Former Bama, A&M head coach Dennis Franchione reportedly retiring at Texas State

Texas State coach Dennis Franchione will be retiring after five years at Texas State and a 30-year career at all levels of college football, according to Fox Sports’ Bruce Feldman. Franchione, 64, went 3-9 with the Bobcats this season.

Franchione’s retirement means Texas State will have the 25th job opening this season, but the only opening at the moment.

Franchione was the man who led Texas State’s transition into the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2012. He guided the Bobcats to a 6-6 record in 2013 and a 7-5 mark in 2014, but the team was not selected to participate in a postseason bowl in either year. In all, he coached the team to a 33-37 record as an FBS program.

Texas State was the eighth stop on Franchione’s head coaching tour and a return to San Marcos, where he had previously roamed the sideline from 1990-1991. The well-traveled playcaller began his career as a high school coach in the Midwest before latching on as an assistant at Kansas State. From there, head coaching jobs at Southwestern College, Pittsburg State, Southwest Texas State (now known as Texas State), New Mexico, TCU, Alabama, and Texas A&M followed. However, he may be best remembered for his ignominious exits rather than his coaching prowess.

In 1998, Franchione helped revive a TCU program that had gone 5-17 in their past two seasons and brought them to three straight bowl games. However, his players accused the coach of racial discrimination and harassment in 2000, and he left for Alabama after a 10-1 season in Fort Worth. The veteran coach did a solid job of cleaning up Mike DuBose’s mess when he transformed a 3-8 Crimson Tide team into the SEC West leaders just two years later, but ‘Bama was ineligible for postseason play that year and couldn’t stake their claim to a league title. Those NCAA sanctions, brought on by DuBose, helped convince Franchione to leave Tuscaloosa with five years remaining on his contract for a job with Texas A&M. This did not sit well with Alabama fans; his departure came barely one year after pleading with players to stay with the program despite their bowl ban, and made Franchione appear to be as untrustworthy as he was talented.

He remained with the Aggies for five seasons, but never finished higher than third in the Big 12 South or won a bowl game during his tenure. He resigned from the program after rumors of his firing began to swirl in 2007. He received $4.4 million when his contract was bought out that winter.