The Zeitgeist List · coaching

Dennis Franchione

Dennis Franchione held Texas State at Regional Program IV for 4 seasons.

Peak, then fade
127–111
1992–2015 · 5 stints
← all coaches

Career arc

His real stature score, season by season, across every program he’s coached — so a stretch that stays in one tier the whole way can still climb or sink on the line, not just flatten out. Node color marks the tier reached. Which program a stretch belongs to is carried by the shaded lane behind it.

Reached Power Program in his 10th career season — faster than 7% of the 395 FBS coaches who have ever reached Power Program (rank #356 of 395 by seasons-to-arrival).

New Mexico, 6 seasons
+10.8
Regional Program V → Regional Program III.
TCU, 3 seasons
+14.4
Regional Program III → National Program III.
Alabama, 2 seasons
−0.9
Power Program I → Power Program I.
Texas A&M, 5 seasons
−8.3
Power Program III → Power Program III.
Texas State, 4 seasons
+0.0
Regional Program IV → Regional Program IV.

Style position and drift

Where each stint’s offense sat between run-first and pass-first, and how far it moved from one season to the next. The band is that stint’s real season-to-season range, not a fixed-width box.

40%50%Texas State2012–2015▲ 6.3pt
Pass rate — share of offensive plays that were pass attemptsfirst covered seasonmost recent covered seasonfull season-to-season range (3+ covered seasons)

The big-game ledger

How he does in the games that matter most — rivalry record, performance broken out by real opponent tier, one-score games, and his toughest historical matchup.

11–9 against his rivals. Just 1–4 against Mike Leach.

Rivalry record
11–9
55.0% · 7 rivals
One-score games
35–48
42.2% · margin ≤8
vs. Blue Blood or better
4–12
25.0%
Rivalry ledger
Texas2–340%
SMU1–150%
Tennessee1–150%
LSU1–150%
Auburn1–150%
UTSA0–10%
The toughest matchupNemesis
vs. Mike Leach1–4
5 meetings, 2003–2007
’03 L’04 W’05 L’06 L’07 L
Performance by opponent class
Blue Blood
4–12 25.0%
Power Program
7–20 25.9%
National Program
23–32 41.8%
Regional Program
70–44 61.4%

His own effect, isolated

A statistical estimate of this coach’s contribution to team performance, separated from that season’s roster talent, returning production, and his coordinators — pooled across his whole head-coaching career.

Offense marginal impact
-0.16
#221 of 319 · a typical amount · smaller cross-referenced sample
Defense marginal impact
-0.28
#288 of 325 · less than most · smaller cross-referenced sample

Model fit as of 2026-09-04.

Coaching career

2012–2015
Texas Statecaretaker
Regional Program IV
Dennis Franchione held Texas State at Regional Program IV for 4 seasons.

2nd-best Texas State tenure of 5 by the numbers.

Recruiter or developer?

Underperforms his recruiting talent, on both sides of the ball.

Offense vs. talent
-17.2 pts
#168 of 208 · less than most
Defense vs. talent
-37.6 pts
#202 of 208 · less than most
Recruiting talent is team-wide (no offense/defense split exists in the source data) -- both sides are scored against the same talent input, only the outcome is side-specific.

Succeeded by Everett Withers (2016–2018).

Season2012201320142015Trend
Record & result
Record4–86–67–53–9
Postseason
Recruiting rank#97#95
Style — pass rate
Pass rate41.547.8
Coordinators
OCMike Schultz / Jeff ConwayMike Schultz / Jeff Conway
DCJohn ThompsonJohn Thompson
Outcome — opponent-adjusted efficiency percentile
Offense6723
Defense304
Tendencies — play-by-play, neutral script (2021+ only)
1st-down pass%34.036.4
Red-zone pass%35.533.0
4th-down go%opp. territory34.127.6
Where the roster comes from, by position
Grows Edge from high school
100%
#191 of 208 stints
Grows Running back from high school
100%
#196 of 208 stints

2 NFL Draft picks: Craig Mager (2015), David Mayo (2015)

20–28
2003–2007
Texas A&Mcaretaker
Power Program II → Power Program III
Dennis Franchione slid Texas A&M from Power Program II to Power Program III in 5 seasons.

9th-best Texas A&M tenure of 19 by the numbers.

Followed R.C. Slocum (1989–2002) · succeeded by Mike Sherman (2008–2011).

17 NFL Draft picks: Ty Warren (2003), Sammy Davis (2003), Bethel Johnson (2003), Terrence Kiel (2003), Taylor Whitley (2003), Chance Pearce (2003), Jamaar Taylor (2004), Terrence Murphy (2005) + 9 more

32–29
2001–2002
Alabamainheritor
Blue Blood → Power Program I
Dennis Franchione inherited a Blue Blood Alabama and won with it.

10th-best Alabama tenure of 12 by the numbers.

Followed Mike DuBose (1997–2000) · succeeded by Mike Shula (2003–2006).

12 NFL Draft picks: Tony Dixon (2001), Kenny Smith (2001), Shawn Draper (2001), Saleem Rasheed (2002), Jason McAddley (2002), Terry Jones (2002), Freddie Milons (2002), Jarret Johnson (2003) + 4 more

17–8
1998–2000
TCUbuilder
Regional Program III → National Program III
Dennis Franchione raised TCU from Regional Program III to National Program III.

7th-best TCU tenure of 13 by the numbers.

Followed Pat Sullivan (1992–1997).

8 NFL Draft picks: Jason Tucker (1998), Chance McCarty (1998), LaDainian Tomlinson (2001), Aaron Schobel (2001), George Layne (2001), Curtis Fuller (2001), Shawn Worthen (2001), Cedric James (2001)

25–10
1992–1997
New Mexicocaretakerborderline
Regional Program V → Regional Program III
Dennis Franchione moved New Mexico from Regional Program V to Regional Program III in 6 seasons.

10th-best New Mexico tenure of 22 by the numbers.

Followed Mike Sheppard (1987–1991) · succeeded by Rocky Long (1998–2008).

4 NFL Draft picks: David Sloan (1995), Stoney Case (1995), Ramos McDonald (1998), Scott McGarrahan (1998)

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