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Updated 1:16 AM on Thursday, October 11, 2007

Franchione could use 10-win season

By ROBERT CESSNA
Eagle Columnist

Texas A&M director of athletics Bill Byrne and then-A&M president Robert Gates were ecstatic over luring Dennis Franchione from Alabama.

The Aggies rolled out the red carpet, and the music blared at Franchione's introductory press conference. Byrne put a maroon blazer on a smiling Franchione, who you could tell was glad to be back in Texas.

It seemed like a perfect fit.

Almost five years later, not everyone is beaming.

Since taking over as A&M's head football coach, Franchione's best finish in the Big 12 South is third place. He's 30-24 overall with a 17-17 league record, and Franchione's Aggie teams have gone 2-10 against Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech. His teams have suffered embarrassing blowout losses, the last coming at Miami on national television.

There's been plenty of positives. Franchione took the Aggies to the Cotton Bowl in his second year and beat 10th-ranked Texas in Austin last year, landing the Aggies in the Holiday Bowl. This year's team is his best - on and off the field. A&M players haven't had any recent brushes with the law, and the team is loaded with high-profile leaders with character.

That leadership helped A&M rally from a 17-point halftime deficit last week for a 24-23 victory over Oklahoma State. With the win, the Aggies are alone atop the Big 12 South for the first time in Franchione's tenure.

It couldn't have come at a better time.

Franchione is under fire for sending 12 to 15 boosters a secret newsletter for $1,200 a year. A&M's internal investigation into the matter is still gathering information, even though Byrne has given Franchione his support.

Byrne's support of Franchione means nothing to fans, who want victories. They're also upset their program gained notoriety for something derogatory.

Franchione has put himself in a precarious situation.

It's tough enough to coach a team to a 9- or 10-win season with college football's parity without off-the-field problems. But winning is the only way Franchione can offset his distractions as he begins a stretch of games that could make his life easier or extremely difficult.

The Aggies play four of their last six regular-season games on the road. And we're talking tough venues - at Texas Tech, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Missouri. All four schools are unbeaten at home this season, and A&M will be an underdog in each game.

Throw in No. 20 Kansas and No. 23 Texas at Kyle Field, and it's a daunting schedule. A&M's remaining opponents have a combined 28-6 record.

For the Aggies, a 6-6 or 7-5 record wouldn't be acceptable this season, even if A&M plays well. But if the Aggies finish 9-3, that would give Franchione his best Big 12 record, reinforcing what Byrne and Gates thought five years ago when Franchione was one of 18 coaches hired at Division I programs.

It has been an interesting group.

Only three coaches hired in 2003 have since been fired - Alabama's Mike Shula, Michigan State's John L. Smith and East Carolina's John Thompson. One, Washington's Keith Gilbertson, resigned under pressure.

Louisville's Bobby Petrino (NFL's Atlanta Falcons) and Tulsa's Steve Kragthorpe (Louisville) won enough to land better jobs.

But the best hire thus far from that class was by Utah director of athletics Chris Hill.

He hired Bowling Green's Urban Meyer for $400,000 a year.

Utah became the first non-Bowl Championship Series school to play in a BCS Bowl under Meyer, who landed a job at Florida, where he won the national championship last year.

Meyer's quick success hasn't helped coaches explain why they need more time to win.

There have been 71 coaching changes at Division I schools in the last four years since Franchione was hired. There probably will be at least another 10 this year. The closer Franchione gets to 10 victories, the better chance he'll have of staying out of that group of 10.

• Robert Cessna's e-mail address is robert.cessna@theeagle.com.