On Monday, the College Football Hall of Fame released the ballot for the 2026 class, and while Mark Ingram and DeMeco Ryans jumped out as former Crimson Tide legends, they weren’t the only ones with Alabama ties. Former Alabama head coach Dennis Franchione also found his way onto the ballot, though not for his two seasons in Tuscaloosa.
Dennis Franchione up for 2026 College Football Hall of Fame Class
Franchione took over the Crimson Tide in 2001, coming off a 3-8 campaign under Mike DuBose, and the former TCU head man led Alabama to a 7-5 record and an Independence Bowl victory. The 2002 Alabama team was under NCAA sanctions for violations during DuBose’s tenure, so the Crimson Tide were prohibited from playing in the SEC Championship Game or participating in Bowl Season despite going 10-3 and finishing at No. 11 in the AP Poll.
Following Franchione’s 10-win campaign, he was offered a 10-year, $15 million contract extension to stay in Tuscaloosa, but turned it down, instead opting to leave for the head coaching vacancy at Texas A&M. Franchione spent five seasons in College Station but failed to post a 10-win season with the Aggies and did not win a bowl game before he was forced to resign amidst a bizarre newsletter scandal in which he was selling team information to boosters.
Franchione’s head coaching career spanned from 1981 at Southwestern (Kansas) to 2015 at Texas State, and he was a two-time NAIA National Coach of the Year before making the jump to Division I. Despite his lower-level success, it’s unlikely that Franchione will be voted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
While he’s not best remembered for his time in Tuscaloosa, his tenure represents an interesting inflection point in the program’s history and trajectory.
Alabama was only a decade removed from its 1992 National Championship under Gene Stallings, yet NCAA sanctions from DuBose’s tenure had sunk the program to the point that Franchione would turn down a 10-year deal to stay with the Crimson Tide to flee for College Station. That reality had to sting at the time, but had Franchione stayed put, Nick Saban likely never comes to town to replace Mike Shula in 2007, just five years after Franchione said no to a decade-long extension.
Franchione’s decision to leave Alabama may have cost him a spot in the College Football Hall of Fame, and it ultimately delivered the program six national championships.