Fired mid-season by Auburn, coordinator Tony Franklin back in Sun Belt with Middle Tennessee

Fired at Auburn, Franklin settles into new job

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Getting fired isn’t easy. Call Tony Franklin an optimist because the offensive coordinator says he’s glad he went to Auburn and got fired seven games into his tenure.

His take? He left a smarter coach.

“I am glad I went through that because in the long run, it makes me a better human being. I have learned from it and I have things that I can teach these guys, teach my kids and teach myself. I hope I can still learn because I have learned a lot from it,” Franklin said.

Being secure in his new job and back in the Sun Belt Conference as offensive coordinator at Middle Tennessee makes looking back a bit easier. Rick Stockstill hired Franklin in February to take over an offense that already used a no-huddle approach, which should make this transition much easier.

Not that Franklin is completely over what happened at Auburn, where he was fired Oct. 8 after a 4-2 start.

“I think you are a huge liar if you say things do not bother you when something like that happens,” Franklin said. “But when you say Auburn, that would mean everybody in Auburn. And the answer would be no. Are there people there that will not be coming to my birthday party and I am not going to invite? There are a lot of them, but there are also a lot that will not invite me.”

Franklin was the offensive genius Tommy Tuberville brought in before the Chik-fil-a Bowl at the end of the 2007 season to spread out and speed up Auburn’s smash-mouth, conservative offense. Franklin even brought in quarterback Chris Todd, a recruit who had committed to him at Troy.

Under Franklin, the Trojans had led the nation with offensive snaps in his no-huddle look and averaged 453 yards a game, seventh-best in the nation.

At Auburn, Franklin was fired by Tuberville after a 4-2 start because the Tigers ranked 104th out of 119 Football Bowl Subdivision teams offensively.

“It did not work at Auburn. Wrong place, wrong time, wrong person. I was wrong to have done it. They were wrong to bring me in because it was not a good fit,” Franklin said.

Now Franklin is comfortable here in this town less than an hour’s drive southeast of Nashville. He’s back in the Sun Belt Conference working with someone he talked with when Stockstill took over the Middle Tennessee program in December 2005. One of Franklin’s closest friends in coaching, Chris Hatcher at Georgia Southern, also was close to Stockstill.

Stockstill was excited at the chance to hire Franklin, whose offensive philosophy matches his own.

“Sometimes it is hard to find coaches that believe in the same thing. Then, you have to coach them up or they have to convince you this is what you want. I am excited Tony is here,” Stockstill said.

Franklin started his career spending 16 years at seven Kentucky high schools. His “Tony Franklin System” has been taught and installed at high schools nationwide. He moved to the University of Kentucky in 1996 and spent four years with the Wildcats, the last as offensive coordinator when Kentucky finished second nationally in passing.

He had a short stint with the Lexington Horsemen of the NIFL before going to Troy. The Trojans won two league titles under his scheme and scored 30 or more points 11 times. That stint helped persuade Tuberville to hire Franklin.

Senior receiver Patrick Honeycutt had heard of Franklin before Stockstill hired him because his own father is a high school coach in Alabama. His first thought was that Franklin would help the Blue Raiders put up lots of points and big numbers.

“He has been great to us so far,” Honeycutt said.

Having personnel on the roster that fits what Franklin likes to do is making his transition much easier and more fun.

“If you know in this offense what you are doing, then you have an advantage over the defense by just playing extremely fast. Regardless of what you do, if you do it fast, it should work better,” Franklin said.