Happy Franniversary!

[franslasttwinkie]

Didn't we miss on on Willie Fritz when Withers was hired? He had expressed interest. I remember so where thinking we were too good for a SHSU coach.

He was already at GS before Withers was hired but I’m sure Tulane had already taken him off the board by the time Fran walked away.

Conner White, Randy Price, Blake Peterson, LG Williams, Devin Williams, Braden Kent. C'mon. Say what you want about Vitt, Hatcher or even Evans, but all 3 are better than every one of those guys.

Look at RB - he pulled in true studs in Lowe, Jones, Nuttall, and Best, but after that? Mayberry, Siudzinski, Taylor, Bingham, Brown, Aldridge (Morbley and Tutt were Withers signees).

I think Devin Williams might have been serviceable albeit maybe not in Withers’ system if you want to even call it one. I have nothing to base it off of other than we really needed a true DT QB with the abysmal OL play under Withers and WJIII was not the answer. Hard to say what could have been but I think he could have been more effective for us than he was for Blinn. Pure wild ass speculation of his days at Timberview but just hard to think anything could have been worst than the offense we saw under EW.

Who was RB Jones? I thought Morbley was recruited as a WR? Didn’t remember him as a RB

 

[LTK5H]

Who was RB Jones? I thought Morbley was recruited as a WR? Didn’t remember him as a RB

Jones should be Franks - my bad. Will edit.

Morbley is listed as a RB on Rivals. Either way, Withers landed him in January.

 

[LTK5H]

For reference, here are some other G5 hires made in 2011:


ULL: Mark Hudspeth - 4 straight 9-4 seasons. They were 3-9 the year before, and last had a winning season in 2005.
Prior Position: WR/PGC at Mississippi State

ARST: Hugh Freeze - 10 W season out of the gate. 4-8 the previous 2 seasons, last winning season was 1995.
Prior Position: OC at ARST

Kent St: Darrell Hazell - 11-3 in season 2. 5-7 the previous 2 seasons, last winning season was 1987.
Prior Position: WR/AHC at Ohio State

Ball St: Pete Lembo - 9-4, 10-3 seasons 2, 3. 4-8, 2-10 the 2 seasons prior.
Prior Position: HC at Elon (FCS)

If we're recycling aTm coaches currently in the broadcaster booth, Bob Davies wasn't doing anything in 2011 either. You telling me we could have had the guy who ran the Wrecking Crew? That would have played pretty well, imo.

 

[slycat]

Back then it seemed important for new FBS teams to have an old big name coach. UTSA and GSU did the same thing and it only sort of worked for UTSA.

I guess the idea was to engage the fan base by saying hey remember this guy??? Well he's here now that's how big of a program we are. Meanwhile you see App, GS, and JMU move up and rock it with no name coaches.

 

[SWTRefugee]

For reference, here are some other G5 hires made in 2011:


ULL: Mark Hudspeth - 4 straight 9-4 seasons. They were 3-9 the year before, and last had a winning season in 2005.
Prior Position: WR/PGC at Mississippi State

ARST: Hugh Freeze - 10 W season out of the gate. 4-8 the previous 2 seasons, last winning season was 1995.
Prior Position: OC at ARST

Kent St: Darrell Hazell - 11-3 in season 2. 5-7 the previous 2 seasons, last winning season was 1987.
Prior Position: WR/AHC at Ohio State

Ball St: Pete Lembo - 9-4, 10-3 seasons 2, 3. 4-8, 2-10 the 2 seasons prior.
Prior Position: HC at Elon (FCS)

If we're recycling aTm coaches currently in the broadcaster booth, Bob Davies wasn't doing anything in 2011 either. You telling me we could have had the guy who ran the Wrecking Crew? That would have played pretty well, imo.

Davie flamed at New Mexico

New Mexico, Davie to part ways after 8 seasons

New Mexico coach Bob Davie will not return as the Lobos' football coach in 2020, the school announced Monday, ending his eight-season tenure.

es.pn

 

[LTK5H]

I love that you think I don't know that, and felt the need to reinforce your statement with a link.

 

[tx.state]

I'm not necessarily a Fran hater. I think he kept us respectable during the transition, but I'm bitter that he stayed beyond that. Looking back, I think he probably retired before the 2014 season but his son and assistants kept the program afloat and our absent AD let it happen. In fact, we learned at some point that the Teis kept asking him to stay even after the pitiful 2015 season.

When I think about the Fran era, I think about coming out of Bobcat Stadium after a 35-30 win against Idaho in 2014. Idaho was the worst football team I had ever seen, and from a coaching perspective we did everything possible to try to let them win. With a few minutes left we had a 5 point lead and the ball around our 35 yard line and all we had to do was get a first down but Fran had no interest in getting the first down. He was perfectly content with just running some time off and punting. Against the worst team in the country, we had better players at every single position but Fran lacked the killer instinct. The team hated him for it. The fans hated him for it. It was horrible to watch. We won but I left the game disgusted.