OT- James Franklin Involved in Incident at Vandy
James Franklin has been mentioned as contacting a rape victim from his days at Vandy. I'm sure PSU is not too thrilled with the situation.
Edit: A PSU reporter on Twitter has mentioned Franklin will address the media on Thursday.
James Franklin is slated to address the media at the first stop on the coaches caravan Thurs. afternoon in State College. So yeah....
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2014/04/29/vanderbilt-footba…
a few in from FSU, too. Maybe he and Franklin can reach an understanding.
Did I miss something here? Because it sounds like a girl accused a football player of rape, and his coach's response was to call her in and ask if she could gather hotties for recruiting assistance. Which sounds...pretty terrible.
You've got the timing backwards I think, though the article isn't very clear.
...it still seems bad. "Hey, we're sorry you were raped, because you help us get recruits with your hotness."
Yeah, the article doesn't seem well-written. I gained the impression that the victim assisted with recruiting before, but then after the rape she was contacted by Galt. Since it's after that that it says Franklin asked her about finding girls, I initially thought that also happened after. It isn't clear at all.
OK, that's what I wasn't sure of. That she was previously helping with recruting was clear, I thought maybe even in a legitimate, administrative role. I just wasn't sure if the article was trying to say this request was made AFTER the rape, because that would be pretty much beyond horrible, not that the story isn't anyway.
It's the defense attorneys for the players that are exposing this, because they feel it will contribute to the defense? And they allege that prosecutors destroyed all the evidence relating to the recruiting hostesses?
I've always thought it would be something like this that would blow the recruiting hostess racket sky high. You try to wash your hands of the stain of your pimping by pretending the girls are just administrative assistants and whatever relationships they might strike up with the recruits are their own free choice, while on the other side you're winking at the recruits...who, after all, have learned from their other visits how the thing is supposed to go.
This story's about a lot more than just Franklin. I'm not a prude, whatever consenting adults choose to do in their bedrooms is fine by me...but damn it, grown men should not be pimping college students to goose their own coaching careers. I'm ashamed to be a fan of the sport, truth be told.
As for assembling some pretty Commodorettes to help with football recruiting, Franklin: "all the other colleges did it".
"In addition to the missing evidence, which included surveillance video, text messages, interview transcripts and more, Gonzalez reports that misconduct on the part of Franklin was also alleged:
Referring to records, the attorneys said the victim was contacted by Franklin and [former Vandy and current Penn state assistant Dwight] Galt during a medical examination four days after the rape to explain "that they cared about her because she assisted them with recruiting."
It went on to say that at some point, "Coach Franklin called her in for a private meeting and told her he wanted her to get fifteen pretty girls together and form a team to assist with the recruiting even though he knew it was against the rules. He added that all the other colleges did it."
Vanderbilt and Penn State did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Reached by cellphone Tuesday, Franklin repeatedly said he was "not interested in talking." He declined an offer to hear the allegations."
Dwight Galt and James Franklin
he gone. As far as not talking, I'm sure he'll speak to the cops (if he hasn't already) and the feds.
PSU isn't going to fire him for putting together a group of hostesses.
They handle controversy with aplomb at Penn State:
it's the pimpin' that'll do it.
"PSU isn't going to fire him for putting together a group of hostesses." So what you're saying is you have no idea about the situation and why people are upset about it?
by a wide margin. I withold judgment with respect to these allegations, but there were plenty of character red flags without this. Why in the world did Penn State choose him to coach their football team? The wierd part is that Penn State alumni seems generally proud, rather than horrified of their new coach. Why would anyone want to play football there? It would make me feel gross.
I probably need to get in the habit of writing correctly all the time, and it makes me proud of Michigan that I practice that on our sports blog. I will try to be more careful in the future.
A billion dollar game. Sadly enough, that seems to be most important
Obligatory which recruits are going to leave and now come to us?
/s
Anthony Zettel, obviously.
Why does it seem that no one wins in college football without being a dirtbag?
On hiring assistants:
"I've been saying it for a long time, I will not hire an assistant until I see his wife. If she looks the part and she's a D1 recruit, then you got a chance to get hired. That's part of the deal. There's a very strong correlation between having the confidence, going up and talking to a woman, and being quick on your feet and having some personality and confidence and being articulate and confident, than it is walking into a high school and recruiting a kid and selling him."
"Why does it seem that no one wins in college football without being a dirtbag?"
I'd say it has a lot to do with BS unenforcable NCAA rules actually. The rules disallow sensible things like straight up paying players or letting them autograph or getting a piece of game revenue that includes their likeness, god forbid. So instead, shady dealings have to be done, such as bag men and setting up players with women.
Is this a Franklin quote? Do you have the source? He seems like a class A D-bag.
He made the comments during a radio interview. Here's a link discussing the quote:
this information comes from a reporter writting a story about what criminal defense lawyers said in their filing about a coach who is not a party to the suit.
So we have an incomplete story being filtered through two writers with a reason to be biased. Lets wait and see how the facts play out first. We have seen first hand what people with agendas will to distort facts to advance their personal goals.
April 30th, 2014 at 10:37 AM ^
That is god-awful, but well done. Is this a product of some Univeristy PR department?
I realize that the general consensus is that Universities somehow need what amounts to semi-pro football as a "gateway" or advertisement of the school in order to attract a student body, but the Ivies don't seem to have any problem attracting students despite a complete prohibition of athletic scholarships that has been in place in their league since the 1950s.
