but it is almost like ESPN and others are trying to make CJF a victim. Penn State compensated him very well, initially hired him and provided tremendous resources. he coached there for 12 long years. There is no victim here. He went 1-10 against tOSU and lost the team this year. He had four opportunities to win marquee games in the last two seasons ( Oregon 2x, tOSU and Notre Dame) that would have blunted the Big Game James narrative abd he didn’t get it done.
Maybe it’s the society and culture we live in…
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Franklin is a victim of his own doing! He brought this on himself if Tangwells account is accurate which I believe it is. Stupid and selfish and buyer beware for when he’s hired again.
espn pushing another PSU victim false narrative.
The Franklin horse is dead already. How about if you folks stop beating it already? He also has a contractual obligation to mitigate damages and make a good faith effort to land another job. What better way to make that more likely than doing an interview on national TV? Me? I’m more interested in who Kraft is going to hire as his successor. I thought the Franklin haters wanted to move on. So why don’t you do it?
I hope he lands a major gig somewhere that mitigates the financial obligation somewhat. He has demonstrable ability to build a program, so there should be demand for him somewhere.
He will get a job as soon as he wants one. But it won’t be at a school that has championship aspirations IMO
The truth is espn promotes anything for viewership…anything. Creating support for CJF is fine if they did the same for all the employees they have fired over the last several years.
I’m not a Franklin hater. Supported him and defended him for years up until the UCLA and Northwestern debacles. Have no issue with him doing an interview. But between ESPN and another article I read on Yahoo this morning it is obvious the direction some are trying to go with this. I’ll move on when I’m ready!
Yes by all means you do you. Hey if it makes you feel better you wallow as long as you like.
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I’m no fan of the ESPN talking heads, but I don’t really agree here. His troublesome record in the big games was thrown right up there on the screen for all to see even as Franklin was still talking.
Let's not forget the hack job they did on Paterno and Penn State back in the day.
Franklin is gonna find out how harsh life is outside the idyllic environment of State College
Listening to CJF appear to believe he would be the 'Coach forever' as someone else made the decision and he had no part in it ... is factually wrong.
He played a big part in his performance or lack of same, that anyone could see - even though he claims he is 'innocent.
Anyone looking at him for a new 'gig' can examine his statements that he will try again. Not true as evidenced by his halfhearted effort this season.
He played a big part in his performance or lack of same, that anyone could see - even though he claims he is 'innocent.
Anyone looking at him for a new 'gig' can examine his statements that he will try again. Not true as evidenced by his halfhearted effort this season.
I wouldn’t say all the boos and jeers he and his family have been enduring of late (and quite honestly had been crescendoing for a few years now) were exactly idyllic
There are a lot of things Franklin is very good/great at. Unfortunately one thing that doesn’t land in that column is game day coach. Which is a major problem if your job title is “head football coach”.
As the saying goes, when the horse dies, dismount!
Stop. Franklin won at Vanderbilt in the SEC. This was not his first rodeo. He will do well wherever he goes. As someone said above, he is gone. What I am hearing from many is an attempt to convince themselves, over and over, that this was the right decision.
Franklin's position here was untenable given fan dissatisfaction. Not sure what more needs to be said about this
The same culture/media that took him down for not winning games....that checks out.
Franklin has the same agent as Nick Saban. Total fluff piece by ESPiN. I am sure this power agent, Jimmy Sexton, had something to do with him getting on ESPiN so soon and why they only asked softball questions. Why didn't they ask him why he didn't learn how to win the big games after 12 years??!!! Why didn't they ask them why his team looked unprepared and sloppy for every game they played this year?
I don't think it's being pushed on purpose, just whatever narratives keeps the story going and driving clicks and likes.
What's bugging me the most is that James Franklin was a meme for the last 3 years because of his inability to win big games. Then throw in his losses to UCLA/Northwestern, we were the laughing stock of college football. Now that we cut bait...wHaT wErE tHeY tHiNkInG?!?!?!
What's bugging me the most is that James Franklin was a meme for the last 3 years because of his inability to win big games. Then throw in his losses to UCLA/Northwestern, we were the laughing stock of college football. Now that we cut bait...wHaT wErE tHeY tHiNkInG?!?!?!
That kind of implies we’ll never actually be “right back”
Performance anxiety can be a thing when you get older and things don't work quite as well.
Won is accurate but misleading when you look at who they beat while he was there. Still impressive but he's never shown the ability to win big games.
It was the right decision. We aren't trying to convince ourselves of that. We're responding to those that can't accept this is how college football works.
He asked for Knowles. Got Knowles then lost another big game followed by 2 games when he was favored by 20+. Add in he got Drew killed forcing him to run an offense that doesn't fit his strengths. Of course he was fired. Almost anyone would be. Smart and Dabo are the only two that probably survive and Dabo might not even survive.
Hell most think Day would have been fired if he didn't win the title last year.
Day probably would have been fired if he lost the 1st playoff game. Not sure on losing in the title game. Day now has a cushion that Franklin did not have.
