Former offensive coordinator Tony Franklin spent nearly an hour today talking on air with Paul Finebaum.
This was Franklin's first public appearance since being fired on Oct. 8.
Read below for an abbreviated transcript of what Franklin had to say. I was typing this stuff in real time, so I made several quick decisions about what to include or omit. This is everything I found important, though.
* Franklin has "wrapped up" his contract situation with Auburn.
* No gag order, no confidentiality agreement.
*"It's still not real clear to me what happened."
*"I felt like I had lost the football team. In order to get them back, something dramatic had to happen. I came up with the best George Patton speech I could come up with."
*"For two hours on the football field, I was 25 yards old again. I got in people's faces. I coached the way I did it as a kid."
*"I felt like I had those guys; they were with me."
*"I probably hurt some feelings along the way."
*"(Tuberville) was tired of everybody blaming me."
*
Franklin now referring to Auburn's other assistants as "them."*"I felt pretty positive about everything that was happening. The next time I saw (Tuberville), he came in and fired me. No one has ever come to me and said: Tony, this is what happened."
*"I'm befuddled to some degree."
*"They might have thought I went off the deep end."
*"He said: This thing isn't working. I feel like I gotta do something. I said: Coach, are you going to fire me? He said: Yep."
*When it was over with, we shook hands and he left and I began to pack my stuff and leave."
*"I had a conversation with an assistant coach (won't say who) who took some things personal. They weren't meant to be personal."
*"Everything is fine until you hit rough waters. When you hit rough water, you'll find that some people are on board and some people aren't on board."
*
On the alleged gash from an altercation: "I have a huge hole in my head when I had cancer when I was 23 years old. They cut part of my skull out. I can't altercate anyone. I've never been a fighter."
*
Curse players?: "My language is not the greatest thing in the world. My parents aren't real proud of me. I think there's a place for everything. It wasn't an issue I saw going into it. I've never been one to call people names. I do use rough language."
*
Who got you fired?: "I believe there were two people who were wrong in this -- Tony Franklin and Tommy Tuberville. Those assistant coaches worked hard, tried to do a good job and we couldn't get it to work. Coordinators come in, coordinators leave, those guys stay. There's a reason they're staying. They're going to do what is best thing for themselves, the best thing for Coach Tuberville and the best thing for Auburn -- not what's best for Tony Franklin."
SECOND SEGMENT*
What happened, Part II: "I was puzzled. I'm still puzzled to a degree. He felt like he had to make a decision based upon staff comraderie, possible, players that might not have taken my Patton speech as well as others. Maybe he responded to that after the fact. I don't know if I'll ever know."
*
Difficult staff to be around?: "There's probably two sides to the entire deal. There's not anybody there that I'll be in touch with. That probably tells you as far as the friendship part. You don't have to be friends to make it work. It's more comfortable that way. In the beginning, basically Coach Tuberville comes in and says:
This is who we are hiring. The interview process was those guys. I interviewed with those guys as much as Tommy. They were part of that process. It's one of those things where Tommy is saying:
This is who I want, y'all go interview. They're not going to walk out the door and go back and say:
Hey, we don't want to do this. It was something that would be very difficult to do make work regardless. I had a lot of feelings where I wondered about doing it."
*
Why not move guys from Troy: "He just flat-out said no."
*"There were a couple of signs within a week of being there that it was going to be a difficult thing to do. My gut instinct on this thing was that it's probably not a great decision. My ego took over. I thought I could make it work." It's unique. It's a unique situation. As unique as it is, they've won a lot of ball games that way."
*"You fired a really good coach before me. Al Borges is a really good coach."
(ABRUPT BREAK)THIRD SEGMENT*
More on Al Borges: "The conversations between Al and I are private. He was just being a good human being. (In previous seasons) I saw a coach who was a great scheme coach. The pressure to win at Auburn is so high -- not just win, win big -- somebody will decide that a guy who went 13-0 suddenly isn't good enough anymore. It's ridiculous."
