I felt as if it became obvious to him several years ago that he wasn’t going to be able to recruit at a level high enough to keep up with tOSU and UM.
Truly surprised that Franklin never took another job….
- Thread starter SRURock24
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Strange post. We’ve had better classes than Michigan most years. That sort of lays bare what his problem was.
He recruited at a high enough level to have beaten OSU sometimes. Probably should have won a third of the games against OSU. He recruited equal to or better than Michigan and did beat them sometimes. I really thought he was going to break through this year. I cant say Kraft was wrong for wanting to try something new.
A lot of “knowledgeable” football people were fooled by this years team. The Big 10 network crew thought the was one of the most talented teams in the country. Did they buy into what CJF was saying? How can former coaches and players be so wrong? For this team to collapse the way it did I get the sense there is more to the story that will eventually be revealed. IMHO.
Agree. There’s internal issues we are unaware of. Potentially NIL? Differences of opinions with the coaches/players? Something. They lost a heartbreaker to Oregon and couldn’t recover. They cashed it in. Doesn’t mean they aren’t talented. It could mean they just stopped trying.
We need a 60 minutes episode to figure it out. The most epic fail in recent sports history! Maybe ever. Let that sink in and they still want your money…
Most "media" today are hacks. They don't or won't ask the tough questions, do digging, or "challenge the narrative." Let's also not forget that FHCJF was a superb salesman; I firmly believe he believed himself.
To his credit, I think Kraft figured him out (as did many of the donors, evidently), and when Kraft wouldn't agree to an extension after the playoff run, and FHCJF went over Kraft's head (and got nowhere), the die was cast. Franklin knew he had to pull a rabbit out of a hat to retain his job, and after the Oregon game, there was no rabbit. UCLA took advantage of a dejected team, and it went downhill from there.
This. Look at his first 5 years - a few bounces in 2014, 2017, and 2018, and he could have easily been 4-1 against OSU. After 2018, I would have expected PSU to win at least two more against OSU between 2019 and 2024 given how well they played against OSU. However, his 2017 and 2018 come from ahead losses to OSU were a harbinger to come for the rest of his PSU tenure.
It was/is one of the most talented. They're poorly coached and developed. Also see Clemson
Good post. The BTN guys said that this was one of the most talented PSU teams they've EVER seen, including the WRs and OL, based on their preseason visit to observe practice. Obviously none of that came to fruition, something definitely seems fishy but we'll probably never know unless a member of the team starts a podcast and tells all. One interesting theory from Landon Tengwall was that many players were paid nearly in full before the season, because PSU wanted to get the payments in prior to the fiscal year in order to beat the effective date of the 20M revenue sharing for the current season. So by getting paid before day one, perhaps the players were simply less motivated. If true that doesn't bode well for them in the NFL either.
Even before the collapse, the whole team seemed to be unmotivated, uninvolved and uninspired; they basically went through the motions before the Oregon game. And then after the Oregon game, the head coach and a lot of the players just checked out.
Needed an offer before taking it. Not as if he wasn't looking either..
They didn’t play well before Oregon. Only game (that I watched) that the team appeared ready to play was Oregon. Something was up with the team right off the bat this season.
I agree. That’s why I say that something was/is going on internally. But Oregon took their souls. They checked out completely after that.
Franklin was getting paid 1%'er money in an idyllic, low stress college town. He had no threat of losing his job as long as he could graduate some players, put a few in the NFL, win some games and keep the team off the police report. He had no incentive to leave until Kraft showed up
If they,?, are stupid enough to “cash” it in, in a playoff environment where two wins gets you in, then man are they stupid!!
Nobody wants him. Word is out about his act. He will be on TV next season.
Franklin might be the mess, but Kraft is the Turds he stepped on. You thought what Barbour did to Cal was a mess, wait till you see the Pile Kraft leaves at PSU
Franklin is Franklins biggest problem. There's something wrong with his headspace and timing with some of his views. They seem to be counter intuitive.
They haven't had an efficient passing game in years. Last year they just had a freak show of a TE to cover for it. This year the entire team appears to be lost and the defense is atrocious with spending the most money on a DC in the nation. I think the defensive play this year to be honest has been the biggest disappointment by a country mile. They cannot tackle, stop the run, sack a QB, or cover anyone....they are bad at every single level.
