I am often a harsh critic of college football head coaches. I at times envy their jobs because seemingly the best job in the world – and it really isn’t close – is being a fired college football coach who is paid to go away. If you don’t believe me, ask Jimbo Fisher.
Not everything in life is about failure, for Fisher to enjoy the “fruits of his labor,” so to say (and what kind of fruit is up for debate,) a coach has had to demonstrate a level of success to warrant such a major windfall.
Maybe this introduction is an odd way to begin a piece to profile Penn State head coach James Franklin.
I agree, it might be on par with the oddity of Frank Zappa or Warren Zevon, but when you consider where Franklin’s career has been and what he has been able to accomplish maybe it will make more sense.
Franklin spent significant time as an offensive assistant and his first head coaching gig wasn’t exactly the easiest spot to win at.
Look at the glass half full, what James Franklin did at Vanderbilt is simply amazing. When you consider the Commodores are a perennial doormat in the SEC, the fact James Franklin was able to do the following is miraculous:
- Franklin is responsible for two of the program’s four 9-win seasons. Dan McGugin (who coached Vanderbilt from 1904 to 1917 & 1919 to 1934) has the other two.
- He also has half of the program’s bowl wins (Franklin 2, Vanderbilt 4).
- Guided Vanderbilt to its first end-of-season ranking since 1948, and is the only Vanderbilt coach to guide the Commodores to consecutive end-of-season rankings in 2012 and 2013.
More Sports News
If you were to scrutinize Franklin’s tenure at Vanderbilt – looking at the glass half empty you would point out the following:
- Franklin was 16-15 against Power 5 competition – considering Vanderbilt since Franklin’s departure is 36-83 with no winning seasons this might not be as strong an indictment
- Vanderbilt went 3-14 against Power 5 competition with winning records and going winless in 12 games against Power 5 opponents who won 9 or more games.
The latter bullet points of what Franklin achieved or didn’t achieve, depending on how you look at it, have carried over to Penn State.
Franklin’s inability to beat Michigan and Ohio State has only increased the volumes of his biggest critics, including yours truly. Following another Michigan disaster, considering Michigan was without head coach Jim Harbaugh and was as one-dimensional as you can be, I criticized Franklin and named him the worst big-game coach in the nation.
It’s hard to argue against Franklin. I suppose you can locate bottom feeders in any power conference and say that coach is worse than Franklin. You might be right, but they aren’t expected to win those games. When they do, they often get big-time contract extensions and even more security. Franklin’s record of 3-22 against Top 10 teams including 1-13 against Top 5 earns him that distinction.
While Penn State was able to rebound following the Michigan disappointment, Franklin continued to get questioned about his lack of success in big games. “I guess I disagree with that,” Franklin said in response to the question after the Maryland game. “I get we’re all just totally focused on us. But you look at the scoreboard, you look at games, there are people battling and losing games they’re not supposed to lose. Or battling with people every single week. We’re just totally focused on Penn State, I get that. But at the end of the day, it’s a long season. You got to find a way to get wins. You got to find a way to get wins.”
“We got a win last week. We built on it. We got better,” he continued. “We got better this week. I think that’s something that’s really important. We’ve won a decent amount. Not as much as what everybody wants, I get that. But I also think we’ve taken winning for granted a little bit. We win games, and you come in the press conference, and it doesn’t necessarily feel like that.”
Franklin’s “taking winning for granted” response has plenty of merit. Look around the country at several programs in different situations where winning was taken for granted:
- Miami – This program is starving for any run of consistent excellence. No matter where you turn, Hurricane fans will make you think “The U” era Canes and the 2001 Canes were just yesterday.
- Nebraska – Boy they have learned this one the hard way. Bo Pelini wasn’t any good, apparently winning 9 games a year and four conference division championships (3 Big XII, 1 Big Ten), was worth firing. The dumpster fire that has ensued in Lincoln from Mike Riley to Scott Frost was lesson enough. I feel Matt Rhule will be afforded patience, especially after landing quarterback Dylan Raiola.
- Ohio State – Are the Buckeyes simply spoiled by the near two-decade dominance Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer displayed? Starting quarterback Kyle McCord left town, and some fans are questioning the job Ryan Day has done even though he is 38-0 against Big Ten competition not named Michigan (1-3).
There are the Penn State fanatics who want Franklin gone, all fan bases have crazies.
There is a perspective of what Franklin has done in his 10 seasons at Penn State:
- Arrived at Penn State after the Sandusky fallout that included a $60 million fine, a four-year bowl ban, and only allowed 65 scholarship players, he never had a losing season during those times. His only losing season came in the 2020 COVID-19 season when Penn State was ravaged by opt-outs and injuries.
- Is one of 12 active coaches to coach 10+ seasons and win 70% or more of their games
- Consistently in the Top 20 in recruiting and producing NFL talent
- Five Top 10 finishes, 10+ win seasons, with three New Year’s Six bowl wins and a Big Ten Championship
Penn State will benefit the most with the expanded playoff; during Franklin’s first 10 seasons, the Nittany Lions have finished the regular season ranked in the Top 12 in six of those seasons.
You have to assume, that if Franklin continues his success the Nittany Lions will be a perennial playoff team.
One of the reasons I had called Penn State a second-rate program is the Nittany Lions’ inability to be a perennial playoff team – something all fans in Nittany Nation aspire to be – but some forget just how hard it is to get there.
LaVar Arrington, who played for Joe Paterno’s 1997 to 1999 teams said in defense of Franklin, “He takes over a team with bare cupboards. He comes here and brings in recruits. For him to turn Penn State back into a very, very reputable and respectable place to play football was probably a job that very few people realize how daunting a task it was.”
Arrington continued to answer where Penn State’s place is nationally, saying they are much closer to being elite. Arrington contends that currently, no one beats Alabama and Georgia in the Southeastern Conference and Ohio State and Michigan in the Big Ten on a consistent basis, “Their endless resources 100% play a part in why they’re so much further ahead than everyone else,” he said. “You may not be able to see why that is or understand why that is, but it’s the truth.”
Not every situation turns out like Georgia’s when it fired Mark Richt and found a Kirby Smart. If that was guaranteed, I am willing to bet James Franklin would face the same situation as Richt, but so would every other school in the country would do the same thing.
Circling back to Jimbo Fisher, there will be stories of why he failed at College Station, we are starting to really get to know how everything eroded at Florida State. Fisher was an elite coach, who lost his way as a coach and wasn’t in the right place at Texas A&M.
Franklin won’t be getting paid anytime soon to not coach Penn State. What he has accomplished has positioned the Nittany Lions as a Top 10 program nationally.
Franklin might be right now a horrible big game coach, but the efforts Franklin has put into fixing it are on display.
Landing arguably one of the fast-rising offensive minds in Andy Kotelnicki to coordinate the offense, and bringing in another CEO type in at defensive coordinator in Tom Allen, who was Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2020 is another major win.
The Big Ten is getting tougher with programs like Southern California, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington joining the league, but Penn State is showing they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.
Franklin is not overrated by any stretch of the imagination. But is he elite?
If I feel Penn State is a Top 10 program nationally, how isn’t Franklin an elite coach? I can’t figure out a way to answer that question.
