BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Alabama football coach speaks, and in mere syllables it is strikingly clear how much things have changed down here.
The flat, slightly nasal voice betrays Dennis Franchione's roots. He is not from these parts.
Franchione is a native Kansan who has spent most of his career in the Midwest and Southwest. This might seem to be a minor point until you examine the historical record.
He does not speak with the same syrupy drawl as every Alabama Crimson Tide coach of the previous 43 years. Or longer. (Nobody can reliably remember what Bear Bryant's predecessor, the luckless J.B. "Ears" Whitworth, sounded like.)
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Dennis Franchione will prosper in the crucible forged by Bryant. I trust track records. His teams have won big at five levels of football, most recently at TCU, where he repeatedly outcoached his high profile opponents.
Bill's complete analysis |
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Franchione does not use the Southern coach's nomenclature. He does not sprinkle his rhetoric with "mommas and daddies" or refer to the Tide's 11-game slate as a "skedjew."
He owns no ties to the patron saint of the state, Bear Bryant. Neither did Bill Curry, who coached Alabama from 1987-89, but Curry at least was deeply Southern.
Franchione is not. He is a full-fledged outsider, come to take over one of the most significant cultural institutions in the South.
With its six national titles and iconic program patriarch, Alabama is the touchstone program beneath the Mason-Dixon Line, where college football matters more than it does everywhere else. As the school's fight song says, "You're Dixie's football pride, Crimson Tide."
It's a big job, with big consequences. If Franchione wins, he is a savior. If he doesn't, the term "carpetbagger" might come back in style.
Whatever the terminology, this is an historic departure from tradition. Which might be exactly what Alabama needs at this troubled time.
The NCAA is concluding its investigation of a major recruiting scandal, the last remnant of the tawdry Mike DuBose Era in Tuscaloosa. DuBose's other contributions to the Tide's gilded history include an off-field scandal involving his former secretary, two losses to Louisiana Tech and last year's 3-8 disaster, Alabama's worst record since Ears went 2-7-1 in '57.
What better time to reinvent Alabama football?
Bear was an American original. The Crimson Tide's two decades of attempting to replicate his halcyon days through various disciples and proteges has been a perilous and occasionally pathetic pursuit. It has yielded more turbulence than triumph -- the shining exception being a 1992 national championship under Gene Stallings.
In breaking its own mold, Alabama is making a move reminiscent of the gamble taken in 1989 by Kentucky basketball -- the most comparable entity in college athletics to Alabama football.
Busted by the NCAA and in disarray, Kentucky lunged at a pure outsider -- a pro guy from New York named Rick Pitino. Unbound by convention and unintimidated by the job, Pitino quickly rebuilt the program in a better form. He was bold enough to change what was wrong and prudent enough to embrace the traditions worth keeping.
Franchione does not arrive in Tuscaloosa with the cache Pitino brought to Lexington. (And certainly not the swagger, either.) It's not possible when your previous head-coaching stops are Southwestern (Kan.) State, Pittsburg (Kan.) State, Southwest Texas State, New Mexico and Texas Christian.
He's smart enough to know a quantum leap when he sees it.
When Franchione took to the podium last week to address the SEC media members, flashbulbs lit up the room. Asked about it later he said, "Well, it was pretty much the same at Pittsburg State."
Here's what is the same: Alabama football is broke, and Franchione is pretty talented with a wrench.
"This is our sixth different opportunity to take over a program, and all of them coming off a losing season," he said. Four of the first five had winning seasons in Year One with Fran. Habitual loser New Mexico took a second season to turn around.
He certainly appears to be a sound enough football man for the job. He demanded improved conditioning and strength work in the offseason and got it. He knows the talent level is better than 3-8 -- but warns that it might not be as good as what he had last year at TCU, when 11 players signed pro contracts. He seems comfortable dealing with Year Three of the Andrew Zow/Tyler Watts quarterback debate, which adds an additional wild card in breathlessly hyped freshman Brodie Croyle.
"We just have to have a plan for how we handle game day," he said.
And there is a quiet confidence -- a near-amusement at all the hoopla -- that makes you think he's also a big enough man for the big job. (Where else do 400 women sign up at $35 a pop to meet the coach for a one-night gridiron tutelage called "Football 101"?)
"Everything's a little magnified here," Franchione allowed. "Our fans are very passionate and want to learn everything they can about Crimson Tide football.
"To a certain degree, I've been training for all these situations."
If anyone can offer Franchione some additional training, it's the only other non-Bear-related coach of the past 43 years. Bill Curry's advice:
"Win every single game, at all times," Curry said. "And beat Auburn twice a year."
Pat Forde covers college football for the Louisville Courier-Journal.
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