College Football: My conversation with Teis from last Thursday night

Following Thursday's hiring of Dennis Franchione as head football coach, I tracked down Texas State Director of Athletic Dr. Larry Teis to talk about Franchione. This is what he had to say about Franchione and the process the day before the press conference.

On if Franchione was on the original list of candidates he had himself: "To be honest with you, I probably had 20 guys in mind if I had to do this. That’s what a good athletic director does. When it happened, I went to President Trauth and we talked and said we have some names and thought it would be better off if we went into a national search firm."

On whether or not he had some extra say in the hiring of Franchione: "I was 20 percent of the vote. That's why we had five people in the committee. I won’t tell you what the actual vote was. People need to understand this isn’t a Larry Teis decision, this is the whole University decision."

On whether or not Franchione's job hopping worried him: "I laugh all the time when you say coaches aren't loyal. Ninety-nine percent of the nation isnit loyal when it comes to getting a better opportunity. All I hope is that if someone leaves us, that they leave us in a better position than when they got here."

On why the process took so long: "The only people who panicked are on the outside. You don't work on the fan's timetable, you work on the one that best fits the administration. We felt it was in our best interest to get everything in order before we moved forward. We salvaged three weeks of recruiting. If you lose three or four kids [because of the delay], that’s not worth chancing the future of this program at the most important juncture."

On if this was the most-important hire to this date of his tenure and for the future of the program: "Probably, just because where we sit today and where we're trying to go and how the national landscape is. We wanted somebody who had the knowledge and the experience before, that's why it’s very critical for where we are today and where we want to go. Experience was going to outweigh everything."

On whether or not this process weighed heavily on his mind: "Oh, God, yes. You don't know how many ADs I called in the last three to four days. Thank God I wasn't the only person making this decision. I'm glad it wasn’t on me and me alone. No one person should make this important decision."