Spencer Hall explains why James Franklin is the most overrated coach in CFB
This is just beautiful -- Spencer diagrams the last play of the PSU-OSU game, and his take on Franklin's performance is brutal:
That all said: Good lord, this is an absolute disaster. This is a disaster worthy of a Bosch painting. There are demons dancing with pitchforks around sinners with flowers growing out of their ears here. There are hellscapes, reader. Just look at the offensive line and tell us they were told where to go, and fully understood their assignments. Look at them and tell us this, you would be telling us only the most grandiose of lies. And they took two timeouts to get this! Not one, but two. This isn’t what happens when Penn State decided to take to the sideline to get things right once. This is what happened when they had two full timeouts to look at the Ohio State defense, really think about their best option, and then come back and put that on the field.
October 2nd, 2018 at 11:38 AM ^
There are a lot of reasons. A few posters on here are impressed by his having Vanderbilt be a .500 team while beating a team with a pulse. Also his victory over OSU in 2016 was a fluke. Lets not forget, he was on the hot seat after Michigan smoked them.
October 2nd, 2018 at 11:42 AM ^
Rodger Sherman at the Ringer has an even broader critique of Franklin's performance: https://www.theringer.com/2018/9/30/17920354/penn-state-ohio-state-james-franklin-bad-plays
It’s rare to see a coach give up as easily as Franklin did Saturday night in such a big game. A list of his surrenders:
—On Penn State’s first drive of the game, Franklin ordered a punt from Ohio State 39-yard line. It went 19 yards. That’s not a punt, it’s a bad interception.
—At the end of the first half, Franklin punted on 4th-and-1 from midfield. The Nittany Lions had time to push for a field goal, but the fear of not getting a first down and allowing a Buckeyes field goal in even less time frightened Franklin off.
—Facing fourth-and-5 from the Ohio State 37 with under five minutes left in the game, Franklin had his team take a delay-of-game penalty to set up a better punting situation. The punt was great, downed at the 4-yard line. Unfortunately, it didn’t matter. On the ensuing possession, the world learned that the Nittany Lions couldn’t defend a screen pass, as the Buckeyes picked up 73 yards on screens en route to a game-winning touchdown drive.
October 2nd, 2018 at 4:06 PM ^
Those are decent reasons why he's an idiot, but I'd definitely add this to the list:
At the very end of the third quarter in a low scoring game (both teams having scored less than 1 touchdown per quarter), and down by one, Franklin decided to go for it on 4th and 2 at the 19... rather than kick an easy field goal to put them ahead for what could very well have been the last points of the game.
October 2nd, 2018 at 12:45 PM ^
I mean, if you're not impressed by going .500 with the most hopeless program in America, I dunno man. It's pretty impressive.
James Franklin is a top 3 program builder who does some really really wonky things in game that keep his team from being The Elite of Elite. I think he's the closest thing we've seen to Mack Brown come down the pike in a while. Everyone thought it would be easy to replace Mack at Texas too, and look how that went.
October 2nd, 2018 at 12:49 PM ^
Most hopeless? Come on, man!
October 2nd, 2018 at 12:59 PM ^
Rutgers says hi
October 2nd, 2018 at 1:09 PM ^
There is a possible universe where a Spurrier-like figure shows up at Rutgers and unlocks their potential as a program. South Carolina was the lucky program sitting there when the SEC went to 12 and spent a decade getting hamblasted. Eventually, some AD is going to end up at Rutgers and use their Big 10 money to get a game changer coach. I also don't think these divisions will last forever, I could see them swapping Rutgers/Penn State/Maryland for Purdue/Illinois/NW and doing the Inner/Outer divisions they talked about doing which would be more balanced competitive wise. They changed them once to fix the Michigan-Ohio State rivalry issue, I think if Nebraska doesn't get roaring they'll do it again.
There is no universe where Vanderbilt can ever be competitive year in-year out. Their administration doesn't even want to be. They want to cash their SEC checks and use them to build new labs and whatnot. That's never going to change.
October 2nd, 2018 at 3:08 PM ^
Kansas says hi.
