Hear me out Ags, we are seeing first hand what a good coach can do for a team. I have been saying to myself, all year that Fran will right the ship and we will be better in the long run, but now I am not so sure. We have been blown out of games all too many times this year. I was expecting us to at the very least be getting better, maybe not winning, but getting better as the season went on. That simply has not been the case. I refuse to think that Texas A&M is the absolute worst team OU has faced this year, yet they are sure making us look that way. Why is this the case? I know that we are young, but so are a lot of teams out there and they were more competitive against OU. Is our coach going to be able to get the most out of our players because to date he has done nothing but get progressively worse as the season has gone on. My question is this. Is Fran a good coach or has his wins been masked by the fact that he played in weak conferences with above average talent that could mask his deficiencies as a coach (see Mack Brown). What is he going to be able to do to right this sinking ship? Have you seen anything that makes you think we will be better next year giving that we have the same cast of characters returning that will have to play against teams that not only beat us this year, but will be returning the majority of their players back. I think the future may be bleak for the foreseeable future unless something can be done to fix this problem. Sound off and let me know what you think and please somebody find the silver lining in this cloud that will give me hope.

I think we have to bring in as many jucos as we can. These guys are not going to suddenly become all americans over the Spring and Summer. Fran gets a pass for this year, but he has to start turning it around next year. I know we are outmaned, but I can't help but think our coaches (particularly on defense) have done a very poor job this year.

I agree we may have to go the way of JUCO players to get back to where we want to be. It's a sad state for Aggie football when we can't develop our own players and we have to rely on the help of JUCO players.

What's his record vs. top 25 teams? I think I remember it being not very good. not sure though.

Alabama 2002 Schedule/Results



August 31 Middle Tenn. St. W 39-34 1-0 (0-0 SEC)
September 7 at No. 8 Oklahoma L 37-27 1-1 (0-0 SEC)
September 14 North Texas W 33-7 2-1 (0-0 SEC)
September 21 Southern Miss W 20-7 3-1 (0-0 SEC)
September 28 at Arkansas W 30-12 4-1 (1-0 SEC)
October 5 No. 4 Georgia L 27-25 4-2 (1-1 SEC)
October 19 Mississippi W 42-7 5-2 (2-1 SEC)
October 26 at Tennessee W 34-14 6-2 (3-1 SEC)
November 2 at Vanderbilt W 30-8 7-2 (4-1 SEC)
November 9 Mississippi St. W 28-14 8-2 (5-1 SEC)
November 16 at No. 25 LSU W 31-0 9-2 (6-1 SEC)
November 23 No. 22 Auburn L 17-7 9-3 (6-2 SEC)
November 30 at Hawaii W 21-16 10-3 (6-2 SEC)


Fran beat Arkansas at Arkansas
TN at TN
LSU at LSU

I would say that's pretty good.





yeah...SEC is a very weak conference...

Class of 89, we never lost to tu.

[This message has been edited by AggieDruggist89 (edited 11/8/2003 8:28p).]

Like I said on another thread:

Anyone who goes into LSU at night and shuts out a Nick Saban team by using little more than a draw play gets the benefit of my doubt.

I'm behind this guy 100%.

It does sound redundant, but it is so true that we CAN'T possibly be worse next year if for nothing else the experience we're gaining now. We have to swallow our pride and bite the bullet here. Dig in Ags!!

Coach Fran's team is redshirting. I truly am very confindent about the future. Whether that starts next year isn't clear. I am as frustrated currently as any other ag. While I tell myself to be patient, it's not that easy.

Coach has way too many resources here to work with (Bright Complex, 82K+ stadium, assitant coaches w/ great records, 12th man, a top academic university, etc.) to not succeed in due time. Question is: how long can we give him??

There is no question us Ags are more hungry and more frustrated by the recent dip in success...but at least we are taking the steps in righting the ship. Gates asked who is the best coach, and best AD in the country.....we got 'em. Now let them do their job, execute their profession.

Rome wasn't built in a day.

First of all, he is great coach. But when you don't have the horses you are going to have a tough time. We got smoked today. But remember that we are young without depth and not very good at all playing a great team on a roll playing at home with last year's loss on their mind. It wasn't some directional school coming in that they could look thru it was the Ags. They respect us. So thus the focus and the beat down. Fran needs time to get his guys in and that will take time. NO to JUCOS. Maybe one shut down corner but that is not the way to go. I don't care if we sacrifice two years to get this ship righted.

Gig'em and keep the faith.

