James Franklin

[gatormandan]

Clearly you don't know me as well as you think then. No way would I ever be happy if some win-at-all-costs jack wagon came in here and turned our football program into another FSU/PSU. No freaking way!

I dont know....its been 7 years and its looking like another year or two of the same.....starting to get desperate...

 

[Zambo]

Winner or not, he works at a place that promotes the acceptance of pedophilia and the acceptance and idolization of those who commit and condone such unacceptable acts. **** him and the 'university' he works for.

I myself have read quite a bit of their pro-pedophilia pamphlets and found them to be quite disturbing. I don't know how a university gets away with publicly promoting sodomy and rape of minors in their curriculum. As I understand it, they've made it part of their core studies and require 4 rape credits for graduation.

 

[PastyStoole]

We also missed a golden opportunity to hire Tim Curley as Athletic Dirrector. Instead we hired Scott Stricklin. Curley has a way better track record than Stricklen. Dave Hart was also available and we missed the boat on him, too. I don't know what's wrong with our administration.

 

[g8torfan]

Think he's a heck of a coach that went to a University almost no desirable coach would have touched with a barge pole and has done an amazing job. The stuff that went on before he headed north was not of his making. Time will tell if the claims made at Vandy follow him but until that happens I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.

 

[deuce]

James who?

 

[SC Gator]

they got a baller at QB... that helps

 

[revgator]

Franklin is a good coach, I thought Foley was going to hire him when he humiliated muschamp at homecoming. Plus the guy has a lot of football years ahead of him

 

[ThreatMatrix]

Clearly you don't know me as well as you think then. No way would I ever be happy if some win-at-all-costs jack wagon came in here and turned our football program into another FSU/PSU. No freaking way!

Two entirely different situations. Would not want to be PSU. They were caught and punished for a very embarrassing situation. But when has F$U been caught and punished? If you win every opponent is going to assume you of wrongdoing. I just want an even playing field. IF F$U and 'bama have bagmen then we better. The HC gets paid millions to make sure that if we're caught there is plausible deniability.

 

[GatorInGeorgia]

You've been hanging around Sas too long.

I'm with BNAG8R. No doubt the guy can coach but he's a POS. After reading about the case and seeing what Franklin's players did to the girl and then reading about Franklin's actions I say no thanks. Penn State can have him. Those 2 deserve each other and he'll fit in well at Pedophile State U. **** FRANKLIN AND **** PSU.

 

[oxrageous]

I'm with BNAG8R. No doubt the guy can coach but he's a POS. After reading about the case and seeing what Franklin's players did to the girl and then reading about Franklin's actions I say no thanks. Penn State can have him. Those 2 deserve each other and he'll fit in well at Pedophile State U. **** FRANKLIN AND **** PSU.

Too bad Fred Hansard doesn't feel the same way.

 

[Since65]

It's interesting to me that Franklin and PSU went 7-6 (2-6 conference), 7-6 (4-4 conference) and were sitting at 2-2 after 4 games this year before finally hitting a good stride. I don't think you'd have found too many Franklin fans in late September after Michigan steamrolled them. I haven't followed them closely enough to know what changed but clearly they are playing well now.

 

[Jenny On The Railroad]

The point is, this has nothing to do with the rape case. Foley turned his nose up at Franklin BEFORE any of that happened. The question is, why?

Sure it does, the OP was "James Franklin, Discuss." And we have been.

Whether it was before or after a particular event, is not really relevant. What he's willing to do, his character is ( to me). The guy showed his character. I prefer that he showed it there rather than here. It's too bad, because he seems to get pretty good results on the field.

Now since I posted, not originally, you have introduced the Foley/Franklin angle. I'm done with Foley, thank God.

 

[Homer J]

Congrats to Franklin. I thought we should have taken him after 4-8 but we held on one year too late.

Mac has won the east his first two years so I'll give him a chance.

 

[RocketCityGator]

Additionally, when he left Vandy, he tried to flip their best players and the recruits. Good coach I guess, scummy guy.

Although in the moment, the idea of having someone who seems like he can turn around a program quickly is very tempting and appealing, do you really want a coach that is motivated to cover up rapes ( more brutal than typical rapes at that)?

If the answer is really yes, then you have no business condemning Jimbo, FSU, or TPD for their protection of Jameis Winston or any other criminoles they've protected for the sake of winning. If you never did condemn them, then I guess you're consistent. Otherwise, it is a contradiction in values and priorities.

Well said. If I could like this a 1000 times I would.

 

[Gator2222]

I agree with the OP. I wanted Foley to fire Muschamp and hire Franklin. We waited a year too long for that.

However, Franklin struggled in his first couple of seasons. Much like Swinney, Peterson and many other coaches who struggled to win immediately the fans were calling for Franklin to be fired.

"Everything started out well enough. It was 10-0, the offense appeared in sync, the defense was dominant, and I was having fun. It even seemed as if the much-maligned offensive line had at least become "mediocre." I cannot pinpoint the exact moment it all went to ****, but after taking that 10-0 lead, and racking up 128 yards, Penn State's offense was shut out, and gained just 55 yards the rest of the game."

"This staff can talk all they want about the limitations of their roster, and trying to do what they can with what they have, but enough is enough."

Man, that sounds familiar.

