Former Frog Head Coach Franchione Passes Away
10/6/2026 10:30:00 AM | Football
Franchione led TCU for three seasons and returned the program to prominence.
FORT WORTH – Dennis Franchione, the man largely credited with beginning the rebirth of Horned Frog football, has passed away. He was 75 years old.
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"TCU mourns alongside the Franchione family at the passing of 'Coach Fran,'" said Director of Athletics Mike Buddie. "Our fortunes as a department would not be what they are today without the efforts of Coach Franchione, his staff, and players. Beyond his talent as a football coach, he was a beloved father, mentor, and friend to so many. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Kim, and the entire Franchione family."
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"Our program's thoughts and prayers are with the Franchione family as well as all those whose lives he impacted," said head football coach Sonny Dykes. "Coach was a true gentleman who loved his time at TCU and set the program on the path to all of the great success that has followed. College football is in a better place for having Dennis Franchione's influence on it, and today is a great loss to all who knew him."
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Franchione was hired to lead the Frogs on Dec. 15, 1997 after serving as the head coach at New Mexico, inheriting a team that had gone 1-10 in 1997Â and had not won a bowl game since 1957. The Girard, Kansas, native promptly led TCU to a 6-5 regular-season record and an invitation to the 1998 Norwest Sun Bowl.
"I wore the knees out of my pants begging them to take us," Franchione wrote in his 2024 memoir Tough Times Never Last: The Coach Fran Story. "I feel like I willed that bowl game to happen."
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As would become the norm for TCU for years to come, Franchione's Frogs proved the doubters wrong with a 28-19 thumping of USC for the program's first bowl victory in 41 years.
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In the two years that followed, Franchione led TCU's climb back up the college football mountain with consecutive Western Athletic Conference co-championships and a Top 25 finish to cap a 10-2 season in 2000. In 1999, tailback LaDainian Tomlinson led the nation in rushing, and in 2000, the Frogs rose as high as No. 9 in the polls while Tomlinson won the Doak Walker Award and again led the country in rushing.
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It was the first time TCU finished the season in the final rankings since 1959.
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Following the 2000 season, Franchione departed Fort Worth to become the head coach at the University of Alabama. He was succeeded at TCU by Gary Patterson, his defensive coordinator for the previous five seasons - three at TCU and two at New Mexico.
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In all, Franchione tallied 213 victories as a college head coach and earned six coach of the year honors. He was inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2017. He is currently on the coaches ballot for the National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame.
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"TCU mourns alongside the Franchione family at the passing of 'Coach Fran,'" said Director of Athletics Mike Buddie. "Our fortunes as a department would not be what they are today without the efforts of Coach Franchione, his staff, and players. Beyond his talent as a football coach, he was a beloved father, mentor, and friend to so many. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Kim, and the entire Franchione family."
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"Our program's thoughts and prayers are with the Franchione family as well as all those whose lives he impacted," said head football coach Sonny Dykes. "Coach was a true gentleman who loved his time at TCU and set the program on the path to all of the great success that has followed. College football is in a better place for having Dennis Franchione's influence on it, and today is a great loss to all who knew him."
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Franchione was hired to lead the Frogs on Dec. 15, 1997 after serving as the head coach at New Mexico, inheriting a team that had gone 1-10 in 1997Â and had not won a bowl game since 1957. The Girard, Kansas, native promptly led TCU to a 6-5 regular-season record and an invitation to the 1998 Norwest Sun Bowl.
"I wore the knees out of my pants begging them to take us," Franchione wrote in his 2024 memoir Tough Times Never Last: The Coach Fran Story. "I feel like I willed that bowl game to happen."
Â
As would become the norm for TCU for years to come, Franchione's Frogs proved the doubters wrong with a 28-19 thumping of USC for the program's first bowl victory in 41 years.
Â
In the two years that followed, Franchione led TCU's climb back up the college football mountain with consecutive Western Athletic Conference co-championships and a Top 25 finish to cap a 10-2 season in 2000. In 1999, tailback LaDainian Tomlinson led the nation in rushing, and in 2000, the Frogs rose as high as No. 9 in the polls while Tomlinson won the Doak Walker Award and again led the country in rushing.
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It was the first time TCU finished the season in the final rankings since 1959.
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Following the 2000 season, Franchione departed Fort Worth to become the head coach at the University of Alabama. He was succeeded at TCU by Gary Patterson, his defensive coordinator for the previous five seasons - three at TCU and two at New Mexico.
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In all, Franchione tallied 213 victories as a college head coach and earned six coach of the year honors. He was inducted into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 2017. He is currently on the coaches ballot for the National Football Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame.
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