Today We Shall Discuss Coach FRAN!!!!!!!!

[fan]

In 1998 when Fran took TCU from 1-11 to the Sun Bowl and beat SC Tomlinson was not even the feature back. I think it was a another kid from East Texas who was the main running back. So to say that it was all LT and nothing to do with Fran is pretty revisionist.

And the nice guy thing? Phil Bennet is a very nice man.

I have not given to the Mustang Club in many years but would strongly consider doing so if Fran was hired.

[Stallion]

Good Post-and by the way did Tomlinson play defense"? To those that saw TCU play back in Franchione's days just try and sell me that TCU didn't have dominating defensive talent on those teams recruited under Fran. They were great athletic defense-it wasn't LT on defense. And I don't want to hear Patterson magic pixie dust bs either. Great talent on TCU's defense.

[PonyPatrol]

How is Fran a mediocre coach? In three to five years Fran has greatly improved each program he's coached. Do not isolate the A&M situation, where he was forced out following email accusations and losses to Miami, along with the #10, #7 and #5 teams, while BEATING UT. A&M has always had unrealistic expectations for their program, and the Texas media fuels the flames. Two years ago, no one would have imagined SMU could ever land Fran - guess what? He's still the same coach.

Throw away the scumbag accusations (who cares?). If he leaves in three or four years with the success on the field and on the recruiting trail that he's had in the past, we will unquestionably be in a better situation. This is not debatable.

Hire him and let's get started. In two years we would be relevant in recruiting circles again, pushing Tulsa and UH out of our backyard.

[SMUstang]

Texas A&M lost to Texas Tech 35-7 and to Oklahoma 42-14. Oh they did beat Montana State and Louisiana Monroe and barely beat Fresno State.

I will admit though that SMU would probably be better off with Fran than we were with Bennett. If we get him for a good price.

[ReedFrawg]

In 1998 when Fran took TCU from 1-11 to the Sun Bowl and beat SC Tomlinson was not even the feature back. I think it was a another kid from East Texas who was the main running back. So to say that it was all LT and nothing to do with Fran is pretty revisionist.

Basil Mitchell - played for the Packers for a few years. Most TCU fans I know are thankful for what Fran did at TCU....as I mentioned previously in this thread - I just don't like some of the things he has done regardless of whether or not he was at TCU.

[TCU owns YOU]

Good Post-and by the way did Tomlinson play defense"? To those that saw TCU play back in Franchione's days just try and sell me that TCU didn't have dominating defensive talent on those teams recruited under Fran. They were great athletic defense-it wasn't LT on defense. And I don't want to hear Patterson magic pixie dust bs either. Great talent on TCU's defense.

I believe LT's senior year, TCU was the #1 defense in the nation in ppg and ypg. TCU also set the all-time NCAA sack record with 13 against Nevada. That team sent 14 seniors into NFL camps, including the 2006 NFL leading sack DL, Aaron Schobel.

[TCU owns YOU]

TCU poster, you are a loser. No one cares what you say. Go post on your own damn board about how SMU kicked your rear in B-ball this year with a bunch of freshman. Oh yeah, I banged your mom last night.

You really make yourself look silly.

[TCU owns YOU]

With A&M locked into paying Fran $1.8, SMU could get one hell of a deal paying $100,000 (which is probably avg for teams with less than 10,000 attendance).

Then back-end load the deal so he gets $3 million after 2010 when A&M stops paying him the $1.8 a year.

Pretty cool to have aggies paying for your free coach.
And of course it is always fun to see aggies lose money and do dumb stuff.

That's fine but just give him a 2 or 3 year deal and don't renew his contract unless he wins 10 games per year.

Yes, Fran's asking price is at an all-time low right now. If he's the best we can do (and we can do much worse), then let's do the deal. We'll get him on the cheap compared to what we might have paid for him.

You will certainly get him a lot cheaper than $15 million A&M will pay him once it is all done. Hell, you could very easily get 3 seasons out of him for $100,000 which is the same coach A&M was paying close to $3,000,000

This really is "Buy Low & Sell High"
A&M bought Fran when was a hot item, and they overpaid.
Now the crowd has turned against him and he is damaged goods trading at a fraction of his proven value. SMU can step and get a bargain like Warren Buffet.

[SMUMan02]

How is Fran a mediocre coach? In three to five years Fran has greatly improved each program he's coached. Do not isolate the A&M situation, where he was forced out following email accusations and losses to Miami, along with the #10, #7 and #5 teams, while BEATING UT. A&M has always had unrealistic expectations for their program, and the Texas media fuels the flames. Two years ago, no one would have imagined SMU could ever land Fran - guess what? He's still the same coach.

Throw away the scumbag accusations (who cares?). If he leaves in three or four years with the success on the field and on the recruiting trail that he's had in the past, we will unquestionably be in a better situation. This is not debatable.

Hire him and let's get started. In two years we would be relevant in recruiting circles again, pushing Tulsa and UH out of our backyard.

He's also responsible for the worst home loss and worse road loss in TAMU history.

[ponyinNC]

TCU poster, you are a loser. No one cares what you say. Go post on your own damn board about how SMU kicked your rear in B-ball this year with a bunch of freshman. Oh yeah, I banged your mom last night.

