OT - James Franklin's Quest for East Coast Domination
James Franklin is fast becoming Urban Meyer 2.0 (booo! hiss!). James is a hot commodity coming in with SEC recruiting tactics and with an anything-goes mentality. James (so far) has successfully dodged controversies regarding the alleged Vanderbilt rapes and has picked up the pace on recruiting with the 2nd best recruiting class in the nation (so far).
Besides being shady like Urban, James also knows how to belittle the competition, and he has recently made a proclamation that New Jersey is all "in-state", in other words, James Franklin has single-handedly annexed the fertile recruiting grounds of New Jersey. The future Jabrill Peppers' and Minkah Fitzpatrick's and their garden state brethren now belong to James Franklin, apparently.
In addition, there seems to be a PSU vs. Rutgers rivalry building up with the Rutgers HC, Kyle Flood (who?), referring to PSU as "the team from Pennsylvania" (which he seems to have copied from Ohio's "that team up north" jab).
James Franklin brushes off those empty words and matter-of-factly suggests that Rutgers "might as well shut them down because they don't have a chance". Ouch!
-- signing off with your news from the East Coast.
: )
It's my first Franklin thread, I swear. :P
Yea, I think he's going to fall on his face... I'm actually still expecting Urban to fall on his face too... Any moment now, any moment....
Lot of confidence from a guy who beat only 1 ranked team in his 3 years at Vandy.
But making Vanderbilt respectable isn't something to sneeze at
Same thing happened when Hoke came into town using OHIO among other things. New coaches just stir things up because they themselves are excited about their new opportunity and want to create a buzz around their new program. And Michigan benefited on the recruiting trail then just like Penn State is.
To hell with James Franklin!!
"I consider this in-state. I consider New Jersey in-state," Franklin told the crowd. While there are other schools in the region, "they might as well shut them down because they don't have a chance."
...and thus began James Franklin's plans to annex New Jersey and Maryland and give the state of Pennsylvania and PSU those extensive docking and port facilities that it was traditionally lacking.
It is kind of amusing that folks in Rutgers' program have taken to calling them "that team from Pennsylvania" though, or "that team that wears blue and white".
All this sort of makes me want to see how their game with Maryland goes in November just because that could have been Franklin's "alternative timeline" arrival in the Big Ten had they kept him on staff. I wonder if Terps fans will be saying, "That could be us" if Maryland gets manhandled by Penn State.
Franklin's so cocky, I'm really starting to root for Rutgers to beat PSU... I mean Rutgers is a bit of a laughingstock, but it would be funny to see someone shut Franklin's mouth.
Maryland fans wanted him gone and don't regret it. Yeah Edsall hasn't proven to be great but Maryland is doing a better job keeping talent in state now than they were with Franklin and his recruiting masks up the fact that he isn't a great coach, his vanderbilt teams fell apart late in a lot of games and didn't actually beat anyone impressive. They just got enough talent to finally beat kentucky a couple of times.
I still think that Missouri and Kansas would have been better additions than Maryland and Rutgers. But those east coast TV sets beg to differ.
I think the issue with those two schools was that their academics did not measure up to B1G standards. At least that was the story I was hearing. (Pay no attention to Nebraska's academic reputation, which according to US News is right in the neighborhood of KU and Mizzou.)
I'm surprised that would be the case. Both Kansas and Missouri are AAU members (Since 1908 and 1909 respectively) like every other Big Ten school except the aforementioned Nebraska.
I should have been more precise. I think the reason that defenders of adding Rutgers and Maryland to the B1G were bandying about was that KU and Mizzou were not a good academic fit. As has been discussed on this blog ad nauseum, adding Rutgers and Maryland to the B1G was at its core a short-sighted money grab. The academics angle felt like the B1G powers-that-be providing cover for their decision, when Mizzou (in particular) really wanted to join the B1G.
I agree with you that KU and Mizzou would be more attractive additions on the sports side of things (keep a historically Midwest Conference Midwestern, and all of that). That stated, I think their addition would in fact water down the conference's academic reputation.
The optimal addition would have been a single school in South Bend. I wonder if I'm the first one to think of that?
In one of the flurries of news articles that were coming out right before and right after Delaney said the committee either didn't use academics or didn't make academics a priority when deciding what schools to add for expansion.
He basically said, "We're backing the truck up to the TV money vault. To hell with anything that matters. We want TV sets"
And so we got Rutgers.
Why Mizzou? Kansas is at least a basketball blue blood, though that doesn't matter in re-alignment. Mizzou brings less money to the table, worse academics, doesn't actually expand the footprint of the big ten in any meaningful way and has a worse sports history than Maryland despite being better in the last 5 years. People might not like expansion and I get that, but if you are going to expand,expanding into the midwest to a not great tv market for a school with no real history in either major sport is just a loss for the big ten. Maryland might not be in the midwest but it has a similar academic profile to the big ten, has the 4th largest media market in the country as its home state, fertile recruiting grounds expecially in basketball. I mean there is really no situation where mizzou is actually a better add than maryland other than I'd rather drive for 10 hours and still say im in the midwest for a football game rather than driving 10 east.
AGREED. I wish my laptop had "mega caps".
"Besides being shady like Urban"
Can we please stop with this? I hate that some people have concluded the ONLY way a coach could consistently beat us both on the field and in recruiting would be if he was "shady". I'm sorry but Urbz is a very, very good coach and a very, very good recruiter and we need to stop implying he has to cheat to beat us.
How is this any different that the scUM crap that our "friends" at RCMB like to spew at us whenever we beat them in recruiting?