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Franklin wouldn’t take another job because few top programs if any would put up with such a poor performance against ‘peer’ programs and the hiring/firing coordinators every other year in an effort to shift blame from the HC, and then sign said HC to a ten year fully guaranteed contract. A lot of fans kept giving Franklin the benefit of the doubt but he was just never going to get there; his ‘best’ teams have relied on freaky talent to will them to victory. When that is lacking, he’s exposed - maybe not as play caller, but ultimately as the final decision maker and the guy responsible for the ineptitude of his hires.
I was one of the people saying relax after the first few weeks performances no need to hit the panic button, you are correct something was very wrong with this team from the start this year. Not sure of all talk of national championships, best PSU team ever, etc got in the players and coaches heads. Was training camp to easy on the players not enough hitting? Not sure but you are correct from the get go there was something very off with this team.
I am certain he had other options. There is no question his coordinator hires and in-game coaching were sub-par but he was extremely successful for many a college administrator and fan base. These do not evaluate him based on his yearly performance against top 5 teams. A program looking for a rebuild would surely have looked at him, But Penn State was a very prominent program and he was fiercely loyal to the players he recruited. James built real connections to his guys, that is one reason why you see so many bailing and almost none have left Florida and LSU. He was paid well so a lateral move may have been unappealing.
It will be interesting to me to see how many come back to PSU after the new coach is named. That will show did they come because of Franklin or because of the school and partially Franklin. To me if recruits are basing their decision solely on the coach in todays environment they are going to be transferring a lot. Coaches are not sticking around long due to better oppourtunities or they are getting canned.
If you are a high end recruit,, the logo means s**t unless 1a. the money is there; 1b. You can showcase your skills to get paid at the next level (in three years), This requires coaching continuity to be predictive of 1b. The current clusterf**k has cost some of these guys a ton of money. I bet you Durant, Dani, Singleton, and many others, are ruing the day they did not leave for the NFL or hop to another program. When you see Kevin Brown, a PSU life-time supporter, interviewing with OSU you can take it to the bank that logo means zero.
It does not take much speculation to predict that the vast majority of coaching and support staff will be let go after the end of the season So, even if Kraft would be willing to cut the top end recruits huge checks to stay the fact that nothing else is in place will dissuade them from sticking. Remember most of these top end guys have agents, who will surely be shopping them around to high end stable programs (ND, OSU etc,)
I would expect 1-2 coaches back at most. Possibly Smith and Poindexter and maybe Connors as assistant of some kind not a position coach yet. No offensive coaches will be coming back and nor should they. Barnes will catch on with another team with dline.
This answers your question then. What reason do you see for a recruit to remain committed to Penn State given all the uncertainty? I see none.
It would be because they always dreamed of playing at PSU. Many recruits have said before I chose PSU because I came to games as a kid and always dreamed of playing here regardless of who the coach is.... Many have reopened their commitment and take some visits which is smart to do while they wait to see who the next coach of PSU is... Others will chase the money.
The media only sees what they are allowed to see, or what they choose to see. They also got tOSU wrong in that they are much stronger than they were expected to be.
As far as recruiting rankings, a team that recruits to fill its needs can have a class that is actually better than a team that has a higher rated class but didn't fill its needs. One could argue that Allar didn't fill PSU's needs because of the QB style PSU needs.
Exactly right. Penn State has a 68% blue-chip ratio, 10th nationally, while a school like Indiana has a 8% blue-chip ratio, 45th nationally,, and the latter is putting belt to a** to everyone they are playing (thus far), while PSU has yet to beat a P4 team. So, knowing what you need in your players given your system is vital to success. Penn State did an atrocious job matching players to need. They did not recruit the right type of DT or LB to be successful in Knowles' system. The same can be said of recruiting for the offense. You insist on bringing in drop back passers but then bring in an OC that does not know how to use it. The rest is history.
Anyway no need to beat a dead horse. Hopefully the next staff (front and back) do better. I am very interesting to see OSU and Indiana go at it this year at the B10 championship.
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