract for Franchione to take over the Aggies' football program, the Houston Chronicle reported. Terms of an offer to Franchione were believed to be about $10 million to $11 million.

Byrne, hired away from Nebraska by A&M on Tuesday, was believed to have met Wednesday with Craig Kelly, Franchione's legal representative, to talk about a proposed deal.

Franchione has for several weeks been considered a possible replacement for Slocum, even before he was fired.

A&M lost to rival Texas 50-20 on Saturday, finishing the season 6-6 to match the team's worst record under Slocum. Not even a victory over top-ranked Oklahoma could save his job.

Franchione met for about three hours Wednesday afternoon with Alabama athletic director Mal Moore and members of the Alabama board of trustees, then left without commenting. He canceled speaking engagements Wednesday night in Columbus, Ga., and Thursday in Montgomery, Ala.
 
These white folks in Alabama are HEATD... Coach Fran lie to EVERYBODY, when Alabama got put on probation, not ONE player left the team when they could have transferred and not had to sit out. Now the fans are upset because Fran skipped town the first opportunity he could get. I think it all boils down to Alabama being on probation.
 

Well he better send somebody to clean out his office, because from the way them white folks are talking on the UA forum... HE MAY NOT MAKE IT out of Tuscaloosa when he comes back to move.
 
There are some Tide folks around here today with smoke coming out of their ears!! I think Fran would have been willing to put up with ONE more year of post-season bans and sanctions. But there has been some other "stuff" to come out of Memphis lately, and I imagine he decided "hell no!"

Now, if he can beat Texas next year, (like he beat Auburn in 2001), he'll be able to run for governor. If he loses, and then loses again, he'll regret he left Tuscaloosa!
 
All of these coaches are trying to leave Alabama and go west....whats the problem over there?
 
Originally Posted by DAHILL:

These white folks in Alabama are HEATD... Coach Fran lie to EVERYBODY, when Alabama got put on probation, not ONE player left the team when they could have transferred and not had to sit out. Now the fans are upset because Fran skipped town the first opportunity he could get. I think it all boils down to Alabama being on probation.
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Well those white folks should get over it. Alabama lied to him about there pending violations.
 
Originally posted by Beer Man


Well those white folks should get over it. Alabama lied to him about there pending violations.
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The University of Alabama is one of the top football jobs in the nation. I could understand him leaving TCU for Tuscaloosa. But I can understand him leaving Alabama. Folks should not be mad at Franchione. They need to be mad at the folks who got them on probation. Franchione had nothing to do with them getting on probation.

Understand this. 'Bama was also on probation within the last 10 years. 'Bama needs to clean up their mess or else they will be worse than Vanderbilt for years to come.
 
Originally posted by EB


The University of Alabama is one of the top football jobs in the nation. I could understand him leaving TCU for Tuscaloosa. But I can understand him leaving. Folks should not be mad at Franchione. They need to be mad at the folks who got them on probation. Franchione had nothing to do with them getting on probation.

Understand this. 'Bama was also on probation within the last 10 years. 'Bama needs to clean up their mess or else they will be worse than Vanderbilt for years to come.
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amen
 
Money

It's the money. How many of you would turn down a 0ne million dollar raise. He becomes the highest paid coach in college football.
 
Re: Money

Originally posted by J C
It's the money. How many of you would turn down a 0ne million dollar raise. He becomes the highest paid coach in college football.
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I seriously doubt it was the money..... Alabama could have EASILY matched whatever TAMU offered....
 
Understand this. The Southwest Conference died mainly IMHO because so many schools were on probation. SMU got the death penalty, and Texas A&M was on, off and then on probation. The joke about A&M was that they were on probation once or twice every five years. Yet, they hired R.C. Slocum as the head coach, and later promoted Wally Groff as the AD. Both had been at the school for years. The only probation incident that occured at A&M in the last 12-14 years was when a booster paid athletes for work that was not done. Well, I believe that the booster later had his prime seating priviledges taken away from him.

Understand. I am the last person to say that Texas A&M is perfect. I will not even fool myself into thinking that. It is not. I am not a fan of the Texas A&M Board of Regents. I do not know of a PV grad who is! (Don't get me started on that subject. It is a very long story.) I will definitely not say that everything at the school is peachy clean. It is not. But they, some people at A&M, took some measures to clean up some of the mess that occured during the '80s in football.

