James Franklin admits lying about seeing rape tape
October 9th, 2014 at 12:13 PM ^
Well he definitely fits right in at Penn State now doesnt he?
October 9th, 2014 at 7:12 PM ^
“Now, I’ve been looking over your file, and I see you kids have all been horribly, physically and emotionally abused. … Oh whoops, that isn’t your case file, it’s the Penn State University Gazette!”
October 9th, 2014 at 12:15 PM ^
Bo did not have the best record but he was a MAN of integrity.
I live in Nashville and know people VERY closely associated with this case and it is/was bad. So did they do a better PR job, maybe?- does it make that situation any better?
October 9th, 2014 at 12:24 PM ^
October 9th, 2014 at 12:39 PM ^
he had a great record.
October 9th, 2014 at 2:30 PM ^
.... bad communication of my thoughts - - Bo DID have a great record and was an even Greater man - he did not have the national championships... I conveyed that poorly in my post.
October 9th, 2014 at 1:23 PM ^
Bo DID have a great record what?
October 9th, 2014 at 1:55 PM ^
78% career winning percentage, 13 Big Ten titles in 20 seasons, undefeated and deserving of a national title in 1973. That's an unbelievable performance, in my eyes.
October 9th, 2014 at 9:26 PM ^
And he did things the right way.
October 9th, 2014 at 6:32 PM ^
Schembechler opposed Title IX compliance along with Canham and whoever the basketball coach was at the time. That doesn't speak of high integrity to me, that speaks of selfishness and bigotry. He might have been a good coach, but don't act like Schembechler was a saint, because he clearly was not.
October 9th, 2014 at 7:20 PM ^
October 9th, 2014 at 9:45 PM ^
Bo was against the law because he thought it would screw up college football. There'd be enormouse pressure on the football program to become an even-bigger money making operation. That is exactly what happened. The way football scholarships were reduced by the NCAA, no doubt hurt college football. On top of that, the gender-equity plan cut squad sizes, which cost the school between 10-30 walk-ons.
Bo Schembechler was no fan of Title IX, but his love for Michigan – and his respect for Hutchins – was stronger than his dislike of that law. When he was athletic director, and saw Hutch’s team practicing in random t-shirts and shorts, he didn’t like it. The next day, Hutchins found big boxes of official Michigan t-shirts and shorts outside her office, and within a couple weeks, more gear with Michigan Softball emblazoned on it all.
From a JUB article http://www.johnubacon.com/2012/05/the-winningest-coach-on-campus/
October 9th, 2014 at 12:17 PM ^
So he told people he had seen it when in fact he hadn't? That's bizarre. Typically it goes the other way.
October 9th, 2014 at 12:19 PM ^
i really don't understand whats going on
it doesn't seem that bad -
did he lie to the admin? or just to his players when he kicked the kids off the team?
October 9th, 2014 at 12:49 PM ^
My understanding is that he told his players that he saw it so he would have more credibility when he discussed the issue during a team meeting. He didn't want to say "I heard it was bad..." he wanted to say "I saw it, and it's bad"
So, a year later, he is under oath and he admits that he never saw it.
I don't disagree with him on this - he knew it was true and that it happened. Why watch a video of such a horrible event when you already know that it occurred.
October 9th, 2014 at 1:16 PM ^
The Baltimore Ravens and Roger Goodell would like to have a word with you.
October 9th, 2014 at 4:08 PM ^
understood why seeing the Ray Rice tape in its entirety made people's outrage so much stronger. I actually came away from watching that tape believing it was more likely that the Rice incident could have been a first time-one time abberation in conduct where a (likely) drunken argument just spiraled out of control. I mean, I am not saying it wasn't bad, I just can't figure out why seeing that particular incident was really all that different from hearing about it.
October 9th, 2014 at 4:56 PM ^
Here's my take:
The Ray Rice elevator video showed the worst possibility of what could have occured. When all we see is her unconscious when the elevator opens, no one knows exactly what happened. She could have hit her head after he shoved her, or she could've been trying to claw his eyes out, or any number of other things that didn't involve him straight-up cold cocking her, which is what happened.
