Tough Times Never Last: The Coach Fran Story “is a lively, colorful description of Coach Fran’s life before, during and after football,” said Dan Williams, director of TCU Press, which published the inspirational memoir in August. Dennis Franchione was TCU’s head football coach from 1998 to 2000. The Horned Frogs went 25-11 during his tenure on the heels of winning a single game the year before his arrival.

Several years ago, Rebecca Bock Franchione, the coach’s daughter-in-law, began interviewing him with the goal of compiling a personal biography to distribute among family. In December 2021, she and the former coach decided to turn the project into an autobiography.

Tough Times Never Last begins with Franchione’s humble childhood in southeast Kansas and goes on to chronicle his triumphs and setbacks as a top college football coach. The book shares insights into his stints at TCU, Alabama, Texas A&M and other collegiate programs, along with his two years at ESPN. Colleagues and former players including Brian Estridge, Kenith Pope and LaDainian Tomlinson ’05 contributed candid recollections.

Hall of Fame running back Tomlinson describes Franchione as “a man that understood what it took to win. We needed tough love, and he delivered that from the beginning.”

Dennis Franchione announces his acceptance of the head coaching position at TCU during a December 1997 press conference. Photo by Linda Kaye

In the book, Franchione calls the Sun Bowl victory against USC “the favorite bowl win of my career” but notes the considerable effort required to get his 6-5 team there. “I wore the knees out of my pants begging them to take us,” he writes. “I feel like I willed that bowl game to happen.”

The Horned Frogs were 16-point underdogs for the game, which took place in El Paso, Texas, on New Year’s Eve 1998.

A year later, Franchione’s team won the Mobile Bowl game against No. 20 East Carolina thanks to strong performances from Tomlinson and quarterback Casey Printers and the rigorous preparation by the coaching staff.

“Some of the best hires of my life came at TCU,” he writes, mentioning Pope, Ben Pollard and Charley North. He also credits William Koehler, provost and vice chancellor of academic affairs at the time, with unwavering support.

“He asked me what we needed to get into the Big 12 Conference,” he writes. “I told him about my vision, and then expressed to him that vision is expensive, but not as much as a lack of vision.”