🏈 Ex-Tide QB Watts: Assistants crippled DuBose; Franchione 'was all about himself'

[Perdido Tide]

Some interesting comments from Watts - that probably arent too surprising.

"Coach Dubuse had a huge heart for his players. He wanted what was best for not only his players, but for his university," Watts said. "But he struggled as a head coach. He simply did not surround himself with good people. His assistant coaches were not good."

Watts said the coaching staff was divided and the schism filtered down to players due to direct or off-hand comments by coaches.

"It was kind of embarrassing," Watts said.

Franchione, meanwhile, came across as detailed and quirky during the 2001-02 seasons.

"Say what you will about the way he left the university, but this was one organized person," Watts said. "He and his coaching staff, over the course of the winter and the summer, would go ahead and give every player a playbook detailing exactly what was going to happen in every practice throughout the course of the fall, down to the drills.

"And somewhere mixed in there was going to be the face of Dennis Franchione, because he was all about himself and he wanted everything to be about him; goofy shirts and 'Frantastic'."

Franchione's exit: I was talking to our offensive coordinator (Les Koenning) after the season, and he told me that prior to the LSU, right after the Mississippi State game, that (Franchione) walked into his office and said, 'hey, what do you think about Texas A&M?' Dennis Franchione was very unhappy at Alabama for a couple a couple of different things. I think he was in over his head. He wasn't really expecting all the hoopla that surrounded the program. But, also, I think he was told a couple of things that would happen that had not materialized, so he was looking for a way out. He had actuallly wanted to leave after that first year, but things didn't fall into place.

Read more here . . .

 

[bamabarney]

I met Tyler when he was selling medical equipment several years ago and asked him about Fran and he pretty much told me the same stuff. He was real open about things that happened I was kinda suprised he would tell me that.

 

[TidePride50]

None of that surprise me in the least. I will say about DuBose that he did have a few good assistants but he could not control them.

 

[JoshB]

does anyone remember the 'race war' rumors coming out of that 2000 season? hell, it may have just been dummies around here startin ish but i remember folks sayin they heard the black players wouldn't play for Watts and the white players wouldn't play for Zow, etc. I didn't ever believe that but I know certain ppl still to this day believe that mess. I do, however, believe it was Shaun Alexander, Chris Samuels, Cornelius Griffin, Reggie Grimes, etc. that held that team together in 1999 tho.

 

[porkchop]

does anyone remember the 'race war' rumors coming out of that 2000 season? hell, it may have just been dummies around here startin ish but i remember folks sayin they heard the black players wouldn't play for Watts and the white players wouldn't play for Zow, etc. I didn't ever believe that but I know certain ppl still to this day believe that mess. I do, however, believe it was Shaun Alexander, Chris Samuels, Cornelius Griffin, Reggie Grimes, etc. that held that team together in 1999 tho.

The race wars was a real issue. At least for us fans on the internet. I cannot comment on the team, but I know that when this was occurring I was a youngster (newbie) on the net and routinely logged on to TideFans to get my info.

To say that you needed fireman's clothing on when addressing the subject would be an understatement. Rarely on the net have I seen that much anger and venom on a given topic. It was pretty amazing. :frown:

 

[JoshB]

The race wars was a real issue. At least for us fans on the internet. I cannot comment on the team, but I know that when this was occurring I was a youngster (newbie) on the net and routinely logged on to TideFans to get my info.

To say that you needed fireman's clothing on when addressing the subject would be an understatement. Rarely on the net have I seen that much anger and venom on a given topic. It was pretty amazing. :frown:

Yea, see that was before I really started messin with the internet thing much so I wouldn't no about that.

 

[JoshB]

i actually just went over to Tidesfan to see if there was a possibility that some of the old threads from over there were still around but they only have stuff saved from as far as back as 2001 so no luck. can anybody fill me on any of the stuff, especially the truths.

 

[Perdido Tide]

There was definitely some race stuff with Milons. A lot (not all) of it was created in his head.

 

[shiloh]

The race wars was a real issue. At least for us fans on the internet. I cannot comment on the team, but I know that when this was occurring I was a youngster (newbie) on the net and routinely logged on to TideFans to get my info.

To say that you needed fireman's clothing on when addressing the subject would be an understatement. Rarely on the net have I seen that much anger and venom on a given topic. It was pretty amazing. :frown:

That really sucks to hear.

 

[BamaUte]

does anyone remember the 'race war' rumors coming out of that 2000 season? hell, it may have just been dummies around here startin ish but i remember folks sayin they heard the black players wouldn't play for Watts and the white players wouldn't play for Zow, etc. I didn't ever believe that but I know certain ppl still to this day believe that mess. I do, however, believe it was Shaun Alexander, Chris Samuels, Cornelius Griffin, Reggie Grimes, etc. that held that team together in 1999 tho.

I remember that coming up in "Rammer Jammer", the book by Warren St John. He devoted a few paragraphs to it and how surprised/sickened he was that there were Alabama fans who still had a malicious attitude towards African-Americans.

His book was during the 1999 season, though.

 

[kc]

I remember that coming up in "Rammer Jammer", the book by Warren St John. He devoted a few paragraphs to it and how surprised/sickened he was that there were Alabama fans who still had a malicious attitude towards African-Americans.

His book was during the 1999 season, though.

It is shame for anyone to still harbor those feelings. Racism disgust me on every level and makes me feel disappointed in my race and how they treated people. Past, and present.

 

[psychojoe]

DuBose was, I suppose, sort of a victim, but any head coach is accountable for the actions of his assistants. He was basically cluelesss as far as their actions go. He was totally over his head as a HC. I say this even as I remember my support for his hire when Stallings left. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

 

[JoshB]

I remember that coming up in "Rammer Jammer", the book by Warren St John. He devoted a few paragraphs to it and how surprised/sickened he was that there were Alabama fans who still had a malicious attitude towards African-Americans.

His book was during the 1999 season, though.

Preciate it, yeah it sickens me that there is still ppl that feel that way, even to this day. just sad.

 

[bamaupsman]

As far as the 2 coaches are concerned, I'm glad they're gone.
Racism? By and large created by the media. I think we all get along pretty well.

 

[BAMAFSTBACK]

thankfully those days are finally behind us and we got a solid program again.

 

[Bamsambo]

As far as the 2 coaches are concerned, I'm glad they're gone.
Racism? By and large created by the media. I think we all get along pretty well.

I agree with the UPS man. The media are so into creating hate and discontent it does cause problems. I have lived through it all, George Wallace, Busing, Integration, etc. It's all so convoluted. I just ignore the garbage. Geez, give the racist crap a break.

 

[psychojoe]

Compare our situation with Watts and Zow and what the barn faced last year. No clear cut leader at quarterback and things not going well for the team in both cases. The Einsteins who write these columns think that they need look no further than a racial issue for the team. There were serious issues on both squads, but they boiled down to coaching staffs in turmoil.