Even well past his peak, JVP was better - including multiple Big10 Championships, top-3 ranking, and road wins over ranked O$U and Michigan teams.
Tough conversation: is Allar good enough?
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How about Miami, Alabama, Notre Dame (whoops we already know how he’d fare there!), etc?
Look at Franklin's record versus top 5 and top 10. Not every but just about every game we lose. You didn't get a 0 on the test you got a 12, are you happy now?
As for Joe, he played some of the toughest schedules in the 80's, Nebraska, Alabama, ND. Don't give me this crap he didn't play anyone. And no one gave his teams any respect because they were from the east but he just showed up and beat their a#$ in bowl games, Missouri, Kansas LSU, Baylor Ohio State, USC, Georgia, Miami.
Joe coached 19 years in the Big Ten record in conference = 95-54. I think he had one outright title and 2 ties?
They didn't have the championship game in those days, so it's hard to speculate how those would have shaken out.
I think Franklin's winning percentage in conference is slightly better than Joe's. Pretty damn close.
Joe was the greatest educator/coach of all time, IMO. No one will ever replace him at PSU....no one.
Franklin has done a fine job here. He hasn't reached Joe's peaks. However, Joe didn't start in Death Valley either.
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Stop being myopic. Penn State isn't the only school with "resources." Nor with message board geniuses.
I will agree that Florida is a definite possibility. I believe this is his last year here. He is in a great spot. Even if fired (which will never happen) he laughs in your face with a 50 million dollar parting gift to dry his "tears."
But the more likely situation is the following: His reps renegotiated his bonus structure last season. But did not request an extension. Reason?
His buyout to leave is only 1 million after this season. That, along with how PSU has been allocating $....retention vs. recruiting tells me something is up. Next year "WE" can give "somebody else" a chance and they will win big games......all 2 of them. LOL
I was hoping PSU had reached a point of stability from which they can really build. Kraft is doing a really good job. They are expanding “resources.” An increasing amount of money seems available. Beaver Stadium is being upgraded. The coaching staff is in great shape. New lucrative contract with Adidas. I just assumed CJF would be around awhile. I dont know who the “upgrade” would be? I’m not sure there’s a coach out there who would satisfy everyone. Dabo is having trouble. Smart and Alabama haven’t been perfect since it became legal to pay players.
To be clear....I think James has done a wonderful job and is perfect for PSU "culture." But, it's a business and as such options are always out there. I'm amused by the "peanut gallery" that thinks the Franklin Family would be eating out of a dumpster if it weren't for the "incredible resources" of dear old state. I just think that it isn't coincidence that he's positioned to hit the open market with a very nominal buyout figure. He will be a very hot commodity. That, doesn't preclude him signing a very lucrative extension here. But he's in the drivers seat. "The horror."
When you look at Pitt paying PN about 7M per.....James is a bargain.
If James leaves, PSU will pay more to get somebody who may not be as good. The whiners will get what they deserve. The rest of us will wish for another ten-win season.
For starters:
dabo
beli-chick
bielema
rhule
napier
It’s nice to be in a position of power.
To be fair, those are about the worst teams someone could face in the playoff. Still counts but we should be honest about the lack of difficulty in those 2 games. We definitely got the best anyone will ever get now they fixed the seeding
Joe took over a team that finished 6-4 in 1964 and 5-5 in 1966.. The "stadium" held 30,000 fans and the players lived in dorms (Findlay Commons). He didn't start with anything close to a powerhouse.
I agree that Franklin has done a good job at PSU but I disagree that he started in Death Valley. He inherited a team that was depleted by sanctions but with great infrastructure (history, facilities, fan base). He gets credit for bringing McSorley from Vanderbilt to add to players like Gesecki & Godwin.
I think it's incredibly difficult to compare teams in different eras now that NIL and revenue sharing is a thing. Back in the day Purdue had players like Len Dawson, Bob Griese, Rod Woodson, and Drew Brees. Syracuse had players like Larry Csonka, Floyd Little, and Ernie Davis. I could go on but my point is that I don't think that can happen in the current environment. It's a high stakes arms race and those schools can't keep up. The rich just keep getting richer. Joe was an educator who cared about a lot more than football. He didn't even want a contract until PSU gave him one. I remember Joe kicking Curtis Enis off the team for accepting a suit to attend the Heisman ceremony. He opposed Medlar Field because he didn't want a pro team playing on a college campus. He couldn't have survived in today's $$$ environment where academics have become an afterthought.
In fairness the game is a bit different now. There are 18 teams in the BiG compared to 11. Joe's teams would only go 8-4 or 9-3 but make a run every 4 years partly because the lower level teams used to be able to win more games against the top teams. Also because OOC opponents included teams like Alabama & ND. Money has since separated the haves from the have nots.
Next year will be interesting for PSU because star players like Allar, Singleton, Allen, DDS, and Harris will be gone and PSU hasn't had a top 10 recruiting class since 2022. If he can't beat a top team this year when else will it happen? I think this week's Oregon game is the biggest of Franklin's career.
Next year will be the first year where almost every player in the "sport" was recruited in the NIL era. The programs that launched first and with the biggest payrolls should have a big advantage. I don't think PSU was one of them.
And the OSU teams he coached against weren’t nearly as good as the OSU teams Franklin has to coach against.
And what would Joe’s record have been if he had to play against Bear Bryant’s Alabama team every year?
I'll have to disagree on the facilities. They were antiquated. All except the stadium which only gets used 6-7 times a year.
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I'm sure he wants to win badly. But, he's an established top 10-15 coach (college) and is independently wealthy. These are competitive people. If PSU loses this game, they be back in their offices Sunday preparing for the next game. They aren't wired like fans. In coaching, there has to be tomorrow.
Last Sept. 24/7 rated PSU facilities #30. I expect a big bump when construction is finished. But all the big boys are in the arms race.....and PSU started late. Don't confuse facitilites ....dorms, training, cafeteria, practice facilities with stadiums.
We can be happy or unhappy. Not like it impacts the results.
Hopefully we hear tomorrow that he has opted out of the remainder of the season. How's that?
He has? Didn't he just take the team to the playoffs fir the first time, and win 2 playoff games, a season ago? Both of those are new program achievements.
As school like Vanderbilt perhaps? Where Franklin led them to some of their best ever seasons?
OSU then wasn't even close to what they are now. OSU is on an all timer of a run of success, the only reason it's not considered the best in CFB history is because Bama won more titles. OSU has a better win percentage than Bama during their run under Saban. Paterno NEVER faced an annual opponent of this caliber. Never. And you're cherry picking like most Franklin haters. Remember when Paterno lost many in a row to a mediocre Michigan team?
The Lasch Building was state of the art when it opened in 1999. It needed some upgrades given the rat race in college football but it was still better than most practice facilities when Franklin took over in 2014. Renovations were already approved before Franklin arrived.
The facilities arms race is a losing proposition. Put the money towards NIL instead, it will pay greater dividends. From this point on the facilities goal should be to just not fall too far behind while spending just enough to avoid it looking like a dump.
You deserve better than losing in the semis of the playoffs and following it up with the current #2 team in the nation.
You wasted 30 minutes and like 10 posts at 3 am on a Saturday night to remind everyone that you hate Franklin? We deserve better than your posts, BigPostMacNit.
