Ex auburn coordinator Tony Franklin breaks silence...

The former Auburn and Troy offensive coordinator views fame as a burden that inhibits his straightforward, matter-of-fact personality. He’s the kind of guy who doesn’t want a pat on the back or to be told that he’s great. He just wants a little privacy.

Which is why he’s doing fine at Middle Tennessee State University.

"I’ve been here a few months now and I don’t think I’ve been recognized once," said Franklin, who was hired as the Blue Raiders’ offensive coordinator in February. "I can go out and have a beer somewhere and not worry about winding up on the Internet the next day.

"I don’t have to worry about all the crap you face in the SEC with its ridiculous, nit-picky rules and regulations on everything you do. I’m a guy who likes to walk down the street and not have to worry all the time about people watching me, waiting on me to screw up. I have that here."

That’s a much different life than the one he had this time a year ago, when he was in the middle of a 10-month stint as Auburn’s offensive coordinator.

Franklin was hired by former AU head coach Tommy Tuberville in December 2008 to revamp the Tigers’ offense, taking it from an old-school, smash-mouth style to an uptempo, quick-pass spread.

From the start, Franklin had his doubts.

By making the switch, the AU program would be abandoning a running game that had been the program’s identity – a move that was sure to unnerve a large portion of fans. And Franklin, who said he almost broke off his first interview with Tuberville just 10 minutes in, had deep doubts that his style of his coaching, along with his personality, would work on The Plains.

He was right on both counts.

But what he never expected was to find an athletic department and football program so riddled with turmoil.

"It was the most unusual place I’ve ever been," Franklin said of the Auburn program. "No one liked anybody else. There was this deep distrust of everybody. The coaches didn’t trust the administration, the administration didn’t trust each other or the coaches. It was very strange and very unnerving. You would walk down the halls and there would be tension you could just feel. No one would speak to you or even look at you. The coaches were all paranoid and didn’t trust anyone in the administration. They all felt like the administration was out to get them and they stressed out over everything that happened."

For the complete story of Franklin reflecting on his time at Auburn go to Saturday’s Montgomery Advertiser or montgomeryadvertiser.com

Other topics addressed:

— On Franklin and James Willis being the two outsiders of the Auburn staff

— How they knew the Tigers’ reign over the Tide was ending with Nick Saban’s arrival

— On how the Auburn athletic department uses the Christian faith as a "crutch" and many of those people are just "fakes"

Franklin