27 Facts About Dennis Franchione

Dennis Wayne Franchione was born on March 28,1951 and is an American former college football coach.

Dennis Franchione is the former head football coach at Texas State University, a position he held from 1990 to 1991, when the school was known as Southwest Texas State University, and resumed from 2011 to 2015.

Dennis Franchione received his Bachelor of Arts in 1973 from Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kansas.

Dennis Franchione then was an assistant coach at Mulvane High School in Mulvane, Kansas, in 1975.

In 1978, Dennis Franchione was hired to be an assistant coach at Kansas State University, a position he held until he was hired to be the head coach at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas, in 1981.

Dennis Franchione tied the school record for victories in a single season three times before breaking it with the 12 victories of his 1989 team.

In 1992, Dennis Franchione took his first head coaching job in Division I-A at the University of New Mexico.

Dennis Franchione again led the Horned Frogs to a bowl game in 1999 on the legs of junior tailback LaDainian Tomlinson, who led the nation in rushing.

Dennis Franchione's decision was influenced by the NCAA sanctions placed on Alabama, which included a two-year bowl ban, the loss of 21 scholarships over three years, and five years' probation.

Dennis Franchione signed a contract that was set to pay him a yearly salary of $1.7 million through 2010.

Dennis Franchione then hired former Western Michigan head coach Gary Darnell to replace Torbush.

However, in that season's Oklahoma game, which ESPN's College GameDay visited, Dennis Franchione was criticized by fans for making a field goal call with 3:28 left in the game.

On September 27,2007, Dennis Franchione discontinued selling a secret email newsletter to athletic boosters who paid $1,200 annually for team information that Dennis Franchione had refused to release to the public.

The last issue of the newsletter, dated September 13,2007, revealed that Dennis Franchione earned a net profit of $37,806.32 from the newsletter.

The investigation concluded that Dennis Franchione violated two NCAA rules and one of the Big 12's sportsmanship policies.

Dennis Franchione mentioned the names of recruits; NCAA rules bar coaches from talking about recruiting targets.

On October 11,2007, Byrne issued a formal "letter of admonishment" to Dennis Franchione and ordered him to shut down CoachFran.

Doyel wrote that Dennis Franchione could have potentially been fired for cause simply for hiding the newsletter's existence.

Dennis Franchione added that many of Franchione's columns announced firings of assistant coaches before that assistant was told himself and reported injuries that were not disclosed to the press.

Doyel argued that the entire venture would have violated federal tax law if Dennis Franchione had not told the IRS about it.

Dennis Franchione suggested that Franchione either knew or reasonably should have known that the newsletter's recipients were using the information to make better-informed bets on Aggie games.

Dennis Franchione moved to the exurban Austin-area community of Horseshoe Bay, Texas, and was out of football for the first time in over 30 years.

Dennis Franchione interviewed for the San Diego State University head-coaching job in 2008 when the school fired Chuck Long, and ended up being a finalist for the job alongside then-Ball State head coach Brady Hoke and UCLA defensive coordinator DeWayne Walker.

Dennis Franchione applied for the head-coaching position at UNLV, following Mike Sanford's termination as head football coach after the 2009 season.

Dennis Franchione interviewed with UNLV's Athletic Director Jim Livengood on December 21,2009, but was not selected.

On January 7,2011, Dennis Franchione was named head coach of Texas State's football program and signed a five-year contract valued at $350,000 per year.

Dennis Franchione led Texas State into Football Bowl Subdivision level football in 2012, joining the Western Athletic Conference.