[AZAggie]

I for one certainly hope he is feeling the heat. I was a big Fran fan when he was hired, but the last 2 season have been nothing less than unacceptable. We have also been losing the recruiting wars big time. There is no reason we should be the 4th best team in Texas. I can almost accept the fact that UT will out recruit us. That is understandable, even if I don't like it. But, we should not be losing players to the sand fleas in Lubbock or to the likes of TCU and Baylor. We have argueably some of the best facilities in the Big 12 and all of college football for matter. There is no better atmosphere to play ball at than Kyle Field. Fran should not be struggling to recruit like he has since he got to College Station.

Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Sports

Thumb up or down? A&M, Franchione at crossroads


02:23 AM CDT on Wednesday, August 23, 2006


By RACHEL COHEN / The Dallas Morning News

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Joseph Reese wants to keep his options open. One of the top running back recruits in the state, Reese hears rumblings from classmates at Pflugerville Hendrickson that Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione may be fired after this season.
Reese, who has made a non-binding oral commitment to the Aggies, doesn't know if there's any substance to the rumors. Just in case, though, he's trying to identify a backup school.
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Speculation about Franchione's job security is going to sound plausible after A&M posted losing records in two of his first three seasons. Franchione dismissed talk about facing extra pressure this year, and athletic director Bill Byrne pledged his support. But if people are buzzing now, the din will only grow louder if the Aggies falter again this fall.
To Byrne, a lack of talent and experience helps explain A&M's struggles.
"Our guys line 'em up right," he said. "It's just sometimes there are people with more talent than we do on the field."
Byrne, who like Franchione was hired in late 2002, praised the coach's recruiting.
"The thing you can't coach is experience," Byrne said. "It's why I have high expectations for our improvement over the years here, because I'm watching us gain experience. I'm also watching an improvement in our athleticism. I'm seeing more team speed, which is something we sadly lacked when we came here."
FILE 2005/Staff photo
Red Bryant (wrapping up Texas-ex Ramonce Taylor) is one of three returning starters on the defensive line.

Byrne said it takes six recruiting classes for a coach to fully rebuild a program. And "rebuild" is the word he uses.
Talking about last season's 5-6 record, Franchione noted that defensive linemen Red Bryant, Jason Jack and Chris Harrington were sophomores. They were among 22 underclassmen who started at least one game for A&M in 2005.
"I'm not trying to sound like I'm making excuses," Franchione said. "I just think there were a lot of young guys out there at times and they made young player mistakes that hopefully we'll be able to alleviate a little bit with a year of experience."
As Franchione, 55, enters his fourth season, the talent suiting up for him is mostly players he recruited. And no longer are they so inexperienced.
"This is my junior campaign," Bryant said. "I can't say I'm young. I can't say I don't know what I'm doing out there anymore."
Franchione has stressed the importance of veterans on the lines. He now has them on both sides of the ball: Bryant, Jack and Harrington, all redshirt juniors, are returning starters; three more redshirt juniors return as starters on the offensive line.
"Experience is pivotal there. Maturity is pivotal. Strength is pivotal," Franchione said. "Those guys now are to that point."
Franchione signed all but seven of the current players who came to A&M on scholarship. He acknowledged that the adjustment to a new coaching staff is much more difficult for returnees than incoming freshmen. Former offensive lineman Geoff Hangartner, who was a junior during Franchione's first season, said the transition was especially difficult at A&M because many players didn't believe previous coach R.C. Slocum should have been fired.
Franchione also inherited difficult nonconference schedules. He has made no secret of his belief that opening on the road against a quality opponent the last two seasons was not ideal for the team's development. This year features by far the softest slate of his tenure: The Citadel, Louisiana-Lafayette and Louisiana Tech at home and Army in San Antonio.
"A coach told me a long time ago there's three aspects to being a successful college football coach: X's and O's, recruiting and scheduling – and that may be the most important," Franchione said.
Important because calculated early-season scheduling allows young players to gain experience and confidence and coaches to evaluate personnel.
But experience and confidence are probably not words fans want to hear any more if the Aggies aren't winning. Franchione has never faced so much scrutiny about his job security. In six previous head coaching stops, he weathered losing seasons at only one of them: New Mexico. Because that program had been down for so long, Franchione said, supporters could recognize that improvement was taking place.
"That's not the standard or the measuring stick here, which I understood and I understand," he said. "I don't have any problem with that."
Franchione declined to discuss what would be realistic expectations for this season. He said he wasn't concerned by the potential impact of negative perceptions about his program.
"I don't see a lot of that to deal with," Franchione said. "Recruiting is going well. Fundraising is going well. The support from 90 percent of the Aggies has been very good."
FILE 2005/Staff photo
Dennis Franchione has a 16-19 record at Texas A&M. It is the worst three-season stretch for the program since 1971-73, when the Aggies were 13-20.

Rivals100.com recruiting analyst Jeremy Crabtree said that A&M is putting together a strong class. Some highly rated prospects will wait to see how the Aggies perform this fall before making a decision, Crabtree said, but many recruits seem to believe that A&M is a few players away from winning big.
Reese is one of those. He said he will sign with the Aggies in February if Franchione is still the coach.
Franchione insisted that he's not worried about the presence of the word "if."
"I've done this for 34 years," he said. "I don't feel a lot differently than I ever have. I'm a pretty driven person; I don't accept failure very well. I coach a little bit out of fear of failure, and I think that's part of what has been successful for me."