The two big rumors of the day

Oh, Houston and SMU played a football game. Pffft.

Moving on.

There are two rumors rampant around SMU these days.

Rumor One: Gary Barnett is interested/on his way to SMU.

Gary Barnett is the former head coach of Northwestern and Colorado. Here is a good article on the current plight of Gary Barnett.

Rumor Two: Dennis Francione is negotiating a buyout with A&M and once done, will promptly be named the head coach of SMU.

Dennis Dodd says it is a possibility.

So what's next for Franchione and A&M? Don't be surprised to see the Aggies coach land at SMU. He certainly isn't going to get a high major job like A&M any time soon. SMU? The school showed it wasn't beyond contacting a person with a scandalous past when former Colorado coach Gary Barnett admitted he had gotten a call.

Sporting News says Dennis Francione will be evaluated at the end of the year.
Possible reasons for this abound. First, A&M is technically capable of winning the Big XII south. No, really. Look it up. Second, and more likely, A&M is playing chicken with Dennis Francione and trying to make him settle for less/quit.

To me, the biggest thing holding up the Fran buyout is that Fran wants all the A&M money and wants to coach again at the same time without A&M having to pay less. In attorney speak, Fran doesn't want to have to mitigate his damages.

More as this develops.