You really make yourself look silly.

he does look like a [deleted] for his response, but c'mon, look at your screen name.

[Sideline]

I speak regularly with plenty of TCU alums and they all respect what Fran did. The only beef they have with him is he wore a crimson tie to an awards banquet before announcing his departure. Other than that, he took a group of athletes accustomed to losing and convinced them they desrved to win and showed them how, all the while establishing a foundation with the confidence and swagger necessary to sustain a winning environment's expectation level.

Longer term fans may know more precisely where TCU was when it fired Sullivan and where SMU is today and if its an apples to apples conversation, but my 6 year old nephew could see a 1-10 record in 1997 for TCU and 1-11 in 2007 for SMU and see the obvious benefit to what someone like Franchione could do here.

Aside from the fact that his son is a JC head coach, he can still identify and recruit talent on his own. Having coached on the junior college level briefly, I can attest that Blinn has backups that we could roll into our starting lineup. Ask Bobby Chase.

Use rationale and remove emotion when you decide what kind of coach you wish to see hired. Some coaches are great at taking a program with no knowledge of how to win, install a mentality and work their asses off to achieve success. They may not be the best managers of a successful program in place, rich with tradition, expectations, etc but their simply masters at revitalizing a culture.

In the business world, entreprenuers have an ability to envision when others cant, take risks when others wont, and be accountable when they flop. And they typically learn from the fall.

Middle managers simply take the systematic approach of doing exactly as they've been taught or seen over the years, dont see a value of implementing any sort of original approach if it isnt in the corporate policy manual, and typically dont fail because its impossible to, unless of course they try to branch out and be an entreprenuer armed with the knowledge of carrying out someone else's orders.

Entreprenuers are not good at middle management positions and vice versa. I'd argue Billy Gillespie fits in the entreprenuer category and he is employed by a huge corporation. I know its only 9 games for him, but they didnt lose to Houston last night, they got slapped. Kentucky was hugely successful before him, and his tactics have traditionally built programs up from nothing.

SMU desperately needs an entreprenuer over the corporate monkey and its obvious Fran is someone we could use.

And spare the, "my first choice" bs. You're not the AD, you dont fly in Gerald Ford's jet, nor do you drive a demo from Sewell. My first choices are Bob Stoops, Steve Spurrier, or Dennis Erickson but I'm not sure those are the most likely candidates. So I'll pull for a candidate from the pool that which we're contending, and even though its shallow, it does offer Fran, Turner Gill, and I'd love to see Malzahn as someone of interest. Screw the Todd Dodge comparisons, Malzahn is from the Art Briles mold.

Apologies for revisionist, but Briles approached Copeland about the SMU opening. How'd that work out for Copeland to decide against pursuing Briles?

At least Copeland isnt making this decision.

[mrydel]

SMU can step and get a bargain like Warren Buffet.[/b]

Warren Buffet would never coach at SMU.

[Stallion]

as negative as I sometimes am about SMU's Model, Franchione could sleepwalk this program to a bowl in CUSA West at least once in the next 4 years-he'd do it because CUSA West is least talented, poorly recruited Division in College Football. Franchione will easily outrecruit ALL the Coaches in this Division and he's the only one I see that could outrecruit TCU. Sumlin and Graham will be competitive. Price will survive with transfers. I can't believe more people don't understand the recruiting and connection advatages HE WILL bring to this program immediately. Over Coker-Dead Man Walking-he has no ties in Texas and damn it right there that is enough to make Franchione the easy choice. Franchione will have a Texas staff with Texas ties almost from Day 1. Coker doesn't have the ties to assistants familiar with Texas recruiting. For once back a single Coach with the ability to RECRUIT. SMU has NEVER taken this obvious step by getting a recruiter in here. TCU has outrecruited SMU arguably 18 out of 19 years. Our next coach must have the connections and track record to end that string.

[Longtime]

He took a group of athletes accustomed to losing and convinced them they desrved to win and showed them how, all the while establishing a foundation with the confidence and swagger necessary to sustain a winning environment's expectation level.

...SMU desperately needs an entreprenuer over the corporate monkey and its obvious Fran is someone we could use.

I don't know who this Sideline guy is, but he knows what he's talking about. This 1-11 SMU team reminds me a lot of Pat Sullivan's 1-10 TCU team that Fran took over. Think of all the close games we lost this year.

I remember reading all about Franchione at TCU and thinking how I wish SMU had him instead of good ol' Cavan. He cared about everything, right down to the details of the logo on the helmet. Those TCU players would have run through brick walls for him. So don't tell me he only cares about himself and the Big $$$ and doesn't care about his program or the players.

He made mistakes at A&M, but it was unlilke any place he had coached before. A&M wasn't looking for a savior. It was a bad fit from the start. His offense worked everywhere but at A&M. He would not need a map to recruit Texas.

SMU would be a great fit for Franchione. If there were ever a program that needed to be shown the way, it's SMU. You know he would love a chance to get his mojo back by turning around SMU. Plus, he's Italian, just like our AD. Can the Mustang Band learn the Godfather Theme?

[jimhagle]

I agree with the Texas connections being vital though please don't bring in Darnell. As to recruiting here no one can be sure how a Fran would do-this still ain't TCU standards and it sure isn't A&M so it would be a challenge for him. But his ties would be a huge benefit no doubt.