Ok, for the hundreth time...Fran HAD to say what he did before the season was up. He was under contract at Alabama and had not officially received another job offer. Therefore, obviously, his plans at the time were to stay at Alabama. You people act like this is the first time in history that a coach has suddenly left to go coach somewhere else. I'll bet there wasn't such an outcry when Fran left TCU for Alabama. Whoever Alabama gets as a new head coach will be "leaving people behind". Tough shit. It's not show friends, it's show business.

And the minute any of you can show me hard proof that Fran had an offer before RC was fired, I will gladly eat my words. And no...a friend of a friend whose Uncle's mother is a janitor who overheard something is not hard proof.

Let me get this straight:

Players leave Alabama and it's judged as OK.
Fran leaves Alabama and it's judged as wrong.

What the fuck? If I left Aurther Anderson for another accounting company when they were being investigated then am I an immoral person as well for leaving my co-workers behind for a better job?

Players leave early and they're not villified. Coaches get fired before their contracts are up and the University that does it isn't villified.

Why does a coach not have the same rights as everybody else? And don't give me this shit about the players. They could've left and nobody would have said anything bad about them, so why does the coach not have the same perogrative? So he convinced them to stay, big freaking deal. If they had left and Fran stayed, nobody would have said anything. But when they stay and Fran goes, it's a terrible thing. It's a huge double-standard. Besides, they are there to get an education by playing football. Primary goal: get an education. They still get their free education that I DON'T GET because I can't play football. Nobody should be bitching. Give me a fucking break. Nobody cried for the TCU recruits, so why should we cry for the Bama ones?

collegiate athletics is a business, and it's run like one.

Thank you Ashley.

And you can't possibly say that they didnt know RC was out of there for quite a while--I can remember a friend whose dad is a big contributor to A&M athletics saying more than a month ago that there had arleady been enough $$$ raised to buy out RC's contract.

i think there's a significant possibility that he is afraid of physical retaliation against himself and his family if he goes back.

I have to agree with JD. It's not like there was some big cover-up of the sanctions against Alabama. All of that stuff is open to the public. They may not have been honest with Franchione about what went on that caused all the sanctions, but it's not like he didn't know about the probation, the loss of scholarships, etc. Anyone with access to the Internet could have found out about all of that.

I don't hold anything against A&M for hiring the man. Gates didn't have an AD when he had to make that decision, so it's his business. But I'm surely getting tired of hearing people defend Franchione's actions. Anyone with any sense of decency knows that what he did was wrong. The way he left his players and the fact that he had everyone in Alabama thinking he was staying when he freaking knew he was leaving just really do not make him look so great, so he should get used to the criticism, and so should the Aggies because they'll be getting it for a long time.

I know he couldn't tell the fans and the administrators at Alabama that he was leaving, until the season was over, for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that A&M knew that Franchione was coming before they even fired Slocum. They wouldn't have cut him loose if they weren't 99% sure Franchione was on his way. Hell, the 12th Man Foundation even had a new website set up for Fran (www.aggiecoachfran.com) almost a week before the Texas/Texas A&M game (http://www.bamadog.com/front.htm#, scroll down, click on the link under something about A&M knowing he was coming all along). That doesn't prove anything, except the Foundation knew about Slocum's firing before Slocum did. But you get the point. Franchione had every intention of leaving Bama for A&M and he knowingly put on a show with statements like "I have no plans other than to remain at Alabama."

Damn that was well said. I agree.

And OU lost to OSU. What's your point? Every team has their fluke loss (well usually). Almost never do you see an NFL team go undefeated. B/c usually at any given time, any team has a chance to beat anyone.

hehehe

Got a little UT bashing to report...

"Here's the Simms M.O.: You shine against the cupcakes, putting up great numbers and torching the secondary. When you play a team worth a shit, you earn a QB passer rating lower than the number of nuts in the average scrotom. Oh, and you lost to Texas Tech. YOU LOST TO TEXAS TECH! "

taken from http://www.drunkoncampus.com

Just throwing out my opinion... I don't blame Fran for leaving...
But it's not like Bama was hiding anything from him, he knew what he was getting into when he went there... the press published teh same crap that bama knew... and if Fran went in without even reading the local paper (or the ESPN headlines), then he's got problems.


