Anyone heard the Franklin contract rumors?
- Thread starter psupride1997
- Start date
Dude you literally cut and pasted this from another site behind the paywall. That’s a wee bit douchey.
Well, what good are you then???? Come on- we won’t say anything. It’ll just be among us on the board!
I have no inside info on CJF's contract. But the timing seems be matching his public statements that CFB is changing and the old main needs to go with it.
Could you link that article? Have not read it, but genuinely interested in a media person’s story. Thanks
Ruhle isn’t leaving his NFL job to come to Penn State. Campbell would be a possibility but I don’t think that Franklin is going anywhere. No one is going to give him a better deal than the one he already has and I think PSU is committed to having a black head coach as part of their overall branding to increase diversity among its student body and faculty. Barron’s replacement is likely to be a highly qualified minority or female, or both, as well. It’s a much bigger issue than football.
I agree with this 100%. There should be a "dead period" for coaches during the season, just like there is for recruiting. Need to make a change mid-season? Fine, but the interim coach needs to come from within until the teams season is complete. Then start negotiations. If a coach is actively pursuing jobs during the season, a loss of scholarships follows him to wherever he lands.
I sense the national perception of James is he performed a miracle at Vandy and took PSU from sanctions to the Rose Bowl and a top 10 program. And he is viewed as an excellent recruiter, a good CEO and an outstanding person and face of the program. So IMO that perception gets him on the list of coaches a big time program will want to talk to. But I would also say just because and LSU, USC, FSU, etc... want to talk to him, I would not say any of those schools would hire him no questions asked the way they would a Lincoln Riley. Of course, if that is the perception it must be changing as we are now in the mist of back to back bad seasons.
With respect to Matt Campbell, every time I watch Iowa State, which is 2-3 times a year, they look great, very well coached and play hard. But at the same time they seem to lose games to teams I would not expect them to lose to. WVU and Texas Tech this year as examples.
I think the only way James leaves PSU is if he wants the LA/SoCal lifestyle. I don't think it will have anything to do with facilities (it seems like PSU in fact has committed to meaningful upgrades, or money, he is at the upper zenith of coaching salary so he is not going to get much more at another school. If he does leave, I would start with trying to find a guy whose coaching acumen is unquestioned and there is very little potential for it going south. The guy who fits that description best IMHO is Schiano. Not a glamorous coach but I don't think anyone questions his ability. I think he would be a good fit for PSU and would do very well.
I think the only way James leaves PSU is if he wants the LA/SoCal lifestyle. I don't think it will have anything to do with facilities (it seems like PSU in fact has committed to meaningful upgrades, or money, he is at the upper zenith of coaching salary so he is not going to get much more at another school. If he does leave, I would start with trying to find a guy whose coaching acumen is unquestioned and there is very little potential for it going south. The guy who fits that description best IMHO is Schiano. Not a glamorous coach but I don't think anyone questions his ability. I think he would be a good fit for PSU and would do very well.
One problem with that is PSU will never be able to fire the coach. No way PSU is going to pay Franklin $30 million and then have to hire another coach and pay him $5-6 million per year. Franklin has another two years before his seat his hot when a pay out becomes more feasible.
At some point, schools are going to realize this is not sustainable. UM and Nebraska restructuring contracts downward may be future.
The $70 million figure came from discussions surrounding the approval of funding for the latest phase of Lasch renovation. The first phase, at or near completion, cost $35mm. The total, after all pahses of the plan are done, is projected at $105mm. Simple subtraction.
As for what you think is needed, what the hell are you going to spend $200mm- $300mm on?
The B10 perspective is not so different from a lot of PSU fans ... JF is a snake oil salesman, a good recruiter, a very poor game coach, but gets a pass due to the B10 title
Here’s the thing, and you’re right, but keep in mind there’s no automatic renewal on Franklin’s terms. It’s a 50/50 prop, which is why he’ll get (and anyone would get) 2 years of bad/ no extensions before firing becomes a reasonable thing.
It becomes relatively inexpensive if he has 2/3 years left rather than 5, and schools will continue to do it because A. Everyone else will and you’ll never get anyone worth having if you don’t and B. Schools don’t want to fire after one down year usually anyway. So it’s kind of win win, especially when the coach is free to go just the same if he doesn’t like not getting extended. Then money comes back from the coach.