Franklin coached Penn State to their first loss to Temple in 74 years. He had former players publically ripping his offense and saying that's why they left early.

"During and after the Temple loss, some former players called out the offensive coaching staff, and the offensive performance in general. Former offensive lineman Donovan Smith, who left for the NFL after last season, said "this is the exact reason" why he departed."

Franklin lost the Taxslayer Bowl. After 2 seasons as head coach at Penn he had accumulated a 14-12 overall record and was 6-10 in the conference. At one point this season he was 2-2 and had just been blown out by Michigan 49-10.

Trace McSorley was a freshman in 2015 and apparently Franklin decided he just wasn't ready to lead the team as a freshman. This season McSorley hit the field and changed the team. He threw for 3,360 yards with 25 TDs and 5 INTs. That idiot the fans wanted fired looked like a genius once he had a competent QB. Franklin hadn't forgotten how to coach after all.

Just saying, the narrative sounds somewhat similar. Not exactly the same, but similar.

http://www.blackshoediaries.com/201...hackenberg-franklin-john-donovan-ouch-my-eyes
https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/penn-states-james-franklin-can-recruit-but-can-he-coach

 

[TLB]

I think he's an amazing coach. Incredible motivator. He inherited a dumpster fire there.

A dumpster fire of historic proportions. Remember in addition to probation they let anyone who wanted to walk leave the program without penalty.

I believe I heard they have about 12 SRs and around 50 underclassmen due to recovering from the scholarship restrictions earlier. He has stocked the locker room pretty well....but I don't recall any 'top 10' type classes.

His first two seasons he had 5+ losses...secondly he didn't inherit a dumpster fire...Bill O'Brien left him the pieces to make it a top caliber team....If Franklin continues the success I'll buy in but I don't think he sniffs another Big 10 title for years...

It was a dumpster fire. But I agree, he'll have a hard time making it to the B1G CG going forward. A lucky upset over tOSU happens once in awhile. However, having MICH and tOSU in your division means you are not winning it for the foreseeable future.

It's interesting to me that Franklin and PSU went 7-6 (2-6 conference), 7-6 (4-4 conference) and were sitting at 2-2 after 4 games this year before finally hitting a good stride. I don't think you'd have found too many Franklin fans in late September after Michigan steamrolled them. I haven't followed them closely enough to know what changed but clearly they are playing well now.

Unless I've been living in a hole, didn't they go 7-6 last year and most of their fan base want hm fired and the noise only getting louder after dropping a turd to Pitt?

At 2-2 they were absolutely ready to fire him this season. What happened was 2-2 followed by wins over weak sisters MD and MN, followed by the upset win over tOSU. Then wins of 14 pt (over IND) and 33+ against the rest of the Weak10. A loss to tOSU wouldn't have hurt too much as it was expected, but any other losses would have hurt him tremendously. He won the games he was supposed to, and the one he wasn't supposed to, and got them to the B1G CG (and won!). The schedule helped, but the difference was upsetting tOSU.

Mixed feelings about James Franklin. Personally, I don't care much for him, but that's just me personally. He is an incredible football coach, recruiter, and motivator. I went back and looked at Vanderbilt's recent football seasons. Bobby Johnson, who was considered to be a good coach by Vanderbilt standards went 29 - 66 in 8 seasons. James Franklin went 24 - 15 in 3 seasons at Vanderbilt.

...

Franklin is a great fit at Penn State. He is a Pennsylvania native, played at East Strasbourg State, so Penn State is a likely dream job for him.

So, 3 seasons in the SEC and couldn't even win a division title, but Mac is 2 for 2. Interesting.

He is in an ideal position - no real challenge for in-state recruiting of a large football state, can't go wrong following a scandalous predecessor, and many of the fans in the state are die-hard for the school. He'll have a tough time winning the division, but going 11-2 or 10-3 is a good season for PSU and he'll likely be there as long as he wants or until they find ethics issues like Vandy had with some recruits and his practices.

 

[TLB]

The point is, this has nothing to do with the rape case. Foley turned his nose up at Franklin BEFORE any of that happened. The question is, why?

Rape occurred in June 2013, just before our unforgettable 4-8 season. I think your timing is off. And as others noted, any discussion of Franklin has something to do with the rape case. You can try to ignore that, but reality won't go away if you close your eyes and pretend it isn't there.

I wasn't suggesting we hire Franklin. That ship has sailed. I just wanted to bring up that we passed on him for unknown reasons.

You've insinuated that not hiring him was a mistake, repeatedly. Likewise, you are continuing to ignore the facts on why we didn't consider him.

 

[TLB]

Call me back when Butters wins a conference. Hell, he couldn't win the Mountain West.

3 yrs in MWC was not enough to win. He'd only just then gotten his system in place with his players...and you could tell they'd win it all the next year based on the trajectory of the program. I'm sure that's why Foley gave him a 6 yr contract, doubling down on winning championships. ;)

 

[Swamp Donkey]

Just saying, the narrative sounds somewhat similar. Not exactly the same, but similar.

If only Mac had the second worst sanctions in NCAA history to blame instead of his own recruiting ineptitude.

 

[GatorAuthor]

Huge difference b/t having thug players (as Urban Meyer clearly did) and having the University administration ignore it or cover it up. Like to think that's the difference b/t UF and the others.