Alabama will have to clean up its mess, and its a mess. A former president (I forget his name.) at the school hired Billy Curry as head football coach and Steve Sloan as the AD in order to promote a different kind of athletic image. Well, many Tide fans lost their minds over Curry's hiring, Curry later left for Kentucky, and Sloan ended up at Central Florida. I will not go into everything. But in my humble opinion, everything is not all right in Tuscaloosa, AL. I do not blame Franchione for wanting out of there. It is up to them to clean up what will be a very messy situation.
 
I listen to this talk show called Southern Sports Tonight. They talked to a reporter from a Tuscaloosa newspaper yesterday and the guy explained that Fran got pissed with Alabama over the negotiations on that extension. Recall that the extension was on the table well before the season started, but Fran never signed it. Apparently, back in the spring or summer Fran and Bama reached an agreement and shook hands. When Fran comes in to sign the deal, he reads the contract and Bama done added terms and conditions that weren't agreed to, and that Fran wouldn't agree to. Things like, if he left Bama he couldn't coach for 10 years. A much higher buyout was added. So, Fran pushed the contract aside, and coached out the year under the old deal.

Bama did this to itself. Had they been fair to the man with that extension, he'd be under contract for helluva long time and it would cost another school a lot to buy him out. But it ain't like he left them high and dry. They are in as good a shape as they can be under the circumstances.
 
Originally posted by Robber
When Fran comes in to sign the deal, he reads the contract and Bama done added terms and conditions that weren't agreed to, and that Fran wouldn't agree to. Things like, if he left Bama he couldn't coach for 10 years
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That most likely goes back to the news that there will be more sanctions coming down the pipe after the recent revelations coming out of Memphis that I mentioned. Some of the athletic administrators in Tuscaloosa knew something, and wanted to lock him down for 10 years.

If you thought that Iran-Contra, the Clarence Thomas hearings and confirmation and Marion Barry fiasco was high drama, you should hear these white folks on the sports radio call-in shows around here! For Franchione's sake, I hope he doesn't have to come back to Alabama....not even to get his wife!
 

Nolan Richardson had a similar kind of clause in his contract with Arkansas, I believe.
 
Originally posted by Robber
I listen to this talk show called Southern Sports Tonight. They talked to a reporter from a Tuscaloosa newspaper yesterday and the guy explained that Fran got pissed with Alabama over the negotiations on that extension. Recall that the extension was on the table well before the season started, but Fran never signed it. Apparently, back in the spring or summer Fran and Bama reached an agreement and shook hands. When Fran comes in to sign the deal, he reads the contract and Bama done added terms and conditions that weren't agreed to, and that Fran wouldn't agree to. Things like, if he left Bama he couldn't coach for 10 years. A much higher buyout was added. So, Fran pushed the contract aside, and coached out the year under the old deal.

Bama did this to itself. Had they been fair to the man with that extension, he'd be under contract for helluva long time and it would cost another school a lot to buy him out. But it ain't like he left them high and dry. They are in as good a shape as they can be under the circumstances.
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I also pick up SST and I heard them talking about this situation. A coach has to be crazy to sign a contract that would ban him from coach for 10 years after he leaves their program. :rolleyes:

Does this departure from Bama take some of the luster off of the Bama head coaching position? Bama for so many years has been regarded has one of the top jobs in the country right up there with Notre Dame, Florida, Michigan, Texas, etc. People normally don't leave those types of schools unless it is for the NFL or retirement.
 
Like Pvt Joker Said in Full Metal Jacket,,,

",,,,, don't take it too hard Raptor Man(errr,, Alabama Fan),,,, just business."

I would say the players did get the shaft, but hey, the players are only going to be there for 2-4 years anyway, and if one of dem running backs as a Jr was a "Marice Clarette", I doubt they would take Franchone into consideration if the NFL wanted them. The players who are less than seniors that stayed based on Franchone's words took a chance and lost. Oh well, life will go on.

As far as the fans, a non-issue. If Fran would have went 3-9 or 4-8 this past season, they would have been calling for his head and blasting him to smithereens. As I see it,,,, he simply dicked them before they/the university could dick him,,,, and got a nice PHAT raise for all the trouble.

Life goes on, should be very little hard feelings among the parties if you ask me; and I root for Alabama over Auburn and I'm not losing any sleep over it. That's just the nature of the beast. :)

,,,,,uh-now when Comegy stiffs Tuskegee,,,, I'M GOING TO BE PISSED!!!! :mad: :D
 
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