Larry Blakeney - Football Legend - Troy University Athletics

This story will appear in the UL Lafayette edition of GAMEDAY - Troy's official football gameday program.

On Oct. 6, Larry Blakeney made the official announcement that changed the course of Troy football.

The longtime head coach said he was retiring after 24 seasons, a season that concludes today against UL Lafayette.

He shared many stories, drawing laughter from a large crowd when he described a trip to Marshall for that head coaching interview but knew he wasn't going to take that job after a scary flight into West Virginia.

He told of how Troy helped raise his family, all girls, and made them into the strong adults that they are.

But the best stories of Larry Blakeney are the ones that weren't told at that press conference. They're the life-changing stories of a former Troy player and coach who owe their success to Blakeney and the help he was able to provide for them.

Mario Mitchell was a highly touted player from Opelika who was heading down the wrong path before Blakeney rescued him and signed him to play at Troy.

Tony Franklin was picking up the pieces after his coaching career was left in the dark because of NCAA violations committed at Kentucky by a staff he worked with. Franklin didn't commit any violations and was cleared by the NCAA, but was still blackballed in the college football coaching profession. That is, until Blakeney rescued him.

These are their stories of how Blakeney impacted their lives.

TONY FRANKLIN's coaching career at Kentucky concluded in 2000 and he was struggling to find steady work. His tell-all book, "Fourth Down and Life to Go" revealed the good, bad and ugly into the Kentucky football program under then-head coach Hal Mumme, but some viewed the book as an act of disloyalty.

Franklin and his wife had three teenage daughters at the time and he struggled to survive. He branded himself as a guru of hurry-up spread offenses, and his ideas had plenty of merit. He ran camps and sold materials, aiding in high schools around the south turning into championship programs. Still, he couldn't get back in the college game.
Only one Division I head coach would even give him the time of day - Troy's Larry Blakeney.

"I would have never been hired in college football again," Franklin said. "Larry was the only person that talked to me and the only person that ever even considered hiring me was Larry.

"My children wouldn't have had the opportunities they've had. I owe the guy my life."

Blakeney wanted to hire Franklin in 2003, but the financials didn't work. After the 2005 season, which ended a three-year stretch of struggling offense in Troy, Blakeney made a change from a traditional pro-style offense to the spread and was able to bring Franklin on board as offensive coordinator.

Franklin's first season in 2006 started a streak of five straight Sun Belt championships for Troy.

Blakeney showed Franklin the same loyalty that Troy had shown Blakeney early in his head coaching career.

"I had sorta been through a similar situation at Auburn (with NCAA troubles)," Blakeney said. "Luckily when I got here, I had gotten entrenched before it went down at Auburn and these people have stood by me."

The perception, post-Kentucky days, was that Franklin was a guy you didn't want to work with in college football. Blakeney welcomed Franklin with open arms, and to this day Blakeney is a mentor to Franklin.

"I'm a unique person to work with," Franklin said. "I need to be in charge and I need to be able to do my thing. Larry would let me do my job. About once a week, he'd ask if there was anything I could do to make your job better and help us win. I so appreciated the fact that he was so genuine to say, 'What can I do to make your job better and help us win?'"

Franklin's time at Troy was short-lived. After Troy went 8-4 in Franklin's second season in 2007, Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville hired Franklin away. He wanted to stay at Troy, but the opportunity was too good to pass up.

"The thing he told me, which I'll never forget, he looked at me and said, 'You've got no choice.' That's the best thing for your girls," Franklin said. "My three girls, they loved that man. He was good to them. Everything they did was all about my family."

Franklin left Auburn in 2008 and has since coached at Middle Tennessee, Louisiana Tech and is now the offensive coordinator at California. He talks to Blakeney several times a year.

"He's one of those guys that 25 years for now, I don't think I'll ever go a few months without talking to him," Franklin said. "I love that man. That man changed my life. I love who he is as a human being because he's one of the few people in this business who truly, genuinely cares about people regardless of who they are."

That's when Franklin relayed a story about a truck driver who delivered and installed grass to college football programs all over the country. The guy was sweaty, shirtless with tattoos covering his body. He crossed paths with Franklin and had a desire to meet the head coach.

"He said, 'I travel all over the country, trying to get coaches all their grass and I never get to meet a head coach,'" Franklin said. "I took him into Larry's office and Larry sat there with him for 30 minutes.

"The thing about Larry, he doesn't talk about being good. There's so many guys, they want to show the world the good stuff they're doing. I don't think Larry's ever told anybody the stuff he's done."

MARIO MITCHELL was a touted defensive line prospect from Opelika. But he had bad grades and bad influences.
"I was on the streets," Mitchell said. "He rescued me."

Mitchell recalled his in-home visit from Blakeney. At the time, he lived in the projects in a 4-bedroom dwelling with 14 people. He wasn't close with his father, but his father had better means and Mario asked if his father could host Blakeney and another assistant, Mark Fleetwood, in his house.

So Blakeney came to the bigger house and visited with Mitchell and his father for two hours. What happened next is something Mitchell will never forget.

"He called me outside and said 'Mario, we've been here for two hours. I haven't seen an accolade of yours in this house. I haven't even seen a picture of you in this house. Take me where you really live,'" Mitchell said.

So, he did. And Mitchell committed to Troy soon after. But he had to sit out his first year at Troy to get eligible.

It was rough. Mitchell had a girlfriend (now wife) in Opelika and a young child. There were problems and tears that first year. But Blakeney wouldn't let Mitchell give it up. He made Mitchell stay in Troy during down time, because he didn't want Mitchell going back to life on the streets with the potential of not returning to Troy.

"He's really the first man to ever hug me and tell me he loved me," Mitchell said. "If it wasn't for him, and I'll scream this from the mountain top, if he didn't give me that opportunity, I'd be dead or in prison. I say that because all my friends were in prison or dead when I was in college."

Mitchell was at Troy from 1992-96. He and his wife have three kids. One, Jakell, plays football at Auburn. Mitchell owns several small businesses in Opelika and he owes his success to Blakeney and Troy.

"Every time I see him, his arms are wide open and he'll hug me and tell me he loves me still and he's proud of me," Mitchell said.
Blakeney has taken chances on several kids with baggage. Some didn't work out. Most did.

"If you give a guy a chance, nurture him, discipline him a little bit, coach him up and let him know right and let him know wrong, most guys with some intelligence come through it positive," Blakeney said.

"We've raised a bunch of them. Some good players and good people. Most have proven to be a success story."

There will be a new head football coach and a new direction at Troy next season. Soon, there will be new facilities in the end zone at Veterans Memorial Stadium. Blakeney will still be a part of that, serving as athletic director John Hartwell's special assistant for fundraising. A longtime Troy man will continue to play an important role for this University and city.

"I hope that as time goes by and as Troy builds these new facilities and they pay this next coach and staff more money and do the normal things people do, I hope that community, the state of Alabama, Troy alumni, I hope they never forget what that man did for this University," Franklin said.

"I hope they never stop paying him the respect that he deserves. That university has accomplished great things and I would have to say that the best ambassador they've ever had is him and will continue to be so."

Troy University Athletics

Larry Blakeney - Football Legend

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