For those unaware -- like I was -- the new Texas State head coach is former New Mexico, TCU, Alabama and Texas A&M Dennis Franchione. Texas State is to join the WAC in 2012 and in their first year they are not eligible to go to a bowl game or win the WAC title, so why not schedule a game at Hawai'i in December. That type of game allows a young program an extra week or practice with the 13th game that is allowed, oh and a trip to the islands.
Instead Franchione has backed out the 2012 game due to wanting the extra week to recruit, and the folks at Hawai'i are not to pleased with Texas State backing out, per the the Honolulu Star-Advertiser via CBS Sports:
After "five or six months" of talking, UH said an agreement was worked out to bring the Bobcats here, only to have Franchione scuttle it when contracts were to be sent out.
When Texas State asked for a better financial package, UH said it complied, upping the terms. When the Bobcats requested a home game, UH said it offered a two-for-one deal and would make a later appearance in San Marcos.
Texas State athletic director Lawrence Teis said the Bobcats were interested in UH when they found out they would not be eligible for a bowl or the WAC title in '12 and saw a trip here as "great." But Teis said "we also had not completed (scheduling) our other 12 games yet ... Ideally, if Hawaii would have been in September or October, we probably could have made this work."
Instead, as a 13th game in December, "Coach Fran was concerned that (date) would cut into recruiting, which we desperately need to do moving to (the FBS) level," Teis said ...
[I]t has been taken very personally in Manoa, where athletic director Jim Donovan said, "We won't be working with Texas State anytime in my tenure."
So, Hawai'i upped the amount of cash, offered a game in San Marcos, provided two nationally televised games (albeit at midnight central time) and Franchione decided against the extra week of practice to go recruit at a time when a large portion of recruits have already decided on where they will play.
Recruiting is very important and especially for Texas State, but it is only a week and I doubt Franchione would go out and snag any recruit who may not be there after their trip to Hawai'i. Why not just focus on your team and take in the extra practice time and game to improve the players that are already on campus.
This decision is close to rivaling Franchione's bright idea to sell his secret newsletters at $1,200 per year to wealthy Texas A&M boosters about recruiting information that was withheld from the public.
Both ideas were dumb, but this latest one seems to trump the newsletter fiasco.
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