Dennis Franchione

Dennis Wayne Franchione (born March 28, 1951), also known as Coach Fran, is a retired American football coach.

During Franchione's three years at TCU, he led the Horned Frogs to their first bowl victory since 1957, their first top-25 finish since 1959, and held the highest winning percentage among TCU coaches since Francis Schmidt (1929–1933).

The tone and tenor of his exit from TCU remains a highly controversial subject among many TCU fans.

He received his Bachelor of Arts in 1973 from Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas.

Franchione and his wife, the former Kim Kraus, began dating after he took her on a tour of his alma mater, Pittsburg State, at the request of her father.

After graduating from Pittsburg State, Franchione served as the head football coach at Miller High School in Miller, Missouri, from 1973 to 1978.

He then served as an assistant coach at Mulvane High School in Mulvane, Kansas, in 1975.

From 1976 to 1977, he served as the head coach at Peabody-Burns High School in Peabody, Kansas.

They married shortly after, in 1977, while living in Peabody, Kansas.

The couple have two daughters, Elizabeth Ann and Ashley Renee.

Brad Franchione, his son from a previous marriage, was the head football coach at Blinn College prior to his most recent position with his father at Texas State.

Brad and his wife, Rebecca, have three children.

In 1978, Franchione was hired to be an assistant coach at Kansas State University, a position he held until he was hired to be the head coach at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas, in 1981.

During his two years at Southwestern, he led the team to a 14–4–2 record, a Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference title, and a Sunflower Bowl win.

Franchione has also served as the head football coach at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas (1981–1982), Pittsburg State University (1985–1989), the University of New Mexico (1992–1997), Texas Christian University (1998–2000), the University of Alabama (2001–2002), and Texas A&M University (2003–2007).

In his 27 seasons as a head coach in college football, Franchione won eight conference championships and one divisional crown.

Franchione was born in Girard, Kansas.

His 9 wins in 1982 tied the school record and was Southwestern's most since 1967.

After two seasons as offensive coordinator at Tennessee Tech in 1983 and 1984, Franchione was hired as the head coach at his alma mater, Pittsburg State University.

During his five seasons with the Gorillas, he led the team to a 53–6 record, 37–1 in conference, won five conference titles, and was named NAIA National Coach of the Year twice.

He tied the school record for victories in a single season three times before breaking it with the 12 victories of his 1989 team.

He is the former head football coach at Texas State University, a position he held from 1990 to 1991, when the school was known as Southwest Texas State University, and resumed from 2011 to 2015.

In 1990, he joined Texas State University, where he spent two years and compiled a 13–9 record.

In 1992, Franchione took his first head coaching job in Division I-A at the University of New Mexico.

During the 1996 and 1997 seasons, his roster included College and Pro football Hall of Fame linebacker Brian Urlacher.

In his six seasons at New Mexico, he led the Lobos to a 33–36 record, including a 9–4 mark in 1997, which earned the Lobos a Western Athletic Conference Mountain Division Championship and an invitation to play in the 1997 Insight.com Bowl, their first bowl berth since 1961.

In 1998, Franchione became the head coach at TCU and promptly turned their fortunes around, going from 1–10 the year before to 7–5 and a berth in the Sun Bowl, where the Horned Frogs defeated Southern California and set the record for fewest rushing yards allowed in a bowl game.

He again led the Horned Frogs to a bowl game in 1999 on the legs of junior tailback LaDainian Tomlinson, who led the nation in rushing.

Going into the 2000 season, the Frogs were being touted as a possible BCS Bowl contender before a disappointing loss to San Jose State.

Despite the loss, the Frogs finished the season 10–1, were co-champions of the Western Athletic Conference, and accepted a bid to the 2000 Mobile Alabama Bowl.

Before the scheduled bowl game, Franchione accepted a head-coaching offer by the University of Alabama.

Franchione was voted by TCU players to lead the team in the bowl game, which Franchione's defensive coordinator and newly named head coach Gary Patterson supported; however, after some controversy at the Heisman Trophy ceremony, TCU Athletic Director Eric Hyman reversed the vote, preventing Franchione from coaching the bowl game.

Franchione became the head coach at the University of Alabama in 2001 and led the team, which had posted a 3–8 record the prior season, to a 7–5 record in 2001 and a 10–3 record in 2002.

The 2001 team won the Independence Bowl, which became Alabama's first bowl win in five seasons.

The 2002 team finished with a 6–2 conference record, placing first in the West Division of the Southeastern Conference.

However, due to NCAA sanctions resulting from violations of the previous Alabama head coach, Mike DuBose, the 2002 team was ineligible for postseason games, including the SEC Championship Game.

Alabama officials offered Franchione a 10-year contract extension worth $15 million.

Franchione, however, did not sign the offer.

Following the dismissal of Texas A&M head coach R. C. Slocum, Franchione publicly denied before the 2002 Iron Bowl a rumor that he would replace Slocum.

On December 5, 2002, Franchione flew to Texas to interview for the A&M job.