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re: Dennis Franchione dead at 75
Posted on 10/7/26 at 8:30 am to RollTide4Ever
Posted on 10/7/26 at 8:30 am to RollTide4Ever
quote:
Butch Davis seriously considered taking the job before Fran did.
Frank Beamer wanted the job but got his feelings hurt when he found out he was #2 behind Davis. This was a really messed up situation all around and the worst part of it is out of al these candidates Mal Moore actually like Jim Leavitt the best and wanted to hire him
You have to remember this was pre NCAA sanctions being released so the candidate pool was decent. Tuberville told Davis not to go to Bama because the sanctions were likely to be severe and he had just navigated that at Miami and didn't want to do it again. Beamer got his feelings hurt and a huge raise from VT. MIke Riley said no (his wife didn't want to move to Alabama) so we were left with Leavitt and Fran. So you had:
Riley
Davis
Beamer
Leavitt
Fran
Davis was always going to go to the NFL so it worked out fine anyway with Fran and then Shula as without them we don't eventually end up with Saban in the end.
Posted on 10/7/26 at 8:34 am to ronricks
quote:
Riley
Davis
Beamer
Leavitt
Fran
The only thing worse than a really bad head coach is a mediocre head coach with great resources and a talent pool. That's the gift that keeps giving.
Posted on 10/7/26 at 8:50 am to bamameister
quote:
The only thing worse than a really bad head coach is a mediocre head coach with great resources and a talent pool. That's the gift that keeps giving.
Or an AD that thinks hiring Jim Leavitt, Mike Price, Mike Shula, or Rich Rodriguez is a 'good' idea. Saban made up for all that but people forget Mal had some really bad ideas as AD as far as coaches go.
Posted on 10/7/26 at 9:00 am to ronricks
quote:
Or an AD that thinks hiring Jim Leavitt, Mike Price, Mike Shula, or Rich Rodriguez is a 'good' idea. Saban made up for all that but people forget Mal had some really bad ideas as AD as far as coaches go.
There are generational players, and there are generational head coaches. But they are few and far between. Everyone else is just playing the lotto.
Posted on 10/7/26 at 10:58 am to FairhopeTider
quote:
Outside of Saban, no other coach since Bryant had the fanbase behind him like Fran did.
You forget we had Gene Stallings?
Back to Fran, yeah the fans actually supported him. Maybe to much. I think what overwhelmed Fran was the level of scrutiny you get as the HC at Bama and it is relentless. Probably why Saban never appeared in public. Fran would get bombarded just going to Wal Mart in T-town. Then the sanctions, but I honestly felt that crutch was kinda overblown. Did Mal keep some things from him, maybe, but it was no secret we were gonna get hammered. Plus, he would have walked on broken glass to get back to Texas and the A&M position was his dream job. It was a perfect storm with Slocum stepping down and Dennis having credibility having a probation Bama team pull off a10 win season on top of his previous connections at Texas State and TCU. Dream job and not having to deal with nutcase Bama fans. How could he lose lol?
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