Dennis Franchione, the former Alabama football coach who posted a 17-8 record in two seasons in Tuscaloosa before leaving for Texas A&M, died Tuesday in Austin, Texas. He was 75.
Family members confirmed the death to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Franchione had battled cancer for a decade. Doctors found a cancerous kidney tumor in 2016 that he cleared.
A more aggressive diagnosis followed in 2021, and treatment put the disease into remission. The cancer returned earlier this year, and he entered hospice care in October.
Known as Coach Fran, Franchione arrived at Alabama in 2001 after the Crimson Tide finished 3-8 the previous season. His first team went 7-5 and closed with a win over Iowa State in the Independence Bowl, the program’s first bowl victory in five years.
The 2002 squad improved to 10-3 and finished first in the Southeastern Conference West with a 6-2 league mark. The Tide climbed as high as No. 9 in the rankings. NCAA sanctions tied to violations under the prior coaching staff made the team ineligible for the conference championship game and any bowl.
Alabama officials offered a 10-year extension worth $15 million. Franchione did not sign it. On Dec. 5, 2002, days after the regular season, he accepted the head coaching job at Texas A&M. He later said the lingering probation, scholarship reductions and bowl ban weighed on the decision.
“I botched that up big-time,” Franchione said back in 2010. “I wish I could have done it different. You don’t get mulligans.”
The University of Alabama posted a remembrance Tuesday, writing that Franchione remained “Forever part of the Crimson Tide story.”
Before Tuscaloosa, Franchione had rebuilt TCU. He inherited a 1-10 team in 1998 and went 7-5 in his first season, including a Sun Bowl win over USC. The Horned Frogs followed with records of 8-4 and 10-1, sharing Western Athletic Conference titles in 1999 and 2000.
Across 30 seasons as a college head coach, Franchione finished 213-135-2. His teams won nine conference championships and reached nine bowl games. He was among the FBS coaches nominated this year for the College Football Hall of Fame.
A Girard, Kansas, native, he graduated from Pittsburg State in 1973 and began as a high school coach. He earned NAIA national coach of the year honors twice at Pittsburg State before moving to Southwest Texas State, New Mexico, TCU, Alabama, Texas A&M and a second stint at Texas State from 2011 to 2015.
He retired after the 2015 season. At Texas A&M he compiled a 32-28 record over five years before resigning following the 2007 campaign.
Franchione is survived by his wife, Kim, and children Ashley, Libby and Brad.
