Tony Franklin talks on trophy coordinators, pratfalls and successes
Friday, August 28, 2009
Read the full column here.
Tuesday, we coined the term trophy coordinators, applied to college football's answers to trophy wives, hotshot coordinators hired to be paraded around on the arm of a head coach in need of a boost.
So what does a trophy coordinator think about the term? How hard is it to come into a new team with the expectation of turning around a program? We caught up with former Auburn coordinator and current Middle Tennessee State offensive coordinator Tony Franklin to find out.
Franklin started the 2008 season as Auburn's new offensive coordinator, bringing with him the spread system he launched at Troy that won two consecutive Sun Belt titles. He lasted six games at Auburn and became a cautionary tale for both college football fans and hopeful coordinators.
So, what's the most important detail when it comes to installing a new offense after arriving as a heralded coordinator?
"I think it depends on whether your head coach is really committed to the system," Franklin told FanHouse. "I've had two experiences with head coaches now, Larry Blakeney [at Troy] was committed to it all the way. Tommy Tuberville (at Auburn) wasn't. On the one hand, a coach was patient, didn't meddle, and was willing to eat crow until it worked. On the other hand, the coach wasn't willing to give it time."
Asked to assess Tommy Tuberville's offensive options at Auburn, Franklin said there were two.
"You either sit tight with your offense, stay on board with what you're doing and fight like hell or you go get something that's shiny and new and hope like hell it works. But you can't do both."
Unlike Tuberville, who fired Franklin after six games, head coach Larry Blakeney at Troy took the second path and remained committed to the spread offense. Even when it didn't run smoothly at first.
.
"Early on with the offense, we lost to Nebraska 56-0 and then we lost to UAB 21-3. The offense was awful. After the UAB loss we went into the locker room and the defense had played well. And if the defensive staff had been bitching, moaning, griping, or complaining it could trickle down to the players. Then the players start to do it and you can start to have an issue. Coach Blakeney stood up in the locker room and he was really direct and he said, 'We're going to do this and it's going to work.' "
"Then, Elbert Mack, who's now a corner for the Tampa Bay Bucs, stood up and said he believed in what we were doing on offense. That did it. From there we won seven of our next eight. We got better each week."
Read the rest here.
By the way, the above photo, I have no idea where it came from but three people emailed me about it today. Labels: tony franklin trophy coordinator auburn mtsu troy
Posted by Clay Travis at 1:15 PM
 
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