*
Holding back?: I've been angry before. The situation at Kentucky, I was fighting angry. Human nature taught me a long time to not expect a tremendous amount from people when things aren't going well. I never really expected anything, so it's hard to be disappointed."
*
On Kodi Burns: "I'm not comfortable about talking about (players) in deep detail. I didn't know going into that press conference that Coach Tuberville had told the reporters that he had put Kodi in the game. He did, on the 28th play of that game, told me to do that."
*
Talk to the media: "We were told as a staff that we would not be doing any more talk-show interviews. Since I was the only guy doing your show, I'm assuming it was probably directed toward me. It's something I was actually a little bit surprised about."
*
Hang out with Tommy? He's been nice talking about you since firing you: "It's normal coach-speak. He's a guy who was hands-off until game day. Before that, we didn't have much of a relationship. I'd see him pass by in the hallway every now and then. He might stop in, in the 10 months I was there, maybe 4 or 5 times just to say hello. That's about it."
*"I didn't have a personal relationship with Tommy. I didn't have one before I came there. I didn't have one after I got there. I'd pass by him in the hall every now and then."
*"There's no doubt that the people he's been with for a long time ... he has closer relationships with them. I was not one of those."
*"I walk in the door, I'm the new guy on the block. The personal relationship wasn't there."
*
How did you get the job: "I knew two people -- Noel Mazzone and Eddie Gran. Eddie called me and asked me if it was something I'd be interested in. My exact words to him were: "You know what I do. This is not a fit. This is not what you all do. I'm too old to learn something new. I don't want to. If that's something he really wants to do, to make this dramatic of a change, give me a call. Otherwise, it would be a waste of time for both of us."
*"I went home and I talked with my wife and told her what happened. She looked at me like I was crazy. I told her it wasn't going to work. A few days later, they called me back and I went to go talk with them."
*"When this thing started, it was something I knew would be a wild shot. It's a culture shock. It's like what Rich Rodriguez is doing at Michigan. At least he took his guys with him."
*"He's got his trusted soldiers he can rely on for information or discussions. He's definitely different than the Rich Rodriguez or Urban Meyer kind of coaches."
*"He'll make comments on Saturdays. Things that weren't exactly:
Hey, great job, hang in there, it'll work before long. Things that were a little touchy to try to get you to do better. Everybody has a different style. I worked for Larry Blakeney for two years and he never said a word to me."
*
(UPDATED) "I didn't take over the fifth or sixth-best defense in the country. When I took over in the bowl game, we were 102nd or 103rd in the nation in offense. I wish it'd have happened fast. I wish it'd happened quickly. Sometimes if you're that bad and you have a good coach, which Al Borges was a good football coach, there may be some more problems you've got to worry about.
FOURTH SEGMENT
*You getting back in the media, etc.: It's something I'm considering. I love writing. It's a process I enjoy. I enjoy telling the stories. I'm sure I'm going to write again. As far as the media, I'm trying to get a sidekick deal on the biggest show in the Southeast. I am available right now."
*He's "excited" to get back to teaching "The System" with high-school coaches.
*
Should prospects play for Auburn?: (He's speaking in general terms here)"You have to do your homework. (Recruits) should actually pick a school. The chances of that coaching staff being there for the entire five years, it's slim to none. Auburn is a great school, great academics."
*
Fans have told him: "We don't treat people this way at Auburn. We're with you."
*
Tuberville sacrificed you?: "It's a calculated gamble. I think he did the right thing, to be honest about it. He knew he had to take a chance on either me or some other guys. Probably the best thing was me. You were playing Arkansas. He's going into a game that he felt like was be a win. He thought people would jump in and see what happened. It was a gamble he took. Whether it works or not in the long run, who knows?"
*"I do take the freedom of the press seriously. We make a lot of money because of you and because of people like you. That's why we get paid. If you can't put up with the two hours after this when people call me an idiot, you don't need to be in this profession."
END OF APPEARANCE
Hey everyone. It's another Saturday without Auburn football, which has good and bad points.
