UNLV to interview Bobby Hauck, Dennis Franchione for job

UNLV’s search for a new athletic director dragged out, but the man now running the department apparently is making sure the search for a new football coach is handled quickly. One day after being hired as athletic director, Jim Livengood lined up interviews with Montana coach Bobby Hauck for Sunday and longtime head coach Dennis Franchione for Monday. One source close to the hiring process said those are the only two coaches who will interview for the position. Livengood, Arizona’s athletic director for 16 years before taking the UNLV job, did not comment on any specific candidates. He also said he didn’t have a timeline. “The most important thing is to get the right person in here,” he said. UNLV, which last had a winning season and bowl appearance in 2000, has been searching for the right coach. Mike Sanford was fired in November. Hauck and Franchione certainly have had plenty of success. Hauck is 80-17 at Montana with Friday’s 23-21 loss to Villanova in the Football Championship Series national title game. Franchione, who works for ESPN Radio, has a history of turning around programs, mostly notably New Mexico and Texas Christian. A coaching hire is expected soon. – Las Vegas Review-Journal

Bobby Hauck, Dennis Franchione leading candidates for UNLV

AD Jim Livengood immediately faces two major challenges at UNLV. The most urgent is finding a football coach to replace Mike Sanford, who was fired late in the season. Bobby Hauck and Dennis Franchione are thought to be the leading candidates. Hauck coaches Montana, which plays for the Football Championship Subdivision national title tonight. Franchione is known for producing success at downtrodden programs such as UNLV. One possibility that probably can be ruled out is hiring Arizona offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes, because Livengood said he considers head coaching experience a prerequisite for the Rebels job. “In terms of where we are now, I think that is better served by someone who’s been in that seat,” Livengood said. “This will sound offensive, but I don’t mean it like this, but probably not the right place right now to try and learn about the job. “That doesn’t mean there aren’t great coordinators out there.” The other significant issue Livengood faces is fundraising. – Review-Journal

Could Franchione be headed to UNLV?

It’s been nearly two years since Dennis Franchione left coaching. I have to believe that he’s missed it from the day he’s walked out the door at Texas A&M. Franchione’s name has emerged as a leading candidate for the vacant job at UNLV, according to the Rebel Nation blog published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. According to the blog, sources indicated that Franchione has already inquired to school officials about the vacancy, created when Mike Sanford was fired earlier this week. Franchione is well-known in the Mountain West Conference, where he helped rebuild programs at New Mexico and TCU earlier in his career. And here’s the nugget that might be most attractive to the cash-strapped UNLV athletic department. Franchione is receiving a $4.4 million buyout from Texas A&M, including $1 million in 2010, minus what he earns at another job. – ESPN.com

Texas A&M Burning Under Mike Sherman

Former Texas A&M assistant and ex-Green Bay coach Mike Sherman returned to the Aggies a year ago vowing to restore Aggie pride, dignity and accountability to the once proud program. But in less than two complete seasons, Sherman doesn’t seem close to his promise. This will certainly be a tough week in Aggieland after A&M fell asleep against Kansas State and did not wake up until the mediocre Wildcats had pulled off a 66-14 rout in Manhattan, Kan., Saturday. And as crazy as it sounds, the score wasn’t anywhere as close as it appears. The Wildcats led 38-0 at halftime and were up 59-0 in the third quarter before the Aggies started putting points on the board. A&M, which breezed through its first three cupcake non-conference games has now lost three straight and you have to wonder if the Aggies will win again this season after Saturday’s embarrassment… Now the question is how long before Sherman gets his butt kicked out of College Station. The message boards and phone lines are blowing up after what could be the Aggies’ most embarrassing loss in years. Sure there have been some bigger margins of defeat to say … Oklahoma. But Kansas State? And a bad Kansas State squad that has struggled to identify a quarterback in Bill Snyder’s return from retirement, at that? – Fan House

Mike Sherman Under Scrutiny at Texas A&M

If recent scores are indicative of the immediate future, Texas A&M will lose by 100 points on Saturday at Texas Tech. That’s not likely to happen, of course, but then nothing seems out of the realm of possibility after Kansas State led the favored Aggies 59-0 early in the third quarter on Saturday night in Manhattan, Kan., en route to a 62-14 victory. Only a week earlier, the Red Raiders had destroyed the Wildcats 66-14 in Lubbock. Meaning there’s a 100-point swing between the two games, with the Aggies set to pay a visit to Tech at 6 p.m. on Saturday. “We just didn’t handle the adversity in the game real well,” a mystified A&M coach Mike Sherman said in trying to pinpoint exactly what happened at KSU. “Things just snowballed on us.” And now Sherman, in his second season, is under severe scrutiny from a fraught fan base for an awful showing against a team that wasn’t supposed to be as talented as A&M. He understands as much, following the Aggies’ most embarrassing game since they lost 77-0 at Oklahoma in 2003 in Dennis Franchione’s first season. – Express-News

Mike Sherman right guy to turn around Texas A&M?

Texas A&M Aggies complaining about Mike Sherman after one season don’t understand the program he inherited, the reconstruction he had to do. In fact, one of the most impressive things Sherman did last season, one of the things that endeared him to people in and around the program, was to make the talent level a forbidden topic. It’s not just that he refused to blame his 4-8 record on his predecessor, Dennis Franchione. It’s that he wasn’t going to throw his players under the bus to make himself look good. He wanted Fran’s recruits to know they were now his recruits, A&M’s recruits. They were all Aggies, and they were going to work hard and get better and do things right. Beyond the football is the fact Sherman is exactly the kind of man Aggies want representing Texas A&M. He will emphasize graduation rates and good citizenship along with football. – Houston Chronicle

Strong Almost Landed Minnesota; Fran Wants Back In

Gophers athletics director Joel Maturi confirmed Tuesday that he had final interviews with just two football coaches before he hired Tim Brewster two years ago. The other was Florida defensive coordinator Charlie Strong. “I call coaches that I know and respect, I call athletic directors I know and respect, I call commissioners I know and respect,” Maturi said of his search. “Obviously some call me with recommendations, and that’s how I heard about Tim Brewster. “I had never known Tim Brewster’s name, I had no clue who he was, and when somebody mentioned his name to me, I still didn’t know who he was. But he was on a list of, I don’t know, 75 names.” – Pioneer Press

“Coach Fran” could be a wild card in the coaching carousel. He has been a builder of programs, excelling at being able to identify what’s wrong, what needs to be fixed, what can be fixed and how to fix it. And Dennis Franchione, 57, has done it at nearly every level, enjoying success at places ranging from Division II Pittsburg (Kan.) State to Alabama. Add it all up, he has a 187-101-2 record in 23 years as a coach, helping lead teams to eight bowls and eight league titles. “If I can go back and coach again, I don’t know that level is a concern to me,” Franchione says. “I have been full cycle. I’ve been there and done that. I’m open to about any level if it’s a good fit and my family would be happy. And I may have an opportunity to hire my son (Brad). He has earned his spurs. He won the national championship two years ago at Blinn (Texas junior college) and has a good team this year.” – Rivals.com