No departing message from Franklin?
- Thread starter Ram20
- Start date
None of us will. But, there will be no worries about #2 rankings anymore either.
i liked it when we were down 15, got some momentum going and scored a TD to cut it to 9 points. What do you do, you have momentum, the team is fired up, you go for 2 of course - just so you can remain 2 scores down and deflate that momentum
Like my realtor says, you can’t fix split level. (SC is in the middle of nowhere)
Franklin himself appeared to be in a downward spiral. He was done. The Oregon game was like the last gasp of a dying man. Team looked unmotivated and unprepared to play their weak out of conference schedule, rallied in the 4th quarter to give Oregon a run, then quit after that loss. Everything about him appeared that he was done. I don’t think him leaving when he did will have any longer lasting adverse effect than it would have had if they waited until the end of the year. If like you said he was leaving after this season, there was no reason to let him hang around.
I’ve said it before and I’ll repeat it to you here. I liked Franklin. Good coach, represented the university well. He couldn’t get over the hump and beat the best opponents and this year he just seemed to be broken. We all knew next year was going to be a rough season because this is such an experienced team but I think we were all OK with the payoff being a playoff run. He failed spectacularly with them. The players failed, the assistants failed, the AD failed, everybody failed. But he’s the head football coach so he bears the bulk of the responsibility for it.
Ultimately, I’m really disappointed that he wasn’t able to get it done at Penn State.
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There will be eventually. It wasn’t going to be a concern next year no matter who the head coach was.
The look on his face after the last 2 losses told everything.
I agree completely with your take. He was defeated after Oregon and this bled into the team; they are not a team that plays up to a 53% blue chip ratio. Kraft had a choice to make: Give James a couple of years to rebuild or go a different direction. He chose the latter.
I think your last line really sums up the significant majority of the fanbase. I know some on here think there was this huge faction of the fanbase that hated him, was belligerent to him at all times, and would only be happy with a resurrection of Joe. I think that is a very small minority(5% of the fanbase max). I don't want to just blindly support the fanbase, but I think Franklin got a really fair shake here, he got plenty of time and plenty of dough. Yes, I am sure fans hurled nasty things at him at times, but you know, like every fanbase, that doesn't represent the fan culture holistically. Its a few loud drunk fans(mostly kids). I guess I should speak for myself, but I thought the fanbase at large really supported James and wanted him to succeed. He did/said some things that I think rankled some fans, me included, but he's a human. I'm sorry, I guess I just will defend the fanbase over the extremely wealthy coach that a different points, fair or unfair, really held the administration hostage. Overall, James is a good man and a good coach and I wish him well, honestly. That said, I had grown tired of the futile big game performances. Eyes wide open to the fact we may never get to the promised land and could even backtrack, I was ready for something different.
I can't take exception.....I do think that many years removed.....people will come to appreciate what he did for PSU.
I was at the Pinstripe Bowl. Yankee Stadium was packed with Penn State fans THRILLED to be at any bowl game anywhere.
After an overtime win, Franklin took the microphone and endorsed the culture of Penn State....a culture that had unfairly been trashed from coast to coast as a result of the Sandusky Scandle. From there, the fanbase somehow progressed (or regressed) to assume Rose Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Fiesta Bowl and playoff victories were birth rights. It's gonna be painful.
Unless PSU gets into the top 5 of NIL (not even top 15 right now) they aren't going anywhere.
Franklin was demoralized. He felt betrayed.
Realizing that you are incompetent in your chosen field and the illusion cannot be sustained further can be demoralizing.
Interesting that 2 out of the last 3 PS coaches have been shown the door under disgraceful circumstances. Both stayed way too long. Bad Karma.
Interesting that 2 out of the last 3 PS coaches have been shown the door under disgraceful circumstances. Both stayed way too long. Bad Karma.
You can feel demoralized and betrayed. You shouldn’t check out while still receiving your paycheck though.
Comparing PSU basketball and PSU football is like comparing Apples and Watermelons.
The "more favorable conditions" that Mike Rhoades is working under involves horrific fan support at this level, little to no natural recruiting area, lackluster NIL support, etc.
PSU basketball was ranked 8th in the country in 2020 and playing in front of a half empty BJC. PSU football can be sitting at 3-5 and still has a jam packed Beaver Stadium on Saturday.
PSU football's crippling sanctions still didn't deter 5 stars like Hack and Brenneman from coming on board. There is little "favorable" around trying to build the PSU hoops program. It's ridiculous to compare anything regarding the two programs at this point.
