Coach Fran Media Luncheon Q&A
Sep 28, 2004 | Football
September 28, 2004
Here are selected questions and answers from Tuesday's Media Luncheon with A&M head coach Dennis Franchione:
THE QUESTION: Fran when you were first hired at A&M talked about wanting to have a balanced offense and start to go play out now. One of 16 teams 200 yards rushing and passing. Is this - Neal asked Reggie kind of how you envisioned seeing things with this team offensively.
COACH FRANCHIONE: That's we hope for and strive for. There's going to be days when you have to do both - weather-wise and to drain clock by running the football. I really like what we're doing right now and the way we've been able to keep people off balance. One of the things you do in open week is you look at your tendencies of yourself with play calls and right now I like what I see because we're keeping people off balance. If you can't do both, you can't keep them off balance.
THE QUESTION: Offensive lineman Aldo DelaGarza was talking about the team unity and they do things together that they didn't do last year like getting together off the field. Have you seen that throughout the team? He was speaking mostly of the offensive line. Have you seen that and does it have a impact on the field?
COACH FRANCHIONE: I have, and we've worked very hard at that. I think our team is much closer and enjoys being a team more than ever before. We don't have a lot of cliques on our team anymore like we did when I first got here. Right now we have a team that people understand their role. That doesn't mean they would like to have a bigger one. But we have a chemistry and going into the season that was something that we put a tremendous premium on in saying we don't have the best players but we can have the best team and the best team usually wins. That's what we're striving to do is put together a cohesive group that complements together.
THE QUESTION: At other schools that you've coached at, did you have similar things you worked out in regard to team unity.
COACH FRANCHIONE: I think every place I've been, I've worked hard at developing a team. There's a passion I have in coachIng and that's building a team and leadership on the team. I've seen the value of it too many times over of nuturing groups of individuals to become a team to go to the next level. I enjoy that aspect of coachIng probably as much as any aspect.
THE QUESTION: How hard or easy was it to move Jorrie Adams from offense to defense? Could you talk about his progress on defense?
COACH FRANCHIONE: I had been on the job here one day and Jasper was playing in the stadium here. They pointed out Red (Bryant) and Jorrie and I said then 'I think Jorrie needs to play defense.' He had great feet and he could run, A large part of it was based on Jorrie's ability to get bigger and stronger and he has gotten bigger and stronger. But his speed, quickness and size, I think have offered us something at defensive end. We felt like we had to build this defense if we were going to get this program turned around. Moving him over there was a way to give us more depth and when you put six-foot-seven over there you've got something. He got hurt in two a days and was out for about a week, maybe ten days. It really wasn't that serious but it slowed him up a bit in his progress. You can see him making progress every game, every week. I think he's really going to be an outstanding defensive lineman.
THE QUESTION: When those two guys (Bryant and Adams) were coming out of Jasper, it seemed like Red was almost an afterthought compared to Jorrie. Hard to believe now at this point.
COACH FRANCHIONE: He was an after thought to the publications and the media and the people that wrote stories, but he was never an afterthought to us. He's somebody that we wanted from day one and felt just as good about him as any recruit we were trying to recruit.
THE QUESTION: Fran, I think it was four years ago A&M was ranked 92nd in total offense. It was a number that stuck out. Just rolled off the tongue of some disappointed fans I guess. Now you're in the top 20 in total offense. Have you gotten positive emails about the offense and do those numbers mean a lot to y'all or just kind of flying under the radar there with the offense or what.
COACH FRANCHIONE: We've gotten a lot of positive feedback about the offense and the versatility and every once in a while people will say something about how surprised they were that they saw this or that. I had someone tell me last year, 'Coach please just don't run it on first down, run it on second down and throw it on third down. So we made sure the first play of the game last year wasn't a run. I've heard that a few times. There's been a lot of positive feedback about the versatility the offense has been able to show and the ability to maybe keep some people off balance. You look like you're versatile and look like you keep people off balance when things work. When nothing works, it doesn't matter how hard you're trying to be that way. It still goes back to the execution of the players and how far along they are.
THE QUESTION: Coach , I've seen some coaches get into a big game and they become conservative. It seems like your history has been to take more chances and things like that. Would you agree with that and then what is your philosophy about that when you get into a big game.
COACH FRANCHIONE: Well, I don't like the word chances. I call it calculated risk. When you've done your homework and done your preparation you know the upside of something and you know the downside. Sometimes you know in a big game a play or two a little out of the norm can turn the momentum or the attitude of your team and the fans and maybe the other team a little bit. So we always look for game-changing plays or opportunities. Then it's having enough courage to call it at that time. There have been times I've been kicking myself for not doing some things more and there have been times where I've been really pleased that we did it. We have a little slogan and we talk about it during games on the head sets: 'smart not scared' and I think you can get into a game and you're just trying to hold on and you're a little scared. Even though you got the lead. That's where you go into that four-minute offense or five-minute offense or whatever it might be and you're trying to protect the lead. You're making some tough decisions on what play you're going to call and ou hope you're smart but you're not scared.
THE QUESTION: Did you ever envision yourself maybe in this game on the other sideline, maybe coachIng Kansas State.
COACH FRANCHIONE: Kansas State was my first college coachIng opportunity. There was probably a day when I thought maybe I might go back there and coach, if the opportunity ever presented itself, being a native Kansan and having coached there. We have wonderful memories of Manhattan and Kansas State, great people. When I went there in 1978, they had not won a Big Eight game in three years. I think we won four games the first year. Everybody we beat, got fired. Kansas State beats you, so you're fired. And we inherited a probation. Our oldest daughter was born there and we just loved Manhattan and the people and still do. And still have great friends there and really admire the job Bill Snyder has done there having coached there I knew about it deeper than anybody else.