Beating Oregon might have been enough. Definitely needed at least two wins IMO but, yes, he's now safe for a couple years anyway
This is the reason I have zero problem with Kraft's decision....game after game CJF demonstrated "his" refusal to adapt and change. He continued to use proven failed game plans to the point that our opponents could predict what our team would do....even on podcasts it was stated how all the shifting and presnap movement, yet the defense never adjusted nor moved...
It's Mayberry compared to Tuscaloosa, Columbus, Tallahassee, Athens, Norman, etc...
I don't think Franklin would have been fired if he had built any goodwill at Penn State. Every time a job opened his agent was floating the rumor that they wanted Franklin to get a raise. Penn State kept giving him the raise. He had an arrogance to him which is fine if you are winning. As others have said he got about everything that he wanted and complained about save the airport. If this day of Professional College Football you better win if you are that high maintenance.
His past actions led to the lack of tolerance, so it was a path he created, and the inevitable result came to pass.
His past actions led to the lack of tolerance, so it was a path he created, and the inevitable result came to pass.
That’s so minor compared to what he would have endured with the exact same performance at Ohio St, Tennessee, LSU, Bama, Texas, etc.
Actually, only at PSU would he have gotten 12 years. At those other places he would have been gone years earlier.
That is just silly. Vandy was a bottom feeder before Franklin came and his last two seasons they went 9 and 4, and won back to back bowl games. If you want to use a different metric and categorize something as misleading you need to contextualize to see this record in light of the previous years where they could not win big or small games. So, lets get past this.
I have not weighed in as it being good or bad. I have iterated that the toxic environment forced this move. Only time will tell if it was the right move or simply reactionary. If the program turns out to be another version of Nebraska, Iowa, Rutgers, etc. we can circle back; if it turns out to be able to compete and win over Ohio State, which appears to be your benchmark, we can revisit it also. You may have to wait a very, very long time.
To your comment on college football. Norvell has survived. Ferentz has survived, Narduzzi has survived, and the list goes on and on. The bottom line is this. For better or worse, Penn State fans evaluate this program against the #1 and #3 most successful programs in college football (and now against Oregon). They are simply not in that tier. Is it fair? Not a useful term. What we will see is what the impact of this will have to game attendance, revenue stream, recruiting, and so on in the next few years. You can only assess the value of an action in terms of its consequences. We have yet to quantify them.
This year was an unmitigated disaster. Undoubtedly. Did he deserve to be fired in the context of his entire body of work AND what Penn State can realistically hope to accomplish in the years to come, only time will tell. I hope they can put a decent product on the field in the not too distant future otherwise the financial impact will be awful.
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There's a lot here. What Dea is doing is way more impressive than what Franklin did for starters. Franklin was my second choice when we hired him and it was a good decision.
It was also a good decision to fire him. It's wasn't reactionary at all. His big game record is, his words, no longer a narrative. He can't get it done. Period. That's tolerable when you beat teams you should but then he stopped doing that. You can't give up 40 to UCLA then lose at home to Northwestern. He knew the playoffs were a must this year. He failed.
Norvell should have been fired last year and FSU is proving that. Iowa and Pitt don't have the same expectations we do which were stated as "winning titles". They're happy with being sometimes relevant.
Yes, it's fair to evaluate us against the best. That's the objective. Beat them 30% of time and we're happy.
The outcome of the hiring decision has no impact on whether or not this was the right move. It was. Even if the next guy is fired after year 1. Franklin had to go. Like Richt had to go.
I'm not worried about the financial impact. TV money makes everything else far less important.
Good post. Despite the money he was being paid, I don't believe that we saw notable improvement by CJF in terms of game management or game preparation over 12 years. I think he had an obligation to get better over time, given the resources that were provided by Penn State to CJF and his program.
You have hit the nail on the head and why we will never agree. You assess Franklin on his success in big games, I assess him based on his entire body of work. I see this year as a one off and the result of poor coordinator choices, for which he is responsible. He could not win the "big" games, true. But except for this year and Covid years he did very well. I would have 1. told him he will not get an extension unless he wins the B10 2. Bring in a GM to manage the roster and 3 require him to change out both coordinators. If he says no, oh well.
But my point stands and your response speaks to it. The fact you do not have similar expectations as Pitt and Iowa speaks more about the state of the fan base than it does about the standard that will allow the next coach, all thing being equal, to be successful. Penn State is not OSU, Michigan or Oregon. Demanding the same outcomes is problematic, at best. I saw this cluster play out in Florida, with a MUCH better recruit pool, than exists central PA. And if you think you are going to hire a competent coach and fire him in year one you must not be paying attention. Napier is walking out the door with a 20m check (no offset) and the next coach will take stock of what happened with Franklin and make sure that does not happen to him. And TV revenue is not going to make up the shortfall if the stadium revenue falls off significantly given a suboptimal product. I hope Kraft hits his hire out of the park, but I highly doubt it.
In any case, I am eager to see who takes this job and what the roster looks like in year one.
If you don't think it reasonable for Penn State to have higher expectations than Pitt that's a problem
You care way too much about beating Nova or Delaware or Purdue IMO.
TV revenue trumps all. The stadium will still sellout even if people don't show up.