It's the right thing to do in that spot...eventually, everyone will come around and it will become the common practice (as will going for 2 when down 8 late in a game).
High paid people in every profession are human. It's exactly like Matt Rhules said...."making a lot of money is nice....don't get me wrong." But money doesn't make you feel better when fans attack your kids." Please listen to this.
Do you think more internal details of Franklins departure will surface after the season is over ?
That article definitely crap.
Coach Franklin was involved (and got the players involved) in THON, and he also made a donation to a charity for Carl Nassib (not local, but a nice move).
You don’t have to convince me about the human experience. I’m well aware.
Regardless of any of this, I was convinced that Franklin was done at Penn State. He was done. He did a terrible job this season. I don’t think even you would deny that. The team was unmotivated and rudderless.
I like some here saying we will fall off a cliff and they are 100% sure of it - you don't know and neither do I. We will see what happens next year with a new coach (s) in place. Might take a step back might not - no one knows and if they say they do they are full of BS.
1. He opposed the scope of and the timing of the renovation. He expressed to Kraft that the timing was bad because of the uncertaintly caused by NIL, Portal and the 7/1 deadline with revenue sharing agreements that stadium donations would impact NIL.
2. Kraft assured him that would not happen. He gave Franklin assurances that the appropriate NIL money would be available to compete with the top 2026 recruits PSU was courting. When opposition to the renovation was expressed in different circles, Kraft asked his friend James to speak at serveral gatherings in favor of the project. James, in spite of his opinion, did this for Kraft. When it came time to make concrete offers to the likes of O'Brien and Luke Wafle....there was no money.
Schools lilke USC were cutting big checks to beat the 7/1 deadline and PSU/s wallet was empty.
3, This led to a huge disagreement and made the relationship irreparable.
4. Franklin's agent asked for an extension, since the inability to sign top prospects meant a significant rebuilding effort would be needed in 26-27.
Kraft turned him away. Franklin then knew he was leaving PSU.....I'm sure he hoped it would be on a winning note. But yes, after a double overtime loss, exacerbated by a phantom blade of grass overturned call.....James knew he had no future at PSU.
Again, more will come out at the end of the season....but suffice it to say, Kraft is not a shining knight.
Next season was going to be a rebuilding season no matter who the coach was. This was the year for the championship run and Franklin crapped the bed. He still had a very legit chance to make the playoffs after a double OT loss to Oregon but he folded up the tents instead.
It's that simple? So if he is the sole reason for losing to UCLA and Northwestern...he was the reason we beat them in the past? Hard to have it both ways.
Never said the sole reason. You’ve been reading my posts, you know I said everybody deserves blame. But ultimately, it rests on the head coach’s shoulders. I assume if you had a season like this when you came into it with the expectations this team came into it with (or the high school equivalent), you would take the bulk of the blame because you would know you deserve the bulk of the blame.
And yes, he gets credit for beating them in the past. I certainly have never said otherwise. And if it was last year’s version of James Franklin he probably beats them this year as well. But this year’s version of James Franklin was different. You’ve detailed some reasons in here why you think that is and I have no information to agree or disagree with you about that. But he was effected by things beyond his control to the point that he couldn’t get his team ready to play, then it was time to move on from him.
I only dispute the timing. I now await the crowning of the coach who will prove how much Franklin held PSU back.
We Deserve what we're about to get.
Go State please can we be as good as Rutgers?
A team of mercenaries? Seems to me with unlimited transfers and NIL, that is every team. Heck even Pros have more restrictions.
But you don’t seem to be just disputing the timing (which I would also dispute if it didn’t appear as though he has just thrown in the towel on the season). You seem to be also disputing his firing altogether.
I feel he was leaving...one way or the other. His relationship with Kraft no longer included trust. If the season was good, I believe he'd have set his sights on the Florida job. He has a home there. Florida has more NIL and is a far superior area for recruiting.
My bitterness stems not from his firing but the timing, the fans inexcusable behavior and people who diminish his accomplishments...including leading Penn State out of the sanctions.
It will be a long time till we see 34 wins in 3 years again.
But hey go State...can we beat Rutgers?
Well, I’ll agree with you about some fans inexcusable behavior. I have no problem with the timing because he was done. I also agree with you about people diminishing his accomplishments. He accomplished a lot, just couldn’t take the next step. I’ll also disagree with you about 34 wins in 3 years. I don’t think it’ll be that long until we see it again, but who really knows?
Will they know the Alma Mater?
Franklin tried to keep a team together and reward proven loyalty and performance. Damn him.