good insight

great insight, thanks for stopping by!

An executive jet registered to Clear Channel Communications and no flight plan will land at Easterwood after Thanksgiving with Saban on board. Bad joke.

i agree, we need an established head coach and not a risky coordinator. i dont wanna burn through coaches like paris hilton burns through herpes.

my order of phone calls:

first call: spurrier
second call: petrino
third call: tedford
fourth call: rodriquez
fifth call: schiano
sixth call: grobe

whats the worst that can happen? they say NO. at least we gave it a shot. if none of these guys work out (which i find hard to believe that all of them would say NO) then we put together our search and go for the typical Byrne hire which would likely be much more low key.

hell...i know its a VERY LONG SHOT AND VERY UNLIKELY...but i'd even mix in a call to Meyer to guage interest and see if there is any chance. names being thrown on here i want to avoid at all costs....briles and sherman

[This message has been edited by Orlando Ayala Cant Read (edited 9/27/2007 11:36a).]

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Bama fans prayed for Fran to fail, but I would say 90% expected him and his staff to excel in College Station. The point being it is really a mystery as to why Fran hasn't transferred his past success to A&M.

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"If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." --Mathew 21:22

Bama fans are the reason we're losing!

First call should be to Kubiak
Second call to Tedford
Third call to Kragthorpe

And after all of those have turned us down,
call Pellini and the other "hot" coordinators.

Great post. You are almost right on concerning the type of leadership the program needs but I think it would be for Byrne to pass on the Arkansas HC and the Auburn HC.



History

I think that there is A LOT more to story of Fran's departure than any of us will ever know:

*What did Alabama know that they never told Fran?

*Did Alabama prevent Fran from contacting his players or did Fran just turn a cold shoulder? Maybe something in between but something just isn't right about the notion that Alabama and the players were jilted by Fran.

On the surface it doesn't appear that Fran handled the situation very well. However I don't think Alabama was an innocent party by any stretch of the imagination.

Finebaum is pretty good but he was nothing but a sledge hammer for Alabama concerning Fran.

I hope all of you who think it is disrepectful to critique the team read that.

Top footballs schools do not accept what you all want us to accept. They demand changes immediately. They dont play nice.

I don't get the support for Kragthorpe other than he was an assistant here and had some very mild success at smaller schools. He's .500 this season with a team that started in the top 10.

Tulsa 2003 8 5 .615 Humanitarian Bowl
Tulsa 2004 4 8 .333
Tulsa 2005 9 4 .692 AutoZone Liberty Bowl
Tulsa 2006 8 5 .615 Armed Forces Bowl
Louisville 2007 2 2 .500
Total 5 31 24 .555

[This message has been edited by DoubleAg (edited 9/27/2007 11:43a).]

Kragthorpe is an offensive guru, but needs a good DC to offset him - BTW, if you look at my list all of the coaches listed have A&M ties. Honestly, I expect if Byrne really has his way if will NOT be a coach with A&M ties.

It will be someone like Pellini, or maybe Strong

Good post, but Bama got The Bear and Coach Stallings from us while we got Fran, and they're the ones who are upset at us?

No one, to my knowledge, has publicly exposed the entire story of Fran's departure.

It is almost certainly true that Paul Bryant Jr. offered Fran a "blank" check on the tarmac, but told him that if he got on the plane to Texas, not to bother coming back.

Also, it has been implied on more than one occasion that Fran was either mislead or that Bama officials didn't deliver on some promises before Fran left. The feeling among the fans is that Bama would have eventually stood behind any promises that were monetary or facility-related, but maybe the timeline between the two parties didn't match. Quite possibly, the powers-that-be wanted to see more proof of Fran's ability to sustain a program before binding themselves with an excessive contract. In short, I think there were some things that were done by "Bama people" that made it easy for Fran to leave, but he sure wasn't pushed out and it disappointed everyone to see him go how he did.

only idiots ask for a cliff's notes version of the post. come on ags. use your education. after all - it is unarguably the best education in the entire world. period. you're not a true ag if you don't believe this.

While I generally agree with your post, my friends and I were discussing just what it could have been as to why he could not transfer that success at his previous stops to A&M. Something we came across was actually something from your post--when Fran and his wife originally came to A&M, they made it clear that this was the place where he was coming to stay. His lasting gig if you will. Leadership philosophies vary on whether a mindset like this will put you in the best path to succeed immediately on the job. I have no doubt in my mind that Fran came here with a gameplan as to his path toward success, and I wonder if that was a long-term rather than short-term goal. My fear is that he believed that it was going to be a much smoother transition into this long stay than it actually was. Perhaps he believed that he would have a 10 year cushion to develop the program that he dreamed of; I have no doubt that we MIGHT be there if he is given that time period--but no self-respective fanbase would ever allow the bumps and bruises that comes from that time cushion.

My concern would be hiring another coach (at least with our next choice) that has in mind a long-term stay. I wonder if the best thing for where our program is right now is for a coach who has the highest aspirations in mind...i.e. an eventual NFL gig. Someone like a Louisville-era Bobby Petrino who everyone knew was eventually going to be going after that higher role. People will kick and scream at this idea, because no coach would directly come out and say that was his intentions, but look at the Billy Gillespie example. Here was a guy, lo and behold, that we thought was coming to stay. By the time we had reached an upper-echelon status, we realized we had a guy who was always going to be looking for that next big job. To me, thats fine. If what drives him to his highest abilities is padding his resume, then we get the benefit from that. After a coach like this comes through and either decides to move on or stick around, the next one might actually be in for the long-haul, but at a program where the momentum is on the upswing, unlike where our program was when Fran arrived. This might cause them to want to perform immediately, or understand that we can simply move on again. I'm thinking of Florida with these examples, so if anyone has similar or dissimilar thoughts (i'm sure there will be many), I'd like to hear what everyone else thinks.

