Tony Franklin (coach)

College coach infobox


Name = Tony Franklin
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Sport = Football
Conference = SEC
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DateOfBirth = birth date and age|1957|8|29
Birthplace = Princeton, KY
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Player = Y
Years = 1976-1977
Team = Murray State
Position = Running back
Coach = Y
CoachYears = 1990s
1997–1999
2000
2003
2006–2007
2007–2008
CoachTeams = Calloway County High School
Kentucky (RB)
Kentucky (OC/WR)
Lexington Horsemen
Troy (OC)
Auburn (OC/QB)
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Tony Franklin (born birth date|1957|8|29 in Princeton, Kentucky) is an American college football coach. Franklin was the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator of the Auburn University football team. He was fired from that position on October 8, 2008. [cite web| url=http://www.oanow.com/oan/news/local/article/franklin_fired_as_auburn_offensive_coordinator/40169/| title=Franklin fired as Auburn offensive coordinator| publisher="Opelika-Auburn News"| date=2008-10-08| accessdate=2008-10-08] Franklin is known for his expertise in the spread offense and for developing quarterbacks. Under his guidance, quarterbacks Tim Couch, Dusty Bonner, and Jared Lorenzen each led the SEC in passing, with Couch becoming the first player selected in the 1999 NFL Draft.

Coaching career

Franklin began his career as a high school coach in 1979, including a stint at Calloway County High School where he coached Mr. Football in Kentucky Pookie Jones who went to play at Kentucky. He continued coaching in the high school ranks until he was hired by Hal Mumme in 1997 to coach running backs at Kentucky. After serving as running backs coach for three seasons, Franklin was named offensive coordinator for the 2000 season and led the Wildcats to the nation’s 2nd best passing offense [cite web | year=2001 | url=http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/natlRank.jsp?year=2000&div=4&rpt=IA_teampass&site=org | title=IA National Team Report - Passing Offense | publisher=NCAA | accessdate=2008-01-05] , as well as the nation’s 11th best team in total offense (445 yards per game). [cite web | year=2001 | url=http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/natlRank.jsp?year=2000&div=4&rpt=IA_teamtotoff&site=org | title=IA National Team Report - Total Offense | publisher=NCAA | accessdate=2008-01-05] He helped lead the Wildcats to their first back-to-back bowl appearances in 15 years and their first New Year’s bowl game appearance in 50 seasons. During his tenure at Kentucky, Franklin was named one of the top 10 recruiters in the South.

In 2003, Franklin was chosen as general manager and head coach of the expansion franchise Lexington Horsemen of the National Indoor Football League, successfully leading the team to the playoffs in their inaugural season by scoring 53.1 points per game.

In 2006, Franklin was hired by Larry Blakeney to serve as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Troy University. In his first season at Troy, Franklin turned the teams stuttering offense around from the last placed offensive unit in the Sun Belt Conference prior to his arrival, to leading the league in passing and ranking second in overall offense. This remarkable turnaround helped the Trojans earn their first Sun Belt Conference title as well as the school's first bowl win, with a victory in the New Orleans Bowl. Prior to Franklin's arrival, Troy hadn't ranked better than 109th nationally in total offense in the previous four seasons. [cite web | year=2006 | url=http://www.theindependent.com/stories/092206/hus_troy22.shtml | title=Troy brings new offensive scheme to NU | publisher=The Grand Island Independent | accessdate=2008-01-20] In 2007, the Trojans ranked 16th nationally in total offense (453 yards per game) [cite web | year=2008 | url=http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/natlRank.jsp?year=2007&div=4&rpt=IA_teamtotoff&site=org | title=FBS National Team Report - Total Offense | publisher=NCAA | accessdate=2008-01-05] and 25th nationally in scoring offense (34 points per game) [cite web | year=2008 | url=http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/natlRank.jsp?year=2007&div=4&rpt=IA_teamscoroff&site=org | title=FBS National Team Report - Scoring Offense | publisher=NCAA | accessdate=2008-01-05] , helping the team win back to back Sun Belt Conference titles.

