It's safe to say the countdown to a new football coach has started at Texas A&M.
The San Antonio Express-News reported today that Aggie coach Dennis Franchione had been selling insider subscriptions to an e-mail newsletter at $1,200 per subscription. The subscriptions were sold to VIP boosters, and contained information not revealed to the public. This information included injury reports and personal comments about players. The newsletter was written by Franchione's personal assistant, Mike McKenzie. The proceeds from the subscriptions supposedly went to the upkeep of Franchione's website, coachfran.com.
All has not been well in Aggieland. In my opinion, a booster decided to leak this information in order to speed up the process of Fran's dismissal. Aggies are not (and should not be) happy with the performance delivered by their program. They have a coach making $2 million per year, and a program that does well to finish 3rd in the Big 12 South division.
I have a couple of takes on this situation.
First, this is not worth risking trouble over. These are health records that are now subject to federal privacy laws. Also, this is information that could end up in the hands of gamblers. This is a big can of worms.
Second, this is coming from a coach left his two previous jobs in less than stellar fashion. It appears he is about to burn some bridges on the Brazos River, as well.
This is not going to end well for either Fran or the Aggies.
Where's R.C. Slocum when you need him?