Oh, and on the death threats rumor. It wouldn't surprise me that he received some AFTER he left, but certainly not while he was still our coach. As I said, it hurt when he left.

It would have been ridiculous to threaten Fran's life for what he did while he was here. Now, Bill Curry, on the other hand...

Thanks for the post.

I've always thought of Bama as a sister school.

Good luck

Good post...Really makes me think. I too have wondered why he hasn't transferred his success to this program. It really makes no sense.

"I have no doubt that we MIGHT be there if he is given that time period"

Really!!?? And what game day decisions have you seen in 5 years by Fran that would bring you to such an erroneous conclusion?

I think the fence has been mended between the fans, ...maybe not Phyllis, but everyone else

Great post. Well done. I'd add that we could use a CEO type with PASSION who isn't afraid to show it!

Thanks for the post. Good luck to the Bama nation the rest of the season.

Spot-on with the CEO observation. We went down the road of the good-assistant-turned-head-coach with Tom Wilson. Wilson was a good offensive coordinator but didn't make the grade as the head man. Would a few more years experience have made a difference? ...appears so in the case of Stallings. Wilson... ...who knows? His successor was definitely a CEO and he did well. In any case, it would take an exceptional assistant (Stoops-like) to ever get my attention again.

Thanks for a well-reasoned post.

MA

No offense to the original Bama poster, but if Stallings knows what's good for him he'll keep his mouth shut or else he may find himself in violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act and/or the Public Information Act for misuse of official information. The man is a regent and needs to act like one.

[This message has been edited by Atty_Ag (edited 9/27/2007 12:18p).]

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Fran is the poster boy for the CEO as head coach model so not sure that profile should be as high on the shopping list as some of the other things.

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This couldn't be more incorrect.

Fran is the epitome of micromanager. How many CEO's basically do the duty of one of his junior executives, like Fran does with Koenning?

Mack Brown is the CEO-type. He gathers a top-flight team, makes sure they have the resources and players to do their best possible job, then stands back and lets them do it. And claps non-stop for them.

[This message has been edited by Dr. Teeth (edited 9/27/2007 12:21p).]

This is a great post. It is really on point. Thanks!

I loved the post. His failure to transfer the success from previous stop are mainly due to where those stops were and what the level of competition at those schools was. NM and TCU were in the WAC. Only one decent season came out of his 6 at NM. 2 Decent seasons came out of TCU in 3 years but then again he had the nations leading rusher and it was the WAC. One good year at Bama but losses to GA, Auburn and OU, plus the lack of having to play Florida does not inspire me either. It goes back to what Gene Stallings said. At some point you have to look at the records against good competition. At A&M it's 2-12!

Thanks Bama fan. Very insightful and great advice as well.

I'm on the bandwagon with hiring a firey coordinator. Obviously, certain head coaches would be very welcome, but getting a Pelini or a Strong could be what we need. We don't need a businessman, we need someone who loves his players, coach them successfully, and just be a leader. Not rocket science when a guy can be a great leader. Off the topic, but I was previously unaware that Charlie Strong was a graduate assistant at A&M.

Good informative post.

I have thought for some time now that Fran has failed at A&M because he does not have good OC and DC coaches. That is on him. I don't like Koenig any better than Darnell, but maybe Fran over rules him.

Bob Stoops blows your theroy completely out of the water, but good post otherwise.

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I'd add that we could use a CEO type with PASSION who isn't afraid to show it!

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I can see where this is going...

Thanks for that initial post.

I've always appreciated BAMA.

Your Apple Butter is really good stuff.

Gig 'em, FAST FRED '65.

Before the world wide web, village idiots usually stayed in their own village.

For every Bob Stoops there are a dozen Mike Stoops...

Gig'em and Semper Fi,

DHA

"For those who have fought for it, Freedom has a special meaning that the protected will never know."

Excellent post. and I would wholeheartedly welcome Houston Nutt, if he became available. He is a good head coach that knows recruiting in this region.

Everyone knows his problem at Arkansas has been Frank Broyles. Even though Frank is retiring he has done too much to Nutt and the current program to allow Nutt to survive without a major rebuilding process. The best thing that could happen to him might be to get a fresh start at another big football school with a rabid fanbase.

IshmaelAg, erroneous conclusion? I wasn't coming up with a conclusion at all, because a 10 year cushion is more a knock on a coach that can't perform more than it is on a grand gameplanner. If that's erroneous then thats your opinion. Maybe Fran's problem was that he had is hand in too many pies, and maybe when it comes down to it, having a firm grasp on institutional control means taking away from the day-to-day gameplanning abilities. I've been no Fran-apologist in my 5 years here in Aggieland, but the MAYBE in my last post was meant to give him the benefit of the doubt that after that long he could right the ship...and then followed that up with saying that no fanbase (including you and me) would ever follow that plan.