Despite only two wins in the last three seasons and five during his head coaching career, head football coach Carl Franks will remain in charge of the Blue Devils next season, Director of Athletics Joe Alleva said Saturday.
"There's been a lot of speculation going on and I've been asked a lot of questions about Coach Franks' future," Alleva said. "I just want to end any speculation. He will be our football coach and he will be back next year. Hopefully he'll continue the trend of improvement we've seen lately, and hopefully he'll be our coach for a long time."
Alleva said he had made this decision "a while ago" and that it was not dependent on the North Carolina game, which Duke lost 23-21 on a last-second field goal.
Alleva also added that he and Franks would be talking about many things in the off season, most notably a possible contract extension and the possible hiring of an offensive coordinator. Currently, Franks serves as his own offensive coordinator, a decision that many people have questioned.
After the heartbreaking loss to its archrivals, the Duke coach acknowledged that he was unsure of his job status, but noted that Alleva had not said anything either positive or negative to him. Franks also said he had one year left on his contract and unless he received word otherwise, he was planning on finishing it.
Junior safety Terrell Smith echoed Franks' sentiments.
"He's still our coach," Smith said. "I think he's got a year left on his contract, so I figure he's going to finish it."
Alleva had said earlier in the season that he was committed to Franks because he felt one of the biggest things the football program lacked was consistency. Alleva said that by having a consistent coaching staff it would allow Duke to build up relationships most particularly in recruiting.
Since coming to Duke, Franks has won a total of five games. He compiled a 3-8 record his first season, before a series of 0-11 seasons. The loss to the Tar Heels gave franks a 2-10 record this year.
"I think the team has really improved," Alleva said, adding that he would not put a numerical measure on the number of games Franks needed to win next year to keep his job. "We've gone from losing games by 30 points to losing games by two, three and four points, and that's the first step. You have to crawl before you walk and walk before you can run. And we're making that progress."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.