*http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/sports/columns/040626.shtml
*
*After Fran ran, coaches lost some trust*
If not for Dennis Franchione, would anyone in this state take seriously reports that Alabama basketball coach Mark Gottfried is a candidate for the Ohio State job?
Although Gottfried's Ohio roots make him a viable name to toss into the melee, there are so many more reasons to believe he'll stay at Alabama, his alma mater and the home to his wife and five children for the past six years.
Why spend all this time building a program to the level that he's wanted since he took the job in 1998 only to leave for a losing program that's about to get hit with NCAA sanctions? Why uproot his family? Why move away from his parents, who live in Mobile?
Why leave a recruiting pipeline that he's developed that should ensure plenty of new talent for his program for years to come?
Why would Gottfried get the job when Ohio State appears to be looking at a list of other candidates that doesn't include him? If Gottfried is set to interview, why wouldn't his former boss and mentor, Jim Harrick, know about it? Harrick told THE DECATUR DAILY's Gentry Estes on Friday that if Gottfried had an interest in the job, he would discuss it with Harrick.
Then again, remember 19 months ago when rumors of Franchione leaving Alabama's football program to coach Texas A&M's team seemed like total hogwash?
That story broke the week of Alabama's annual game with Auburn when The San Antonio (Texas) Express-News reported that Texas A&M had fired R.C. Slocum and hired Franchione to replace him.
"According to ... sources, Dennis Franchione, considered by some to be one of the hottest collegiate coaches in the country, already has resigned his post at Alabama and has accepted the head coaching job at Texas A&M," the newspaper reported.
Franchione denied the story to reporters the day before facing Auburn and on his Web site, CoachFran.com.
"I refused to answer the phone today after an idiotic story about Texas A&M in the San Antonio paper crossed my desk first thing this morning," Franchione wrote. "I don't know how on earth these rumors get started and there's nothing I can do about them. I'd prefer to ignore them if people would let me.
"This shouldn't even warrant a response. But to put your mind at ease, nothing in that story or things reported to me from e-mails today is true."
Less than two weeks later, he was gone to Texas A&M. He didn't even return to pack up the stuff in his office, instead having his belongings shipped to Texas by someone else.
Franchione had a way of working his words so that he never out-and-out lied. When he wrote those words on his Web site, he had not resigned at Alabama ... yet. He had not accepted the Texas A&M job ... yet.
In fact, he hadn't even spoken with A&M ... yet. It was all done through Franchione's agent and a headhunter that A&M hired to go after Franchione or a comparable coach.
Before the Auburn game, Franchione also wrote about his contract negotiations with Alabama: "I'm saying this for what seems like the millionth time — the contract will be settled after the season ends. Details are being worked out by the people who do those things, and it should not be a topic for discussion during Auburn week, or any other week we have a game."
Yes, his contract with Alabama was settled after the season — Franchione terminated his existing contract with Alabama and chose not to sign an extension.
So because of Franchione, nobody's word about college coaching jobs can be taken at face value, less everyone find themselves burned again. It's better these days to be cautious than trusting.
So, Mark Gottfried, it's nothing against you. You seem less calculating and more honest than Franchione. But nobody around here will believe for certain you're not headed North until Ohio State holds a news conference for its new basketball coach and somebody other than you is standing behind the podium.
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