October 2nd, 2018 at 5:13 PM ^
Kansas' faculty didn't shoot down facility upgrades. There's not another school in a major conference where the school side still runs the show like Vanderbilt, and you have to deal with that as a coach while also coaching against SEC programs where they'll tear down a 5 year old training facility just to build another one because the school two states over just built a new one nicer than yours.
Vanderbilt has to compete in a conference where Nick Saban can get the school to just hire a local restaurant to cater meals because he noticed his OL liked eating there but the traffic was making them late and where Bama and Georgia can hire 80 coaches as analysts without blinking. That kind of spending culture doesn't exist in the Pac 12 or Big 12, which is why I don't think any school from those conferences could qualify.
October 2nd, 2018 at 9:28 PM ^
Texas has its own damn TV network. Oklahoma sure seems happy to spend money wherever possible. And before A&M joined the SEC, they were still huge spenders on football. Maybe the Pac 12 doesn't have a major spender (though USC sure seems happy to do so), but there are a lot of Big 12 teams that would fit into the SEC.
Vandy is in a unique spot where they have to compete against elite programs, but they aren't unique in that. Northwestern is surrounded by schools that spend just as much, and doesn't spend a ton on facility improvements (Ryan Field only seats 47k and was last updated in 1997 when they put in natural grass but, weirdly, it still doesn't have permanent lights). Duke played on an even smaller field, and while the school cares about basketball it certainly doesn't seem to care much about football beyond "it's nice we win sometimes". Like most high-academic schools, Vandy isn't going to spend a ton of money on a sport it doesn't think it can be hyper-competitive in. But in a sport like baseball, where they are reasonably competitive, they seem to spend decently on facilities and their head coach cleared $2.3M in 2016, way more than the football coach.
My point isn't that Franklin's run at Vandy wasn't impressive; it was. But he was there for barely 3 years, I think beat 4 teams with a winning record the whole time he was there (2 of them, I believe, of the 7-6 variety), and seemed to have left the Commodores with limited talent when he did (witness Mason's early struggles). His run at PSU is basically 2 years long; he was a mediocre coach his first couple years at PSU and, while a crack recruiter, didn't walk into an empty cupboard; Bill O'Brien left him with a good number of guys who were the stars of his last couple of teams. We'll see how this team looks next year without McSorley; the team already looks less dynamic this year without Moorhead calling the plays, and I wouldn't be shocked if they regressed even more without McSorley leading the way.
October 2nd, 2018 at 1:12 PM ^
Hopeless? Stanford was hopeless when Harbaugh took them over. Franklin didn't build anything at Vanderbilt
October 2nd, 2018 at 1:23 PM ^
Franklin’s record is good enough to stand on its own.
Vandy floated around 50 S&P under him with extremely weak schedule. Right there with Duke and Northern Illinois.
Wisconsin was pounding PSU until all the injuries (6 starters went down) so once again, a bit of luck. But it is what it is. I wouldn’t hire JF.
October 2nd, 2018 at 11:39 AM ^
And yet this guy has a B1G title. Ugh...
October 2nd, 2018 at 11:44 AM ^
There is an element of luck/circumstances in winning Big Ten titles, and adding a title game has only added to that. PSU was clearly the 3rd best team in the division, but because of their fluky win over OSU, and Michigan's fluky loss to OSU, they got in over a team that beat them 49-10.
October 2nd, 2018 at 11:52 AM ^
After 15 years of waiting, I'd accept a "we got lucky B1G title". Every day, and twice on Sundays...
October 2nd, 2018 at 12:51 PM ^
The way the Big Ten is currently configured, basically any title won by any team is going to be somewhat lucky. Between the gauntlet that is the Big Ten East, the way West division crossovers work, the home/road breakdown, and all the random crap that can happen in any football game, the team from the East that gets to the Big Ten title game is almost always going to have benefited from some good fortune.
Now good luck definitely isn't sufficient. But I think at this point it's damn well necessary.
October 2nd, 2018 at 2:15 PM ^
This is true and so is the fact that we have sour grapes because we haven't gotten one in so long. The league schedule is so unbalanced every year and the championship game is practically an afterthought moneygrab that can actually reinforce the inequity of it all. Rabble, rabble, old man shakes his fist at the skies, but we haven't had a true Big Ten champion since there were ten teams and everyone had to play everyone.
