Franchione free from lingering stains of Tide

By Gil Lebreton
Star-Telegram Staff Writer

It wasn't all about the money.

As the contract figures suggest, confirmed by a Texas A&M source, it wasn't for very much more money at all.

Dennis Franchione left Alabama for a better place Thursday. If you're from Tuscaloosa, or Birmingham, or Selma, you'll probably never believe that.

You probably think that the Alabama football program is as revered in Massachusetts as it is in Montgomery, as worshiped in Oregon as it is in Opp.

More than likely, you also thought that the Crimson Tide's next national championship, its 13th, was just around the NCAA probation bend.

It is, after all, Alabama -- Bear Bryant, Don Hutson, Lee Roy Jordan, Joe Namath.

How could a head coach, you wonder back in Eufaula, leave the Holy Land of college football for a burg like Texas A&M?

Let me answer that: It wasn't because of the money.

As late as Wednesday afternoon, in an emotional meeting on the Tuscaloosa campus, Franchione stared at a 10-year contract proposal by Alabama that would have been worth, for openers, $1.5 million per year.

The deal with the Aggies that he agreed to Thursday is for nine years at an annual $1.7 million.

Franchione took the Texas A&M offer for an extra $200,000 per year.

As rumors swirled these past two weeks, Fran had nothing but great things to say about Alabama, both the state and the athletic program. I am convinced that he meant them.

But on Thursday, just by telling A&M yes, he said a lot.

You're in trouble, Alabama. The Crimson Tide is on five years of NCAA probation, banned from a bowl again next season, and facing the loss of 21 scholarships. Maybe there will be more sanctions handed down after the recruiting scandal federal trial in Memphis, or maybe not.

An annual national championship contender? Get real, Alabama.

Coach Bryant died in 1983. Yet, Alabama still lives under the old Bear's spell, convinced that every kid who signs from Huntsville or Trussville will be charmed by the houndstooth magic.

In truth, Alabama football is a walking, tackling Happy Days episode. Stuck in the '60s and '70s.

So, 'Bama fans, don't demean Texas A&M as a second-rate school from a one-stoplight town, harboring an Auburn-class football team. Any school that can recruit its lion's share of top Texas schoolboy talent can be a top-20 team every season. And with a Dennis Franchione as head coach, it can reasonably aspire even higher.

Alabamans insist that the Tide has a top-five football program. And sure, they do -- in the Southeastern Conference.

Since Bryant's last season in 1982, Alabama has won 152 games, lost 78 and tied one. In the same span, Florida is 177-51-4. Tennessee is 174-50-6. Bitter rival Auburn is 156-66-3.

The Crimson Tide isn't even No. 1 in its own state.

SEC championships since the conference expanded? 'Bama has won two in 11 years.

Former players on NFL rosters this season? 'Bama ranks eighth in the SEC with 17. Texas A&M has 30.

The numbers are presented only to illustrate a point. Namely, Alabama fans have some gall looking down their noses at Texas A&M.

Franchione's standard classy answer, when asked whether he had been forewarned about the NCAA shackles, was that he understood that sanctions were coming. But the university's initial response to the NCAA probe -- a self-imposed loss of 15 scholarships, no bowl ban -- suggests that the problems were chronically understated, including to the incoming football coach.

Alabama also promised that there would be improvement in athletic facilities, another area where the Tide's once state-of-the-art touch seems trapped in a time warp. In 24 months, however, not a crimson shovel has even broken the ground.

Fran knows that he can win at Texas A&M. Win big.

Be afraid, Longhorns. Be very afraid.

Franchione has never made a secret of his desire to win a national title. He worked wonders this past season, posting a 10-3 record, though in the first year of the NCAA sanctions. Tide fans hoped that he would show loyalty, ride out the probation, and restore the program to its expected glory.

Right. And two years from now, when a probation-strapped Franchione would have gone 5-7, they would have been screaming for his head, the loyalty that he showed in December 2002 long forgotten.

It wasn't about the money, Alabama. It was about you.

And it was about a better place called Texas A&M.

Let's make a deal A breakdown of Thursday's events that led to Dennis Franchione's hiring by Texas A&M:

THE OFFER

1:30 a.m. -- New A&M athletic director Bill Byrne and Dennis Franchione's attorney, Craig Kelly, complete the final details on the Aggies' contract offer early Thursday morning.

THE GETAWAY

9:45 a.m. -- Franchione boards a private jet for a trip to the Fort Worth-Dallas area to meet with an A&M contingent that includes Byrne and Benton Cocanougher.

THE HANDSHAKE

2:30 p.m. -- Franchione and Byrne shake hands on deal making Franchione Texas A&M's football coach.

THE ARRIVAL

4 p.m. -- Franchione and wife Kim arrive at Easterwood Airport in College Station. News conference to be held at 8:30 a.m. today to introduce the new coach.

 

OK, are these additional incidents occurr after the initial investigation? If so, then they are screwed. If not, and by the wording of "had" leads me to think this was some time ago, and assuming they've made reforms in their compliance program, maybe the big hammer doesn't go down. Still, slush fund......that's tough to sugarcoat, even if changes have been made since that time.

Man, that'd suck. I don't want to see Bama get the death penalty, just do things the right way. They aren't a top 5 program, no, but Fran got them to be a legit top 15 team this year without a lot of skill position talent beyond Beard.

 

franocchio

 

read their #1 target is tuberville.

lol.