I don’t think you’re understanding how far behind PSU is in the arms race right now. Easily 15-20 years behind the pack, our facilities are consistently left out of the top 20-30 programs in the country.
The current facilities upgrade which construction started in the past year or two, is basically putting perfume on a pig. (Not my words, but someone I know that works for the AD) Some nice renovations to Lasch I’m sure - but as far as competing with the likes OSU/Mich + Clemson + the SEC, we’ll still be way far behind.
I don’t claim to know the logistics or budgeting needed - but It’s my understanding that the weight room and training facilities need a complete overhaul as well as either a completely new indoor practice facility or significant revamping.
The staff has also received feedback from a recruiting standpoint that the current living situation for football players is well below the mean in the college football landscape. I’ve heard that the AD office wants to completely tear down that area and build from the ground up. Nick Cross & Lewis Cine were two highly coveted recruits that signed elsewhere and gave the staff this feedback.
Coaching staff - I’m pretty sure this is the area Franklin has made the most progress, as he has been able to significantly upgrade salaries for his staff but we’re still a bit behind tier one programs - ala Kevin Wilson, Mike Yurcich, Ryan Day all co-offensive coordinators at OSU under Meyer...Elijah Robinson not coming to PSU because A&M doubled his salary...Ensminger/Brady co-offensive coordinators at LSU both making 1.5 million. Just a fee
Analysts - Alabama has 14 staff analysts, PSU has 4. Obviously a major difference. OSU has double the recruiting staff than PSU. PSU naturally has to pay more in costs to recruit to a place like State College. Franklin wants more staffing for both of these areas.
There is also the conundrum of Beaver Stadium - while I don’t think this should necessarily be a primary focus - they do need to figure out a better fan experience and update parts of the structure.
These are items I have been able to gather over the years - but also very hot topics that have come up as Franklin has been pushing for recently. What separates the big boys in college football is $$$$. Since 2012, PSU has mostly been in survival mode, not even thinking about how far we’ve fallen behind. College football is an arms race, literally.
Because having integrity and understanding reality are the differences between Harbaugh and Franklin.
Please keep your "salesman" who is OBVIOUSLY great and striving for elite. What a clown.
Keep your coach that has never been better than 3rd in the B1G East you small peckered tool bag.
I'm in no way being arrogant about the facilities topic, but what's missing ? When Franklin came here the weight room looked tops, they put in classy locker room, coaches rooms , what am i missing.
If we can’t have Rhule, give us the Gorilla. No more getting sand kicked in our face!
Penn State Football Still Searching for Answers Heading into Michigan Game
Nine games into the 2021 football season, Penn State is 6-3 and seems to have more questions today -- heading into its contest against Michigan in Beaver
www.statecollege.com
I'll agree about Barron's replacement. I just hope the BOT doesn't screw it up--I'm just recalling the major misstep before they hired Barron.
He's fiercely loyal though and isn't a distraction to his own team. But hey he was 4-5 last year and is looking at 7-5 this year.....clearly he's a top 5 coach in the nation and deserves that pay. I know people are fixated on this incoming class, but this annual flirtation and total lack of results has me thinking....he's FOS. Go out to USC, they love that acting out there.
I think the locker room and coaching amenities are brand new and well thought of - the weight room was renovated on a very tight budget and is still not up to par. The thought being that we have a top five strength and conditioning staff, and need to provide them with state of the art equipment/nutrition/recovery resources. Apparently there is a “QB Lab” being installed currently as well - which is something Franklin/Yurcich have pushed for based on the competition.
The major financial projects in regard to “facilities” seem to come down to the indoor practice facility + student athlete housing + more upgrades to training and recovery resources. Again, current costs and potential budgeting are way over my head so I’m not really sure of the logistics to all this. Just passing along some of what I’ve heard in regard to what many inside the program believe the program needs to properly compete.
Why does Campbell excite people? He’s Franklin at Vandy for the most part. 41-32 and never won more than 9 games, 2-2 in bowls.
So your approach is throw crap at the wall and see what sticks. You don't know what's needed, but let's throw $200mm or $300mm at it and maybe that will make Jimmy happy enough to stay. And how much is your spending spree going to add to the annual tuition bill of PSU students?
Indeed.
