College football is about million dollar coaches, expensive tickets, and huge television audiences. We like to say college football is big business and in Selma this week, we learned just how big it its.

The Selma Quarterback Club is a nice organization that attracts marquee names to our town each fall. This year’s final quarterback club meeting wrapped up with Alabama’s Dennis Franchione making a stop in Selma.

These days Franchione draws a crowd. The Bama fans love him because he led the Tide to a

solid 10-win season this year. There are two other groups that love coach Fran: Other colleges and the media.

Franchione is a hot commodity because major colleges feel they can pry Franchione away from Alabama. Texas A&M thinks they can lead him back to Texas.

So wherever Coach Fran goes, a throng of media swirls around him, always asking him if he’s going to stay or go.

The situation in Selma Tuesday night borderlined on ridiculous. A reporter came to Selma from as far away as Houston. So much press was on hand that an impromptu press conference had to be called before the Quarterback Club meeting.

The press conference lasted about three minutes. Franchione took less than a handful of questions and departed. The reporter from Houston paid handsomely for the privilege to hear the coach say, &uot;Nothing has changed.&uot;

Did all those reporters really think Coach Fran would announce he was Texas-bound right here in Selma at the Quarterback Club?

As odd as the situation was, Franchione has to take some of the burden for creating it. If he really wants to stay at Alabama, why is he letting the speculation get to this point? If he’s playing chess in order to get a better deal out of Alabama, it’s probably working.

We hope that Franchione makes a decision soon. While the speculation and drama associated with his decision is fun, it’s something that could grow old if he allows it to go too far.