I meant more like "shady" looking. Like I get the used car salesman vibe off of both of them. Whereas, I feel that Hoke is more of a straight shooter... and Beilein is a saint. I don't think Dantonio is shady, but Izzo kind of is... This is mostly based on the look and feel as opposed to some claim of impropriety.
Ok that I understand.
By the way - I DO know what Dantonio looks like.
He looks like a complete asshole.
The whole potentially helping cover up a rape by football players and setting up what is more or less an escort service doesn't exactly scream quality character either.
that's the difference
"shady" "Urban Meyer" returns 196,000 hits vs. "shady" "James Franklin" returning 289,000 hits. Advantage Franklin.
"slimy" "Urban Meyer" returns 129,000 hits vs "slimy" "James Franklin" returning 14,900 hits. Advantage Urban.
"sleazy" "Urban Meyer" returns 61,700 hits vs. "sleazy" "James Franklin" returning 143,000 hits. Advantage Franklin.
Franklin wins! Although he is less slimy than Urban, he is shadier and sleazier.
There is evidence of him being shady. It's not just something we say because he's beaten us recently. Look at 3 and out and Denard's recruitment by Florida.
A lot of talk, a hot commodity, no one really like him, and doesn't actually get great results on the field.
No, he never beat the likes of Alabama, but his achievements at Vanderbilt likely resemble that of someone going in and making Indiana a good football team. If he can win with minimal resources and support at Vanderbilt, I'm interested to see what he can do at a place like Penn State, a place which, as we all should know by now, likes it's football team.
In his resume: he won at Vanderbilt, which is no small feat.
Now he is at PSU, which has a nice platform but for the tawdry Sandusky affair which sullied the entire administration.
He seems to have some ugly pimples from his days at Vandy that probably would have made him unacceptable at PSU if those were known or disclosed prior to the hire. So he has questionable character.
On the other hand, he must be a great recruiter. Can he coach as well as he recruits?
I welcome any other talented teams to make the B1G a stronger conference.
Franklin is the epitome of a douche. If someone asked to see pictures of my wife before considering hiring me, I'd knock him out.
Just curious for those who watch PSU a lot closer than me - is there a sitution over there brewing like we are currently in where the sanctions took away a lot of future seniors/juniors that will hurt them in a year or two? Or did they somehow avoid a similar shitshow as we had in 2010 (both sides) and 2011 (on offense recruiting)?
I am also in the camp of let's cool it on the Franklin BJs around here. 12 months from now he is going to have another 8-5 or 7-6 record to walk around with, unlike the current 0-0, and the glow will begin to fade. Other than a top notch QB I don't see much to fear there at PSU - they remind me of ND and UM right now... living off the past. If Franklin turns them into a powerhouse in 3-4 years ok then, let's focus on them. MSU and OSU are far larger problems right now.
By the way looking at their schedules the next 2 years PSU's AD must have come from the Wisconsin school of thought. UCF is the only tough non conf opponent they play in 2 years - other powerhouses include Buffalo, Temple, Akron, and San Diego State. Somehow they also avoided Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin in conf in both 2014-2015.
Penn State has the advantages Ohio State has . . . only major program in a talent-rich state, plus New Jersey. They are a sleeping giant. Paterno had that program sleep walking for decades. He would not even visit recruits.
We want Rutgers and Maryland to develop a fierce rilvary with Penn State. We want them geeked out of their minds when they play Penn State like MSU does with us. Let them knock each other off and steal each other's recruits. Plus it will be good for the Big Ten if the B1G East has all these intense rilvaries that up everyone's game.
Congratulations Frankilin and Penn State. When you can be in a Division that has Meyer/Ohio State and Dantonio/MSU and still wind up being the most hated program in the Division . . . well, you've really accomplished something there.
No, I meant did their sanctions create a parallel problem that our disaster in 2010 and 2011 (on offense recruiting) that will show up a year or two down the road. But perhaps you were just being facetious in your question.
Is Franklin a crossfitter?
Crossfit rulz! Those competitions are the best thing on TV!
/s
having crappy coaches doesn't help either.
Is this just the Halo effect of big football school gets new coach, so recruits love it, or is Franklin a baller?
Also, just think if a Michigan coach uttered those words. Our blue hairs would be up in arms.
............that is, until they go 4-8 the next two seasons...HAH
Keep jumping to conclusions and making short sighted posts.
Franklin is already my least favorite coach in the Big Ten - for reasons having nothing to do with recruiting - and Kelly is one of my least favorite coaches in the country. I find Meyer much more likable than both of them.
"Vanderbilt wasn't really that good" under Franklin. It's VANDERBILT.
And of course, the same idiots thast say that are still saying "Dantonio is a flash in the pan, let's see him keep it up"
LOL: Franklin is "sleazy"--the usual Michigan fan lunacy. Everyone elts is a dirtbag, 'cept our good ol' fun loving Fred MF Flintstone "Brady says OHIO" tee hee
However, Franklin is sleazy. His comments alone about the wives of his assistants having to be hot were bad enough. Now throw in the confirmed BS he was peddling to Peppers on NSD and you can lean toward sleazy with this guy.
Since Hoke arrived at Michigan...
Penn State has more B1G wins
Has won head-to-head
Only has one less bowl victory
All during the meltdown of having a pedophile rapist using the football complex as his playground
Someone mentioned Iowa earlier. If things don't change in AA, Michigan will be the Iowa of the division.
Iowa isn't that bad. And again, I'll believe the winningest program in the history of college football has become a permanent also-ran when it happens, and not simply because it made a hire in RR that didn't work out.
until Stanley Tucci stars in "The James Franklin Story".