All of the claims that PSU has to "spend more", and yet not one factual mention of a single item that PSU Football doesn't have, and has been refused, that would have led to them winning more games.
On the other hand, the cold hard facts remain that Penn State football has one of the top 5 operating budgets in the nation (including a larger budget for Recruiting than Ohio State), one of the top 10 most highly paid coaches (maybe top 5), a combined salary pool for assistant coaches that is among the ten highest in the nation, one of the five largest stadiums in the nation. Penn State has, already, spent more on its Football Building than all but a handful of teams, including more than current #1 Georgia, and multiple-national championship winner Clemson. These are all undisputed facts, and they really shouldn't surprise anyone, given that Penn State is in the richest athletics conference in the country, generates ticket revenue from one of the largest stadiums in the country, and is a program that clearly emphasizes football as the #1 sports program.
I expect that there are many ways in which money could be spent more efficiently and effectively within Penn State athletics, and that is probably the case at most other college programs. But the idea that Penn State doesn't spend enough money on football to compete at the very highest levels, or that spending more would somehow elevate the competitiveness of the program, simply doesn't mesh with reality.
So, why does "spending more money" seem to be talked about so much?
It certainly serves as a convenient excuse for failure to achieve to expectations. Coach Franklin certainly does not shy away from raising the issue, nor do most fans. In earlier times, disappointing results were often assuaged with claims that other programs must be cheating, using steroids, paying recruits, and all other forms of dishonest behavior. It may be that "we don't spend enough" has overtaken all of those prior pacifiers for unmet expectations.
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I don’t think Franklin is a douche at all…actually rather like the guy, and really wish things would work out for him here. But it’s more and more apparent that he’s in over his head vs his competition. He can recruit like few others, but can’t seem to translate his players’ natural talent into winning football. I sincerely wish him well wherever he ends up.
It better be Rhule because Matt Campbell does not move the needle for me.
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Franklin is a sleazeball. He signed a new 6 year contract in Dec 2019 replacing his contract from 2017 which was a 6 year deal. Now, just 2 years into his 6 year contract he hires a very high profile new agent and wants to reopen his contract, while the season is underway, creating distractions for everyone and diluting focus on doing his primary job. This pattern is disruptive and to me indicates loyalty to the players and school is absent. His primary focus is him. This has to be tiring for the University.
Good riddens. Please move on.
FYI, here is the terms of the current contract in case anyone wants to review it. I couldn't recall any of it.
By MARK WOGENRICH
THE MORNING CALL |
FEB 26, 2020 AT 10:35 AM
Penn State announced basic contract terms of Franklin’s 6-year deal that the parties agreed to in December. The contract, which runs through the 2025 season, guarantees Franklin $35.4 million over six years.
His average annual salary of $5.9 million represents about a $600,000 raise over the last deal Franklin signed in 2017.
At first glance, the raise looks modest and doesn’t bring Franklin into the $6 million club occupied by 10 coaches last season, according to the USA Today coaching salaries database. But a few other terms will add substantially to Franklin’s salary, bringing him closer to the upper echelon occupied by coaches like Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh, Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher and Georgia’s Kirby Smart, among others.
Chief among them is a $1 million annual loan for life insurance, a contract term similar to the one Michigan added for Harbaugh. Essentially, Penn State pays for the insurance in the form of a loan to Franklin. As a salary term, that adds $6 million to the total value of Franklin’s contract.
Further, Franklin receives a retention bonus following each year he completes at Penn State. The bonus structure begins at $300,000, then increases to $500,000 for the remaining five years. That adds another $2.8 million to Franklin’s contract.
With the retention bonuses and insurance loans, Franklin’s contract grows in value to $44.2 million, or $7.37 million per year. In addition, Franklin is eligible for a maximum of $1 million in incentive bonuses ranging from $100,000 (for winning Big Ten coach of the year) to $800,000 (for winning the CFP title).
Through all of that, Penn State substantially reduced the base salary of Franklin’s contract. Penn State is paying Franklin a flat base salary of $500,000 per year, more than $1 million lower than his previous contract detailed.
The majority of Franklin’s salary is listed now as “supplemental income,” which includes his radio-television contract and apparel deal with Nike. Ostensibly, that frees Penn State’s athletic department to commit more money to assistant and staff salaries.