I read the NLRB opinion on the Northwestern petition, and was surprised to learn that the Big Ten is today even more of a professional sports league than I had ever imagined (I lived in South Quad, which was the football team dorm in 1968, and it's very clear that the players' routines have changed quite a bit since then!). That NW University did not present a shred of contradictory evidence clearly supports the players' facts, as well as the conclusion that was reached that the players are employees paid to play football (I say this as a lawyer).
I'm not making any pronouncements, but I have to question whether a University should have sponsorship of semi-professional sports as part of its mission. I have no problem with amateur athletics in which real students participate. But what's going on today is nuts.
Yes, it's good business for some schools, in terms of revenue. But there are so many compromises relating to academic integrity that I'm just not sure how I feel, despite my love of Michigan football, and despite 135 years of tradition.
I'm thinking back to how many people in the blogosphere were upset at Hoke over playing Gibbons, to the scandals happening all over the country, and I just can't turn a blind eye to this stuff.
Higher education is an industrial complex populated by ideologues and money-grubbing bureacrats.Universities went from a place to for the elite to train and hone their minds who had time to ponder to a place for the average person(who did not have the money to idle away their time) to acquire skills to move up the socioeconomic ladder. The democratization of colleges forever altered universities. They became a means to an end rather than an end itself.
At least that is my half-baked theory.
I won't deny that football and basketball have compromised the university, but that horse left the barn 80 years ago when Knute was selling ND football to Catholics like my grandfathers and Yost was building a 80,000 seat stadium for a sport that wasn't all that popular yet.
...your assessment of the faculty and administration at UofM.
If this captures the media's imagination, Penn State will do something. If it doesn't, they won't.
I am convinced that no big-time college football program cares about what's right or wrong anymore. "The brand" won over morales and ethics and is in the middle of a victory lap.
everyone does do this, even small colleges.
While maybe not being the best message, Franklin really did nothing wrong... other than having a group of hostesses show recruits around campus.
The Tennessee fan base (and some of you) are reading this article like Franklin is the one who hid evidence - which is not what the article is saying. The defense is claiming that the prosecution withheld and destroyed evidence that would allow a proper defense.
James Franklin does not, nor has he ever worked for the Davidson County DA's Office. In that regard, he did nothing wrong. If he had Vandy women form a hostess group, then he probably committed a minor NCAA infraction - which will get him (and Vanderbilt) nothing but a slap on the wrist.
(disclaimer: I am a PSU alum/fan, who posts here from time-to-time)
Franklin likely does know the victim (given she "helps with recruiting") and likely does legitimately care about her.
That said, a HC needs to be completely "hands off" in this situation. Other people that Franklin knows and cares about (football players) --- people that are frankly much more important in determining Franklin's long-term success as a Head Coach --- allegedly committed a crime against the woman.
It may not be fair, but given that any contact with the victim is AUTOMATICALLY going to raise questions of impropriety. Contacting the victim was pretty poor judgment on Franklin's part.
There have been quite a few examples of coaches trying to influence whether charges are brought against their players in that manner. It happened here with Ellerbe.
Poor judgement: yes.
Punishable offense: no.
Maybe he "legitimately cares" or maybe he's trying to remind her way that she's always tried to help the team and to keep helping.
At a minimum, you are right, he showed incredibly poor judgment. No member of the football team or athletic department should ever get involved with a victim. Let the police and prosecutors do their work free from interference or the appearance of interference.
Sterling Jenkins, come on down!
This is the same guy who judges assistant coaches by (EDIT: Nevermind, LongLiveBo beat me to it)
Right, because everyone was totally defending Gibbons here. Franklin could rape someone himself and we aren't allowed to criticize him because other people do it too.
earlier, like 2012ish:
Sexist douche:
http://www.peopleiwanttopunchinthethroat.com/2012/06/james-franklin.html
http://www.buzzfeed.com/jpmoore/vanderbilts-head-football-coach-is-a-se…
Negative recruiter-loud mouth - no integrity-sour grapes douche:
https://blutarsky.wordpress.com/2012/02/10/james-franklins-weasel-words/
http://www.govolsxtra.com/news/2013/apr/11/vanderbilt-coach-james-frank…
http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2013/3/14/4104356/james-frankl…
http://msn.foxsports.com/college-football/outkick-the-coverage/james-fr…
http://www.usatoday.com/story/gameon/2013/01/30/james-franklin-vanderbi…
http://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/2011/james-franklin-todd-grantham-shou…
dudes a scumbag and everyone plugged in at psu knows it - but hes a charasmatic scumbag who can win over recruits and win ball games - and thats all most care about. as long as hes not too overtly scummy then he skates by if he wins just like successful coaches everywhere else. but hes no golden boy even by sec standards so stories like this should surprise no one (theres plenty more stories floating around from his vandy tenure)
Why are we holding jobs in College Football to a higher standard than any other job?
If you're a scumbug and an asshole but you're a good fucking lawyer, you're gonna enjoy all of the career advancement that goes along with that.
If you have zero ethics and are a coked-out madmen but you rake in the dough as an I-Banker, you will assuredly get some pretty solid job offers down the road.
So if you're a scumbag asshole football coach with zero ethics but you win football games, why should we expect said individual to not climb the ranks, make some dough, and enjoy the ride?
being an asshole and doing coke are different from becoming involved in rape situations. Also, college coaches are considered teachers/mentors/father figures...lawyers and bankers not so much.