One thing you said, that is definitely noteworthy: Fran’s recent success has been on the backs of having better players. He was loaded at TCU compared to his competition, and Alabama “auto-recruits” the best talent in the SEC.

There is no way that A&M will consistently out-recruit OU and tu on a 4-year moving average. I have seen nothing to make me believe that Fran is capable of winning with 90% of the raw talent of OU and tu – and he is eventually going to have to do it.

The one clue that makes me nervous is that he clearly wants a “meat-n-potatoes” offense. That’s great when you have a talent advantage, but it won’t work if you are trying to overcome a talent gap – you have to be more like TT with a more sophisticated offensive scheme.

Thanks. So he had one win vs. top 25 last year (#25). How about other years?

He’s had 17 Winning seasons in 20 years as head coach.

He’s won the conference or division championship nine times in 20 career seasons as a head coach.

It will just take a couple or so years, but I'm starting to feel like Baylor. Maybe we'll upset the sippers this year. I'll still be trying to make the Tech game next year!

WillowPark get serious. There is nothing sophisticated about ittech. That’s a circus offense that will never win anything. Meat and Potatoes win championships with a great defense. I didn't see Miami or Ohio St. throwing it all over the field. And how much success did we have the last few years with that wussy west coast scheme. You win up front and Francione out did OU and tu last year with the o-line. Give a chance. Hell, it might just take longer than most of us hope.

I'm not denying that you can win with meat-n-potatoes. But you have to have the best athletes - and we never recruit better raw talent than OU and tu.

I think we can get close, but we are going to have to bridge the gap with some TT like "circus”-ry. Fran doesn't appear to buy into that, and we can’t score against more talented teams as a result.

By the way, our offense was much better last year under Sumlin’s ”wussy west coast scheme” with a less talented QB and much worse overall talent. Moving towards “wussy west coast” was the difference between Babers and Sumlin.

If we don't mix in some "West Coast", we'll never move the ball against the likes of OU and tu.

When Stoops came to OU he didn't have the best talent. He evaluated what he had and built an offense and defense around the talent base.

Looks like Fran is forcing his system on a group of INDIVIDUALS that don't fit into his system. That is why we are getting killed. They can't run the system and have no confidence.

overrated

I agree with WillowPark. We're not going to get raw talent consistently over tu or ok and now face competition from nebraska and osu and lsu. We were doing well defensively under RC during those years...our conservative offense and inconsistency I think really hampered us. Yet, of course, we never had a losing record over those years, and felt the joy of beating ou last year.

get off Frans back-

we look like a bunch of pathetic losers- we have a first year coach and we are already trying to say he is not good enough to coach the Aggies-

how bad does that look? we dog texas about being fickle but you girls are something else-


I BACK FRAN and so will all you fairweather wannabe coaches in a couple of years-

Stephen Mcgee will be Frans man-

As I watched this horror unfold, the same thought TAMU@EDS had occurred to me as well. Maybe in all those years at lesser schools against lesser competition, Fran was able to win, not by better coaching, but by recruiting superior talent. Clearly with Tomlinson at TCU, he had better talent to work with than most of his competition in that league. He’s only had one good year in a big-time conference against equal talent. Take away a couple wins from that season and maybe the TCU win over USC and what has Fran really done at a big-time Div 1 conference level?

I thought RC’s time had passed and I was in favor of bringing in Fran, but I think I’m starting to get buyer’s remorse. If Fran can just get an even record next year and avoid blowout losses like this, I’ll consider it a step in the right direction at this point.

Tejas Ag, I am sorry you feel that way, but for those of us who love our Aggies it's too hard to watch this. I have season tickets and I attend every home game and a few away games each year and this is the worst year I have ever seen. Fran is playing with the same guys RC had last year with the only difference being they are 1 year older. Can you explain to me how this same team is not playing anywhere near the level they were playing last year? I hope that Fran gets this team back on track, but so far I have seen nothing to make me think he will. Alas I will continue to love and support my Aggies even if they do drive me to an early grave.

You guys are pathetic. Sad times in Aggieland on the horizen. So much for the best fans in the country.

You guys are pathetic. Sad times in Aggieland on the horizen. So much for the best fans in the country.

TGCGT--Your stats on Fran's coaching success sound very similar to another guy that used to coach here whom we bash at every turn...

quote:

---

Can you explain to me how this same team is not playing anywhere near the level they were playing last year?