October 9th, 2014 at 5:27 PM ^
I'm with you, I saw all those click-bait type headlines on reputable news sites that you normally see only in the crap that gets posted all over facebook and got fooled by the reputable news sites. We knew he knocked her out, videos hows one punch knocking her out. Where's the outrage? What did you think happened? The video showed exactly what I expected and wasn't 'brutal' at all. Disagree with the guy above me, it showed the best-case scenario of what could have happened in that elevator.
October 9th, 2014 at 2:04 PM ^
seems like he had already made up his mind to punish the players
its not like they were getting a full judicial review (so the kangaroo court was not fully legit)
October 9th, 2014 at 2:39 PM ^
The story doesn't make sense to me on its face. Do you really have to have witnessed a rape to have credibility discussing the issue?
I'd be talking to the team regardless. What seeing the video would change is that I'd be talking to the police as well.
October 9th, 2014 at 3:52 PM ^
October 9th, 2014 at 12:21 PM ^
Or he saw it, told those players to delete the video, told the team he saw it, and is now lying about it now saying he never saw it to cover his ass. Oh, and visited the rape victim 4 days later to tell her he cares for her because she's a great recruting hostess.
October 9th, 2014 at 12:37 PM ^
I'm confused. How does saying he never saw it now help him cover his ass? I'm not seeing the outrage here.
October 9th, 2014 at 12:44 PM ^
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October 9th, 2014 at 1:16 PM ^
That would mean that what he now tells the court that he lied about--seeing the video--was really the truth--and that he is lying to the courts now. This thing could really blow up. If true, it would be more than perjury. It would be an effort to destroy evidence.
That would be almost unbelievably stupid. Maybe it is not true. Or maybe the player allegedly told to delete the video is himself making misleading statements or commiting perjury. But in any case, the whole video lays bare Franklin's breathtaking mendacity. He says he did not see the video. He confirms that he told players he did see it. The questioner says, "so you lied". Then Frankling says no. He lies about the obvious, admitted lie just exposed. Now we learn that the lie --that he saw the video--may actually have been the truth; and he may also be lying about lying.
I wonder if this great recruiting class he is assembling will give second thought as to whether they can trust his promises.
October 9th, 2014 at 1:20 PM ^
Well sure, if we assume he's committing perjury, then obviously it's a big deal, but I don't see a whole lot of evidence for that and it wouldn't make much sense.
The only evidence I've seen is a buzzfeed article reporting that "a source close to one of the defendants said he believes Franklin encouraged a player to delete a video of the incident after the player showed it to Franklin." Not exactly airtight.
October 9th, 2014 at 12:55 PM ^
As Brown Bear said, I think he's trying to stay away from it completely, rather than admit to seeing it and open up the door further about what he told those players at the time. I think he's lying about lying, which in either case, makes him a liar. One is perjury, the other is just a motivational lie to your team which I don't think is a big deal, I just doubt that's what happened.
October 9th, 2014 at 12:58 PM ^
... he saw it and told the players to delete it (i.e., helped cover up a rape, which is itself a serious crime).
Lying then is OK. Lying now, not so much. But you can see that there would be some motive to lie now.
October 9th, 2014 at 12:18 PM ^
The drama nevers ends in State College.
October 9th, 2014 at 12:19 PM ^
I would fire him today. This is the kind of thing they had to of asked about in an interview and soemthing he must've lied about. I would want to get far away from something toxic like this especially after what PSU just went through.
October 9th, 2014 at 12:43 PM ^
He may well be lying now (we don't know), but you seem to be saying fire him because he lied to his team at the time. Why would PSU care about that? Unless of course he lied to PSU about what happened, which we have no evidence of.
October 9th, 2014 at 2:22 PM ^
He admittedly lied to his team, which I find in and of itself shady, in regards to such an important matter.
The whole situation seems immensely sketchy to me and he doesn't seem trustworthy and seems like he would put wins above all. This, along with the report that he alledgedly contacted the victim, make for a toxic situation and what seems to be a toxic individual.