Elsewhere in the contract, Penn State upgraded the buyout terms to make it more costly for Franklin to leave, at least initially. Franklin would owe Penn State $5 million if he leaves for an NFL or college coaching job this season. His previous buyout for the 2020 season was $1 million.
The buyout, however, drops $1 million per year until 2025, when there is no buyout fee. If his success continues, Franklin most certainly would have a new contract by then.
Good riddens. Please move on.
FYI, here is the terms of the current contract in case anyone wants to review it. I couldn't recall any of it.
By MARK WOGENRICH
THE MORNING CALL |
FEB 26, 2020 AT 10:35 AM
Penn State announced basic contract terms of Franklin’s 6-year deal that the parties agreed to in December. The contract, which runs through the 2025 season, guarantees Franklin $35.4 million over six years.
His average annual salary of $5.9 million represents about a $600,000 raise over the last deal Franklin signed in 2017.
At first glance, the raise looks modest and doesn’t bring Franklin into the $6 million club occupied by 10 coaches last season, according to the USA Today coaching salaries database. But a few other terms will add substantially to Franklin’s salary, bringing him closer to the upper echelon occupied by coaches like Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh, Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher and Georgia’s Kirby Smart, among others.
Chief among them is a $1 million annual loan for life insurance, a contract term similar to the one Michigan added for Harbaugh. Essentially, Penn State pays for the insurance in the form of a loan to Franklin. As a salary term, that adds $6 million to the total value of Franklin’s contract.
Further, Franklin receives a retention bonus following each year he completes at Penn State. The bonus structure begins at $300,000, then increases to $500,000 for the remaining five years. That adds another $2.8 million to Franklin’s contract.
With the retention bonuses and insurance loans, Franklin’s contract grows in value to $44.2 million, or $7.37 million per year. In addition, Franklin is eligible for a maximum of $1 million in incentive bonuses ranging from $100,000 (for winning Big Ten coach of the year) to $800,000 (for winning the CFP title).
Through all of that, Penn State substantially reduced the base salary of Franklin’s contract. Penn State is paying Franklin a flat base salary of $500,000 per year, more than $1 million lower than his previous contract detailed.
The majority of Franklin’s salary is listed now as “supplemental income,” which includes his radio-television contract and apparel deal with Nike. Ostensibly, that frees Penn State’s athletic department to commit more money to assistant and staff salaries.
Elsewhere in the contract, Penn State upgraded the buyout terms to make it more costly for Franklin to leave, at least initially. Franklin would owe Penn State $5 million if he leaves for an NFL or college coaching job this season. His previous buyout for the 2020 season was $1 million.
The buyout, however, drops $1 million per year until 2025, when there is no buyout fee. If his success continues, Franklin most certainly would have a new contract by then.
The training room, recovery isn’t close. Go check out the facilities at Ohio state, bama, georgia. They have the extreme Ice therapy capsules along with other state of the art recovery equipment. We throw guys in an ice bath tub. Our guys go out and pay to use similar stuff from local area business in state college or nearby.
I don't know why you're getting so angry - I simply laid out what is rumored that Franklin/Sexton & the AD dept. have identified as items that aren't up to par with the truly elite schools which make the playoff on an annual basis. I don't claim to have any idea how to implement any of this - I work in marketing. Yes, I'm simply ball-parking the amount the program truly needs to compete with OSU/Bama/Clemson YEARLY - but casual college football fans don't understand how much money some of these elite programs spend to be elite. I also want to note that I'm not even necessarily a Franklin supporter at this point in time. But regardless of coach, we're probably maxed as a program where we currently stand - a contender every 4 or so years, with 6-6 and 7-5 sprinkled in during down years. We don't have quality depth to be an annual contender/elite program.
