As impressive as Mangino was, the committee knew that Bohl entered the search intent on hiring Alabama's Dennis Franchione, who was in the midst of his first season with the Crimson Tide.
Franchione knew that fans in Tuscaloosa would be irate if they found out he was interested in leaving – especially for a downtrodden program such as Kansas. So Bohl did his best to keep the situation hush-hush, traveling alone to meet with Franchione and only updating a few of the search committee members about the proceedings.
One minute Franchione seemed ready to accept the job, the next he'd changed his mind. The end came when Franchione told Bohl he needed a little more time because he wanted to see if he was going to be a candidate for the Notre Dame job, which came open when Bob Davie was fired on Dec. 2. That same day, Bohl rescinded his offer to Franchione and hired Mangino.
"No one wants to give Al Bohl any credit," Evans said. "But at the very end, we were dancing with a very successful guy who kept stringing us along, and finally Al just said, 'Forget it. We're offering this job to Mark Mangino.' It took a lot of courage to do that. Six years later it looks like we may have dodged a bullet."
Indeed, Franchione left Alabama the following the season for Texas A&M, where he's expected to be fired after the conclusion of this season.
"Ironic, isn't it?" said John Ferraro, a KU professor and search committee member. "I thought we had Franchione, but I still remember Al saying to me, 'John, this is the best coach I've ever hired.'"