It's fine, he left... but noe because bama hid anything.

Oklahoma Sooners - 2002 Big 12 Conference Champions

alabama fans sure didn't mind when fran left all his tcu recruits behind...as bluto said before, what was he supposed to do? tell them it was cool with him if they left? please.

Hey High Tide...I think the got the "high" part correct.

Welcome to a free market economy. Fran had the opt-out clause in his contract for a reason. Can't blame the man for exercising it when the better school comes calling. If you want to talk about integrity or honesty, take a look at your own boosters and coaches who put your team on probation in the first place.

As far as I'm concerned, it's not my kids who are playing for Fran, so I could give a shit. If he's really so untrustworthy and horrible, then I guess all the A&M recruits will go somewhere else. Except none of them have de-committed. In fact, it's the rest of the 'bama coaching staff that has left and followed Fran to A&M. You're losing everyone to A&M, and you're crying about it. Boo fucking hoo. Have fun at 4-8 next year.

Gee three more months until I get to go roam the high plains with the doppler team on wheels. Gosh from the sounds of this tide fellow things for him doesn,t look good. Hey tide fellow remember what the sooners did you you guys? They gave them a whipping in front of 76 thousand fans at ownen feild. I would suggest you run back to your coach and tell them you don,t want another whipping by the sooners again next year, let us play some team that will put up a good fight and a battle. Gee a tide fan on a texas board, why don,t you spin away like a gustnado and settle back in with the tide. By the way happy holidays deanbatt

Alright, let's resolve this Bama/Fran shit right now!

http://www.sportingnews.com/voices/tom_dienhart/20021209.html

I,am fowarding this board to the president of the united states

A&M fans heed my warning. The man that you now have as head coach is a master at deception. He is the best I have ever seen at side stepping a question while making you think that he answered it truthfully.
When he came to Alabama he was fully aware of the upcoming probation, the deduction in scholorships etc...
He said that he would work through the tough times and that he wanted to make Alabama his last coaching job. (sound familular?)
He obviously knew something was up at Texas A&M. Thats why whenever he was asked about signing his contract extention at Alabama he would come up with some lame excuse about "getting that settled after football season". He knew he would never sign that contract.
Dennis Franchione is not the kind of man that I would want coaching my son or any kid that I care about.
He begged and pleaded for those players to stay at Alabama and work through the tough times with him and then what did he do? He snuck out like a chicken, and couldn't even look them in the eyes and tell them.
So be warned! To tell about a mans character you look where he has been and you see what he has left behind, and in his case its the same everywhere he's been. He has left behind some good people who have very strong negative feelings about him. He is the ultimate LOWLIFE in division one coaching!

p.s. I mean no disrespect to Texas A&M or its fans. I just felt that you should be warned, and I needed a place to vent.

Delete posts. Ban user. You know who I'm talking about.

Ummm, dude, hitch-hiking is illegal in several states (on a state by state basis). And illegal riding on the rail system is a federal offense so it's illega in all states.

A storm chaser speaks english and only english. My flight was having engine problems which delayed everyone to a three hour wait, I refused to wait that long. Your problem is you don,t like storm chasers, and not to metion you are a doe doe bird at that. Just remember storm chasers save lifes,,,,,,tonta.......you have problems big guy

Your flight was discharged? What the fuck version of English do you speak?

Sorry everyone my flight was discharged. I just got home and could not find myself something better to do, it is a long time before storm chasing season and looks like I,am free unti March. When I glanced back at the message board I saw a message that said hitch-hiking was aganst the law, not the case, and further more you can hitch-hike on a railroad-car on train anytime you want there is no law aganst it. Never believe an aggie or A u.t. fan.

Yes, it is. It is illegal to hitchhike on private railcars not intended for public transportational use or without paying a ticket fee to ride (for cars intended for public transportational use).