After spending two seasons with the Trojans, Franklin was hired on December 12, 2007 by Tommy Tuberville to serve as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Auburn University.cite web | year=2007 | url=http://www.nbcsports.com/portal/site/nbcsports/menuitem.6f806e473b4cb158fb00ec22493c2d04/?vgnextoid=91df94993e0d6110VgnVCM2000006fc3d240RCRD | title=Auburn names Tony Franklin offensive coordinator | publisher=NBC Sports | accessdate=2007-12-14] Franklin implemented his new spread offense with only 8 days of practice, prior to the 2007 Chick-fil-A Bowl. The new system proved quite effective as Auburn bested their season average in all offensive categories, posting 423 yards of offense (233 passing / 190 rushing), had 24 first downs and ran an 11-year high 93 offensive plays, all despite playing against the #6 defense in the nation. [cite web | year=2008 | url=http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=332020 | title=Auburn offers glimpse of future in bowl win | publisher=Sporting News | accessdate=2008-01-05]

The Tigers' offense was much less impressive at the start of the 2008 season. Auburn started the season with a somewhat disappointing 4-2 record, losing to LSU and Vanderbilt and having close calls against two struggling teams in Mississippi State and Tennessee. After the first six games, Auburn ranked 104th in total offense out of all FBS teams.

On Wednesday, October 8th, 2008, Auburn head coach Tuberville fired Franklin, citing a lack of offensive production from Franklin's spread offense, and noting Auburn's diminishing rank in most of the offensive categories in the FBS. [cite web | year=2008 | url=http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3632904 | title=With Tigers 104th in offense, Franklin fired | publisher=ESPN | accessdate=2008-10-08] [cite web | year=2008 | url=http://auburn.rivals.com | title=AuburnSports.com Home Page | publisher=AuburnSports.com | accessdate=2008-10-08]

Instruction

Tony Franklin is well known for owning and operating The Tony Franklin System Seminar. His copyrighted offensive system has been implemented by over 350 high school and college programs in 44 states across the nation [cite web | year=2007 | url=http://www.al.com/birminghamnews/stories/index.ssf?/base/sports/1197537760309450.xml&coll=2 | title=Auburn hopes to score points with recruits | publisher=The Birmingham News | accessdate=2007-12-27] cite web | year=2008 | url=http://www.al.com/auburnfootball/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/sports/121680095123450.xml&coll=2 | title=AU offensive coordinator Tony Franklin steps away from namesake system | publisher=The Birmingham News | accessdate=2008-07-23] , grossing over $170,000 annually from his consulting services.cite web | year=2005 | url=http://www.usatoday.com/sports/preps/football/2005-09-26-franklin_x.htm | title=Former college coach becoming prep offense guru | publisher=USA Today | accessdate=2007-12-14] Several college coaches including Sonny Dykes at Arizona, Chris Hatcher at Georgia Southern and Ed Argast at Fordham consult with Franklin about their offenses. Pro Football Hall of Famer John Hannah says of the system "If both teams have players who are equal in talent, this offense is impossible to stop".

After taking the Offensive Coordinator job at Auburn, Franklin was forced to sell the ownership of his football consulting business to partners because of a SEC rule prohibiting coaches from participating in a clinic not on the institution's premises. The system is now known as The System Seminars and is operated out of Frank Glazier Mega Clinics offices in Colorado Springs and will include camps on the campuses of Auburn, Troy and West Texas A&M. Former Hoover coach Rush Propst will now be involved with the on-site consultation.

Besides his offensive consulting work, Franklin has written a pair of football related books. In 2001, Franklin authored a nationally acclaimed book titled "Fourth Down and Life To Go" (ISBN 9780971428003), which chronicled his experiences with coaching football in Kentucky. The book detailed the inner workings of the Kentucky football program and effectively blacklisted him from coaching from 2001-2005 until he was hired at Troy. [ [http://cbs.sportsline.com/collegefootball/story/10824882/rss College coordinators partying like jock stars - NCAA Football - CBSSports.com ] ] He authored a second book in 2005 titled "Victor’s Victory" (ISBN 9780971428010), which dealt with the sudden death of 15 year old Hoover High School football player Victor Dionte Hill, who died from a cardiac arrest during one of Franklin’s consulting sessions. The book has helped bring awareness of the need for automated external defibrillators in every school and youth organization.

References

External links

* [http://www.tonyfranklinfootball.com The Tony Franklin System]
* [http://thesystemclinics.com/ The System Seminars]
* [http://thesystemcamps.com/schedules.html The System Camps]
* [http://auburntigers.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/franklin_tony00.html Official Auburn athletics biography]
* [http://www.troytrojans.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=87292&SPID=10377&DB_OEM_ID=17200&ATCLID=937178&Q_SEASON=2007 Troy Trojans official bio]