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College Football

Franchione deserved worse

As expected, Dennis Franchione stepped down Friday night after Texas A&M’s regular season finale, a 38-30 upset of the rival Texas Longhorns. But before he did, he made sure that anyone who had not been paying attention knew that he was still the biggest scumbag in collegiate athletics since Dave Bliss.

Franchione was approached by ABC camera crews right after the conclusion of the game and was asked a few questions. His response to the final question was anything but shocking.He was asked, “How much do these players mean to you?” His answer? A shrug, another shrug, some silence, and then, finally “a lot.” It wasn’t tearful, it wasn’t heartfelt. It was forced. Because the truth is he couldn’t care less.

He couldn’t care less about his players when he told them to stick with Alabama football while he was secretly working out a contract to bolt to the Aggies five years ago. He couldn’t care less when he sold confidential injury reports illegally to boosters for $1200 a year, money that went to his pocket. And now he couldn’t care less about his players after his final game as their coach.

To him, these aren’t impressionable 18-22-year old young adults; these are employees. And Franchione is just the head of the business.

Of course, with the high profile of collegiate football, it is a business, but every other coach at least understands the humanity behind it. Mike Gundy is willing to speak out for his boys because he’s a man. So to is Mike Leach and Steve Spurrier. And when the coach speaks out for his players, his players usually speak out for him.

There’s a reason that Indiana University nearly had a player mutiny after the school fired Cam Cameron earlier this decade. The players loved playing for him. And most coaches have had similar player respect.

While it’s impossible to know whether or not his players truly support him, it’s unlikely to see any such backlash in favor of Franchione, not after he dissed his players like he did after the game.

It’s hard to use the word scumbag, but when a person acts as he does to young adults, it’s the only word. And nobody will make me back down from it.

I tried to support him, to think that maybe he had changed. Especially after his first three plus seasons went by without incident. But then he showed just how despicable he truly was.

Against Missouri in 2006, junior strong safety Alton Dixon was ejected for punching Tiger tight end Chase Coffman. Under Big 12 rules, he had to miss the first half of the following game. Franchione’s comments were nothing short of pure gold.

“The only reason he was ejected according to what the Big 12 told me is because he threw a punch,” the scumbag said. “Throwing a punch constitutes being a part of the fighting rule, even though the other player didn’t throw a punch.”

Franchione may have been defending his player, but he was doing so because he disagreed with the suspension. According to Dennis, the player should not be subject to any fighting rules because the other player was a man and didn’t punch back. Wow, talk about morals.

But that is nothing. That’s nothing compared to Franchione’s handling of defensive lineman Kevin Heard’s knockout of Longhorn quarterback Colt McCoy as McCoy was walking off of the field.

Heard claimed that he had no idea that the play was over, even though McCoy was unstrapping his helmet and walking towards the sideline. He also failed to realize that McCoy didn’t have the football.

As it should have been, Heard was ejected, but since that was the last Big 12 game of the season, he was not suspended at all under Big 12 rules.

With any other coach, he would have been suspended. Under a highly respectable coach, he would have been kicked off the team. At some schools, he would have been suspended from school. In Canada, he would have been arrested for assault.

But Franchione is a scumbag who only cares about winning football games. He does not care about helping Heard learn what is right and wrong. Therefore, Heard was told to send McCoy an apology (it should be noted that Heard is immature enough that he lacked the initiative to send the apology on his own) and then the situation was dropped.

If I was the athletic director, I would have fired Dennis on the spot for his handling of the situation.

No coach since Dave Bliss lied to police to cover up his wrongdoings after the murder of one of his players has a coach been so despicable. And the only other action in his league would be Woody Hayes actually punching a Clemson player.

But I’m not happy about the buyout. No, Franchione should have been fired without pay for violating the ethics clause in his contract. Heck, he should have been arrested for disclosing private injury information. Maybe he’d learn how to be a coach in the jail cell alongside Heard.

Every cent that Franchione gets out of his settlement is nothing short of theft because he does not deserve it. The only thing that could make it worse is if some school decides to hire him again.

For now, Dennis Franchione is unemployed, as he should always have been. Hopefully, it won’t be long before he rots in hell, right alongside Dave Bliss. Some people don’t ever deserve our prayers, especially those who treat young men with the amount of disrespect that Franchione does.

This year, I’m thankful that he’s out as Aggie coach. I’m thankful that the mothers and fathers of the children he’s coached no longer have to see him.

Hopefully they are thankful too. And hopefully, at least this time Dennis has the decency to say goodbye to his players.

He never did at Alabama. I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t at Texas State, New Mexico, or Texas Christian either.

Scumbag indeed.

By bsd987

I have written for SportsColumn.com since 2004 and was named a featured writer in 2006. I have been Co-Editor of the site since January 1, 2009. I also write for BleacherReport.com where I am a founding member of the Tennis Roundtable and one of the chief contributors to both the Tennis and Horse Racing sections.

I am "Stat Boy" for Sportscolumn.com's weekly podcast, Poor Man's PTI.

I am currently a Junior at Rice University majoring in History and Medieval Studies. My senior thesis will focus on the desegregation of football in Texas and its affect of racial relations.

Please direct all inquiries to [email protected].

Thanks,
Burton DeWitt
Co-Editor of Sportscolumn.com

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