A handful of debate on some items that others in the thread don't know what they are talking about:
There are a handful of posters in here claiming facts that are not - while yes, we have spent more money on facilities in specific projects, we were so far behind in that specific area, we still haven't caught up to the OSU/Bama/Clemson/Georgias of the world. The statement by another poster that we have recently spent more than Clemson/Georgia is not true at all. Georgia and Clemson have been chunking 75-100 million on facilities for the last 10-15 years, every 2-3 years. PSU spent $80 million two years ago (project has moved at a snail's pace btw), one time. Georgia didn't need to spend 150 million on a recent facility upgrade because they haven't been as far behind as PSU - they've been "upgrading away" going back before Mark Richt. Fact: Georgia has spent $140 million dollars since 2017 on facilities alone for the football program. Double what we're currently speaking about for PSU. Within our own conference, our facilities are typically rated behind OSU & Michigan + Northwestern and Illinois. Let alone the schools in the SEC. Top 25 facilities in the nation, Source: LINK
Penn State does not disclose it's assistants salaries, so we cannot effectively say "we have been paying top ten in staff salaries" - while I believe we are making huge strides in this area, we are not at the level up the upper tier, being OSU, Bama, Clemson, LSU, Georgia, Michigan, Florida, Texas, - all of whom have a bigger salary pool than PSU. As noted above, LSU paid 3 coordinators 1.5 million each in their natty year. That's $4million on three coaches! Plus $9 million to coach O. Absolutely stupid amount of money on 4 people. Also, James Franklin is not paid as a top ten coach currently in 2021 - not sure where everyone is getting that "fact."
1. Nick Saban Alabama: $9,753,221
2. Ed Orgeron, LSU: $9,012,917
3. David Shaw, Stanford: $8,924,683
4. Dabo Swinney, Clemson: $8,370,775
5. Lincoln Riley, Oklahoma: $7,672,710
6. Dan Millen, Florida: $7,570,000
7. Jimbo Fisher, Texas A&M: $7,500,000
8. Kirby Smart, Georgia: $7,133,600
9. Ryan Day, Ohio State: $6,614,693
10. Gary Patterson, TCU: $6,103,543
SOURCE
Another item, which I noted above - our recruiting and analyst staffs are much smaller than those tier one schools. We do have one of the bigger recruiting budgets in the country, but a major portion of those costs come from the isolation of State College, extra travel costs make a big difference. As far as analysts are concerned, every fired head coach goes to Bama, Georgia, Osu, etc. and becomes an "analyst" for offense and defense - Bama has 14 of these analysts - 7 offensive, 7 defensive. I've been told we currently have 4-5.
Also, because I know this is a major point of difference our staff is pushing - the living spaces for football players are terribly dated. This feedback has some straight from parents of recruits. If you want the kid, you need to recruit the parents - so do you think questionable living standards compared to other programs hurts us in recruiting? Hell yeah. How much does that cost? No idea. But if they are so bad that we need to tear them down and start new - seems like it would cost a pretty penny, no? Especially if you include all the bells and whistles that others have?
Lastly, the "tuition" statement is a bit off-base - football upgrades rarely reflect in the costs of tuition and housing for your typical student. Where the school will take a hit will remain in the AD - clipping of budgets from other, non-football, athletics. Is that right and/or ethical? I'm not really sure - but I do know football is the cash cow for not only the school, but the entire town of State College. And for substantial increases to budgeting, the program needs big time donors to step up. They are truly the ones that call the shots.
Story: Northwestern set to renovate stadium after $480 million gift - (LINK)
These things cost money, fellas. If you want to be "elite" then you have to pony up with the competition. I mean, Coach O won a Natty - c'mon! I think there will always be two sides to this argument no doubt, but those that complain about bad seasons typically don't have any idea what it takes to be consistently great EVERY year.
Whether you support CJF or not, any coach is going to need these things and a whole lot of $$$$ to compete at the highest level. Otherwise, we're going to need to be a bit more comfortable with where the program currently resides.
Josh Pate is great and I think worth listening/reading for everyone interested in this topic:
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Pretty sure Franklin has a top ten salary but it doesn’t show up on these lists because of the ‘dark’ accounting used to quantify it. Someone posted his current contract details earlier in this thread; if he’s not top ten he’s very close.
The point of my argument being - we are behind as far as facilities and resources are concerned. And from rumors, the resources being added to the mix happen regardless of who the coach is nest season.
I don't personally think we should offer Franklin top 5 money - I actually think we call his bluff, he's not getting another job - make him ride out his current contract another year or two, and see how things play out with Allar/Singletion. Make a decision after two more seasons.
Franklin's current comp is $7mm. Shaw is less than that but he appears on the list because of a one-time realization of deferred income. O is toast and Patterson is gone. Which begs the question: is Franklin a top ten coach who deserves to be paid like one? Just because he wants to be doesn't make it so.