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Aggies coach sold secrets

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Dealing with the Miami fallout was bad enough. Now, Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione is facing a new wave of criticism after it was revealed he was selling the Aggies' secrets. Franchione said he recently stopped sending a weekly e-mail newsletter about the A&M football team to a small group of boosters willing to pay $1,200 per year in subscriber fees over the last three seasons.

Dallas Morning News

Dennis Franchione , AP Dennis Franchione , AP
September 29, 2007  09:24 AM ET

Classy guy.

September 29, 2007  09:51 AM ET

Bye-bye Dennis. See ya in the Sunbelt Conference next year as a special teams coach.

September 29, 2007  10:02 AM ET

This is what boosters like to talk about at cocktail parties.

September 29, 2007  11:54 AM ET

Like what kind of secrets?

The jersey's are washed in Tide instead of ALL?

For real though....who are the boosters going to tell?

September 29, 2007  12:41 PM ET

That info is highly valuable to odds makers.

September 29, 2007  12:41 PM ET

Who's hurt, really, who looks good, who looks bad etc.

September 29, 2007  01:18 PM ET

Uhh, I guess I don't get this one. If Dennis Franchione HAD any secrets he should've used them to field a decent football team. Texas A&M SUCKS, and that's not really a secret.

BTW, before anyone makes any comments about how A&M would beat my beloved Noles, spare me. If I actually thought that A&M could beat us ON OUR WORST DAY, I'd hang myself. Has Texas A&M EVER been good?

September 29, 2007  01:33 PM ET

Now that I have read the newspaper article, I am convinced that this is a non story that is more about appearances than anything else. He didn't tell the boosters what plays they were going to run. He did tell them some things about what he was thinking about certain of his players that a coach wouldn't ordinarily make public and about certain injuries to players. It appears that no NCAA rules were violated and no laws were broken. It appears that the intent is more about trying to make these boosters feel like they enjoyed the coach's confidence. The information was even accompanied by a disclaimer that indicated that if it ever became public (which it did), it would be discontinued. In retrospect, it wasn't the smartest idea in terms of appearances, but it appears that this story is being twisted by the new media into something that it isn't.

September 29, 2007  01:33 PM ET

Yeah they were. They won a national championship once.

September 29, 2007  03:11 PM ET

They should fire him for being a bad coach, but I guess they might as well punish him publicly a little first. So who will take over the reigns of A&M next year?

September 29, 2007  04:13 PM ET

eyeswideopen, youre a moron plain and simple. You just keep living in your only good days of Florida State and realize that Bowden is just a cantankering old fool now. Florida State is now taking a backseat to USF, FSU can't even call themselves the 3rd best team in Florida.

September 29, 2007  04:37 PM ET

There is so much greed in college sports. I am really confused at how the professional sports such as the NBA and the NFL gets the bad rap. As far as I am concerned, College sports is the greediest profession clothed in sheeps clothing out there. The players are doing all the sacrificing but the programs and a few people are the ones getting compensated. You tell me the coach last year that had graduated the most players with respectable gpa's. Most can't. Because that is not what these universities are looking for. They are looking for bowl and sponsorship money at the expense of these players who can't even get a job. But professional athletes are the only ones that anyone will say is greedy. Hypocrisy, once again.

Comment has been removed
September 29, 2007  08:22 PM ET

BKT,
C'mon now, you don't think that knowing who's going to play, or who's looking good or bad isn't valuable to anyone? Especially information on a team that is notoriously secretive? So, you think there is no chance that information was used for gambling purposes, or sold to oddsmakers? I envy you your naivete, really I do.

September 29, 2007  09:43 PM ET

EastCoastKeith, LOL!

eyesWIDEshut, I wouldn't be making "promises" like that if I were you, FSU isn't that great these days. I am personally a huge Bobby Bowden fan but you guys aren't the world beaters like before and A&M has enough good athletes that yeah, they could upset the Seminoles...like in a bowl game....if they don't have a meltdown over Coach Franny's goofy fund-raising tactics.

What is this guy, a Sopranos wannabe? = D Anyway, I'm sure we'll see him in the Sunbelt Conference next season.

September 29, 2007  10:14 PM ET

From: Everyone in College Station,
To: Coach Fran,

Dear Fran, You suck at life.

Signed
The 12th Man

September 29, 2007  11:08 PM ET

From: Everyone in College Station, except "TxAg09"
To: Coach Fran

Dear Fran, Keep up the hard work though you may not be in College Station much longer we are willing to hear out the rest of your season and give you a chance to make up for a few bad decisions,....is that really your calling the plays or your Offensive Coaches?......If its not you...you might want to change up your Coaching staff or do you just want that 6 million pay off if we fire you? Anyways we look forward to seeing if you can roll the big12.

Signed,
The real 12th Man (Check my name)

September 29, 2007  11:42 PM ET

To AcesFulMoon:

I felt like you did at first, but as I looked at this a little closer, I have concluded differently.

I agree that it was a very, very dumb idea. To me, the case has not been made that it was gambling-worthy information, though.

September 29, 2007  11:56 PM ET

Boosters, alumni, local supporters, etc... pour a ton of money into the local sports programs. These were boosters for his team, not teams they play against. This practice may be unorthodox but certainly unethical. Is this worse than alumni greasing the palms of the athletes which I know for a fact happens at 99% of the D1 schools in virtually every sport, even equestrian! (sorry 12th Man I had to!) If the Aggies have a good showing this year, Coach Franchione is safe, if they sputter, they'll use him as a scapegoat and take the easy way out. I'm thinkin' he might land somewhere like Canisius College D1AA (Buffalo) as a JV tackling dummy. Seriously, I think "no harm, no foul".

 
September 29, 2007  11:58 PM ET

I left out a very important word "This practice may be unorthodox but certainly NOT unethical" CHEERS!

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