James Franklin has been fired.

Dawgzilla2

All-Conference
Oct 9, 2022
2,039
2,371
113
I'm not sure i get the advantage of firing your coach mid-season. I guess you can start negotiating with agents, and maybe it keeps the agent from focusing on a lower paying position for their client.

But it can't help with recruiting or NIL negotiations for next season. Does it appease the disappointed fans?
 

QuaoarsKing

All-Conference
Mar 11, 2008
5,882
2,529
113
It seems unlikely that they'll hire someone better. In the last 10 years, they have 5 top 10 finishes and are 58-26 in Big 10 games.

Maybe they'll hire someone who can match that, but it's always a crapshoot.
 
  • Like
Reactions: patdog

Perd Hapley

All-American
Sep 30, 2022
5,803
6,856
113
Wow. There had to be some unrest behind the scenes or some kind of drama with him and the admin and/or boosters. This makes absolutely zero sense. Especially for $49 million.

ETA: If Lebby doesn’t rally for a conference win or two, consider me all in on firing him and hiring Franklin to coach for $1 per year.
 

The Peeper

Heisman
Feb 26, 2008
15,412
10,559
113
I'm not sure i get the advantage of firing your coach mid-season. I guess you can start negotiating with agents, and maybe it keeps the agent from focusing on a lower paying position for their client.

But it can't help with recruiting or NIL negotiations for next season. Does it appease the disappointed fans?
Think back just 6 short months ago to baseball season when we did the same thing with Lemonis. We were free to talk to anybody we wanted as long as they wanted to talk. Agents knew we were available, players dissatisfied with their current situation knew we were available, coaches knew we were available. And I think it was refreshing for the team because they rallied around Parker and won some games that they probably wouldn't have won if they were still under the pressure of playing with Lemonis and his sinking ship
 

IBleedMaroonDawg

All-American
Nov 12, 2007
25,536
9,744
113
I was about to say I was surprised it was so early, but then I remembered going to visit State College in the early 90s... There are some strange people up there. They honestly thought that people in Mississippi used out houses.
 
  • Like
Reactions: josebrown

paindonthurt

All-Conference
Apr 7, 2025
3,795
2,750
113
Think back just 6 short months ago to baseball season when we did the same thing with Lemonis. We were free to talk to anybody we wanted as long as they wanted to talk. Agents knew we were available, players dissatisfied with their current situation knew we were available, coaches knew we were available. And I think it was refreshing for the team because they rallied around Parker and won some games that they probably wouldn't have won if they were still under the pressure of playing with Lemonis and his sinking ship
Or Lemonis wins a enough to make it hard to fire him and you don’t get what we got
 

QuaoarsKing

All-Conference
Mar 11, 2008
5,882
2,529
113
Even worse move in my opinion
saban isn’t walking in and doing any better in 3 or 4 seasons and he doesn’t have more than that left in him
I think Saban could probably equal Franklin's record of finishing in the top 10 half the time, which means making the playoffs half the time in the modern system.

Anybody else is a crapshoot whether they can equal it or not. It seems like Cignetti probably could, but he has a small sample size and we just don't know for sure.
 

Dawgzilla2

All-Conference
Oct 9, 2022
2,039
2,371
113
Think back just 6 short months ago to baseball season when we did the same thing with Lemonis. We were free to talk to anybody we wanted as long as they wanted to talk. Agents knew we were available, players dissatisfied with their current situation knew we were available, coaches knew we were available. And I think it was refreshing for the team because they rallied around Parker and won some games that they probably wouldn't have won if they were still under the pressure of playing with Lemonis and his sinking ship
I don't know how ate coaching negotiations went, but I thought the advantage of firingvLemonis was to keep him from "saving" his job by winning a bunch of games against weaker teams and making a regional.

I'm just not sure I understand effectively ending your season, and in some cases paying a higher buyout.
 
  • Like
Reactions: paindonthurt

patdog

Heisman
May 28, 2007
56,705
26,043
113
Might as well call Saban. You never know what kind of itch if any he may have to coach although I think it may be nonexistent.
Uh no. Even if he would (he won’t), it wouldn’t be the same Nick Saban.
 

anon1768925248

Heisman
Oct 27, 2022
6,836
15,353
113
Uh no. Even if he would (he won’t), it wouldn’t be the same Nick Saban.
Do they have the NIL to support a coach at that type level to come there? If you’re going to fire Franklin for really good results you better be able to tell the next one that you can recruit at an elite, not just very good level, with your resources in NIL. If not, they aren’t getting one to risk their career. Franklin has always been considered a high level recruiter and he didn’t recruit at an elite level there. Just really good. That tells me they don’t have Ohio state/texas/a&m type NIL money currently.
 
  • Like
Reactions: patdog

patdog

Heisman
May 28, 2007
56,705
26,043
113
It seems unlikely that they'll hire someone better. In the last 10 years, they have 5 top 10 finishes and are 58-26 in Big 10 games.

Maybe they'll hire someone who can match that, but it's always a crapshoot.
Yeah. They’ll be lucky if they don’t regret this in a couple of years. And very unlikely to hire someone who’ll do any better than Franklin did.
 
  • Like
Reactions: campshelbydog1116

22yardpunt

Senior
Dec 20, 2009
1,085
776
113
Seems like knee jerk reaction to the extreme. He had them back’ish in the top tier of college programs - it takes time to get that last 10-15% of success, and is very hard to do. But whatev Franklin always sending if like a d-bag. A very very wealthy d-bag!!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: patdog

aTotal360

Heisman
Nov 12, 2009
21,742
14,390
113
Role of Jimmy Sexton in the Alabama head coach search
 
  • Like
Reactions: MagnoliaHunter

OG Goat Holder

Heisman
Sep 30, 2022
12,247
11,320
113
Ain't no way. This feels Mullen getting fired and Florida, except worse. Didn't they make the playoff last year? That's insane. Most successful their program had been in a very long time. Penn state people are crazy,
It’s been proven time and time again that schools fire guys like this with no known replacement. Or even an idea. It’s like we are trying to get as far away from reason as possible.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Trojanbulldog19

22yardpunt

Senior
Dec 20, 2009
1,085
776
113
If I am Kiffen I am all OVER this job. Perfect setup for him to get into the playoffs on the regular.
 

patdog

Heisman
May 28, 2007
56,705
26,043
113
If I am Kiffen I am all OVER this job. Perfect setup for him to get into the playoffs on the regular.
I dint know. You’re never going to beat Ohio State & Michigan with any regularity. It’s a good job. But not an elite job. I think Kiffin only leaves for an elite job.
 

CaptainFalcon

All-Conference
Apr 30, 2025
986
1,636
93
Rhule seems to be the early favorite. There have been rumblings about this as a possibility for years.

Ultimately with Franklin, they’ve had a couple of big years they were building up to that they just didn’t deliver on. The discourse kinda started when he returned Barkley and McSorley in 2017 and couldn’t make the playoff. And then it just never really got better. High floor but very hard ceiling, evidently. His record in big games was AWFUL. It’s hard to keep count of how many of these big white out games they’ve played at home the last few years against Ohio State or Michigan or this year Oregon and they almost always lost them.

They brought back a ton for this year’s team. I think you can maybe justify them losing to Oregon, but once he lost to UCLA and Northwestern and were basically out of playoff race before mid October, that fan base was beyond done with him.