---

Ty Warren, Sammy davis, Terrence Kiel, Bethel Johnson - gone

lost 4 starting o-lineman from last year

lost all of our linebakers (except Stickame & McDaniel)

Lost Jamaar Taylor

switched to a 4-3 (remember how bad our D was when we tried this last time under RC?)

brought in a new offensive system

toughest schedule in the nation

This is not the same team as last year.

Please no more excuses!!!!!!!


We lost 77-0 to a team we beat the year before. We were not given the death penalty after the win last year and forced to play with kids from the third deck. Some of ya'll really need to put the pipe down and wake up. I admit it. I was wrong for wanting Fran. Admitting it is the first step.

TAMU@EDS,

You just received the award for the all time worst post in the history of TexAgs. For someone who "attends every home game and a few away games each year" I have to ask - do you actually watch the games?

You say "Fran is playing with the same guys RC had last year" - that is the single most ridiculous thing I have ever seen posted on this site. Is Fran playing with:
1. Bethel Johnson - WR - 2nd Rd NFL pick.
2. Greg Porter - WR (Scout Team w/ Houston Texans at least at one point)
3. Taylor Whitley - OL - 3rd Rd NFL pick
4. Jami Hightower - OL (Injured)
5. Andre Brooks - OL (Injured)
6. Billy Yates - OL - Playing in NFL (Dolphins)
7. Ty Warren - DL - 1st Rd NFL Pick
8. Sammy Davis - DB - 1st Rd NFL Pick
9. Terrence Kiel - DB - 2nd Rd NFL Pick
10. Jerrod Penright - Playing in NFL (Vikings)
11. Brian Gamble - LB
12. Jarrod Morris - LB (Injured)
13. Webb - LB (Kicked off team)

That by my quick count is 7 guys that are now playing on Sundays from a 6-6 team who had most of their tough games at home.

We currently have 1 potential NFL draft pick as who is a senior and that is Jamaar Taylor - I say potential because if he is drafted it will not be before the 5th Rd. We have no juniors who will be NFL draft picks except for possibly Montgomery if he really develops over the next year.

Sorry but we brougth a knife to a gunfight this year and the results show it.

If you want to compare him to Mack Brown then I guess things will be pretty sweet here in a couple of years.

WillowPark...I agree w/ your thinking. However, Fran deserves more time. Remeber it took Stoops 2 years before he won the NC. Let's be patient.

SEC Champs said:

---

19 years later and here we are. Same story, same excuses.

---

It's uncanny. Eye opening bump…

oh man. old wound. at this time 19 years ago i was probably sitting in my apartment off harvey, watching chappelle show and drowning in lone star light after a whipping by ttu, thinking there's no way this will be the first losing seasons in 22 years. there's no way...right...

Humorous Username said:

---

Tejas Ag said:

---

get off Frans back-

we look like a bunch of pathetic losers- we have a first year coach and we are already trying to say he is not good enough to coach the Aggies-

how bad does that look? we dog texas about being fickle but you girls are something else-


I BACK FRAN and so will all you fairweather wannabe coaches in a couple of years-

Stephen Mcgee will be Frans man-

---

This post aged like milk on a hot day.

---

I pretty much saw some version of this on here today ...several times....dig in Ags and don't point out the obvious problems.

Yep, here we are 19 years later.

But notice how less angry hostile these old thread are. Man, we have turned into real a-holes toward each other.

TexasAggie_97 said:

---

Hear me out Ags, we are seeing first hand what a good coach can do for a team. I have been saying to myself, all year that Fran will right the ship and we will be better in the long run, but now I am not so sure. We have been blown out of games all too many times this year. I was expecting us to at the very least be getting better, maybe not winning, but getting better as the season went on. That simply has not been the case. I refuse to think that Texas A&M is the absolute worst team OU has faced this year, yet they are sure making us look that way. Why is this the case? I know that we are young, but so are a lot of teams out there and they were more competitive against OU. Is our coach going to be able to get the most out of our players because to date he has done nothing but get progressively worse as the season has gone on. My question is this. Is Fran a good coach or has his wins been masked by the fact that he played in weak conferences with above average talent that could mask his deficiencies as a coach (see Mack Brown). What is he going to be able to do to right this sinking ship? Have you seen anything that makes you think we will be better next year giving that we have the same cast of characters returning that will have to play against teams that not only beat us this year, but will be returning the majority of their players back. I think the future may be bleak for the foreseeable future unless something can be done to fix this problem. Sound off and let me know what you think and please somebody find the silver lining in this cloud that will give me hope.

---

19 years later, here we are!
My oldest kid wasn't even born when the post above was made, is now a freshman in college.
Even his school, not known to be a football power, has a better record than mine.