We talk about not taking any fliers in Michigan's next head coaching search for different reasons. After what Penn State has been through it seems as though they took a flier on someone and if I am the PSU AD, I am sitting down with Franklin and letting him know that, PSU doesn't need this kind of publicity and they will be just fine without him.
October 9th, 2014 at 3:40 PM ^
The title of this post is misleading, he told the team he had seen it when he actually had not... not really a cover up or anything here. I'm not sure I understand the issue really...
October 9th, 2014 at 3:58 PM ^
But I think you are aware of a coach who said a certain player didn't travel because of "family issues" that turned out to be rape allegations that were at best glossed over, right?
October 9th, 2014 at 4:54 PM ^
Personally, I was and still am completely disgusted at the handling of the Gibbons situation.
Next time, I will preface my feeloings on all other colleges handling of situations to my feelings on similar situations that Michigan has gone through.
October 9th, 2014 at 3:53 PM ^
Kids, that "uv" sound that people make that always gets translated as "of" is actually a contraction of "have". This is the kind of thing they should've asked about.
/petpeevemode
October 9th, 2014 at 12:20 PM ^
Winston is Franklin???
October 9th, 2014 at 12:22 PM ^
He's clearly lying about lying. If he really saw that tape (which I believe he did) then this is pretty much his only way out. Better to seem like a stern, caring coach who got a little carried away rather than actually be known as a guy who was trying to cover up a rape.
October 9th, 2014 at 12:26 PM ^
If you spent ANY time around coaches like Hutch, Red, Beilein,others.... THEY represent what UM is all about. Competing hard with class and character and caring about kids... but you do have to win more than we have in the past 12 months : (
October 9th, 2014 at 1:05 PM ^
this is why there just aren't many qualified coaches left. The NCAA has created an environment that rewards bad behavior, so even good people do bad things to get ahead. It's really hard to find the ones that have maintained their integrity and found success.
October 9th, 2014 at 2:58 PM ^
I would have said that Brady Hoke clearly fits everything you said (except the last line).
October 9th, 2014 at 12:26 PM ^
"Liar, liar, pants on fire!"
October 9th, 2014 at 12:27 PM ^
James Franklin has none of that.
October 9th, 2014 at 12:28 PM ^
I just want to be sure I have this right.
1. Four Vandy players are accused of a sexual assault...
2. Franklin lays into his team about the behavior of these four specifically and about team behavior in general....
3. During this tirade TO THE TEAM he says he's seen a video (which does exist) of the assault and he refers to it as "disgusting"....
4. It turns out that that he was lying because he didn't actually see the video, he only had it described to him by other members of the administration....
....and some people (apparently including the OP) would like to criticize Franklin for lying?
Please tell me you're kidding me. Please tell me I missed the /s.
Are we now ready to criticize parents who lie about Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny in order to encourage good behavior from their children?
I hope I've missed something here, so please correct me. If not, and the point is that Bo never lied to prove a point to his players, well, there's a bridge in Brooklyn....etc, etc. and I'll need to refer you to a long list of Bo's former players who can confirm that such a lie wasn't beneath him.
October 9th, 2014 at 12:33 PM ^
October 9th, 2014 at 2:32 PM ^
He lied then but he's telling the truth now and we believe that because who could ever accuse him of lying?
Sometimes maybe it makes sense to wait and see....
October 9th, 2014 at 12:36 PM ^
Full disclosure, I'm a Penn State fan (as if my user name doesn't make that apparent :-) ).
But I'm not some "Penn State fan who has his head stuck in the head" ---- if there's smoke, I'll acknoweldge there's a very good possibility there's a fire.
As of the moment, I'm not seeing too much smoke.
We'll see where this goes ........
October 9th, 2014 at 1:20 PM ^
There's a heck of a lot of smoke if his former Vandy player is saying Franklin told him to delete the tape. I haven't followed the story closely enough to know whether or not that's a credible allegation.