October 2nd, 2018 at 1:10 PM ^
So would all of us, but that doesn't negate anything youtoobrute said.
October 2nd, 2018 at 2:53 PM ^
So would all of us, but that doesn't negate anything youtoobrute said.
It's more a gut thing than solid evidence, but I've never been convinced by Franklin. And between some of his actions at Vanderbilt and taking over at PSU, I have not wished him well.
He's had a bit of luck so far. Let's see what happens from here.
October 2nd, 2018 at 4:44 PM ^
15 years...let that one sink in. 15 years...my God.
October 2nd, 2018 at 12:32 PM ^
PENN STATE HAD INJURIES! WHAT ABOUT THE INJURIES??!!
October 2nd, 2018 at 11:53 AM ^
And Gene Chizik has a national championship. Having the best OC in the country and the best player in the country in the same year can mask a lot of deficiencies.
October 2nd, 2018 at 11:42 AM ^
On the podcast yesterday, they talked with Jamie about the fact that the vast majority of Penn State's offense comes from McSorley, and that basically the trio of Mcsorley/Barkley/Moorhead is what held them up the last couple of years. Meaning, you have to wonder what they will look like once Mcsorley is gone. Obviously if he found Moorhead he can find another good coach, but they don't grow on trees, and it really doesn't fix how terrible of a game manager he is
October 2nd, 2018 at 11:49 AM ^
Am I the only one that thinks the decision to go for 2 was kinda dumb in that situation? I mean, I know the chart says to go for 2 when you're up 12, but it also says to go for 2 when you're down 1, so a head coach needs to use some judgment. There were exactly 8 minutes on the clock, as I recall, and it wasn't unreasonable at that point to figure PSU may get a stop and/or force a FG, and they may burn enough clock or get another score to put the game out of reach... I just didn't like it in that situation, but maybe I'm the idiot.
October 2nd, 2018 at 11:53 AM ^
The worse decison was to go for it on 4th and 1 instead of kicking the short field goal to go ahead. Why wouldn't you take the lead in the 4th?! I get being aggressive, but come on.
October 2nd, 2018 at 11:58 AM ^
That was the biggest head-scratcher to me. Cost them the game. He obviously doesn't have faith in his placekicker.
October 2nd, 2018 at 12:05 PM ^
Because he doesn't know how to manage a game correctly. PSU could've been sitting on a 30-14 lead midway through the 4th quarter, which would've almost been insurmountable for OSU. There's plenty for Lion fans to question about how this game was managed on Saturday. Penn State played more than well enough to beat the Buckeyes and some boneheaded calls cost them.
October 2nd, 2018 at 1:50 PM ^
Insurmountable? Bo Schembechler's 1988 Michigan squad says hi. So does Jimmy Johnson's Miami squad from that year. I was at that game. With about 8 min left in the 4th quarter, the Hurricanes overcame a 30-16 deficit and won 31-30.
October 2nd, 2018 at 2:50 PM ^
Yeah, that's managing a game by a chart rather than the situation. Personally I think that chart should be thrown out, as it's basing a decision on a situation that has not happened yet and might not, as opposed to present circumstances that are reality.
October 2nd, 2018 at 11:58 AM ^
I’m sure PSU has recruited another QB. Maybe the next kid will be just as good or better - Haskins for example.
October 2nd, 2018 at 12:00 PM ^
That's entirely possible, but he won't be coached by Moorhead, is my point.
October 2nd, 2018 at 1:04 PM ^
Or they could take whichever of Jalen Hurts or Kelly Bryant they think is the better QB.
October 2nd, 2018 at 1:56 PM ^
Oooo that's a tough one.
Which QB throws the least badly?
October 2nd, 2018 at 12:07 PM ^
I'm sure he's recruited another good QB. If his recruiting ability is any indication, he's likely recruited a guy who has an even higher ceiling than McSorely.
Doesn't guarantee that he'll be better, but McSorely was fairly unheralded coming out of high school. Had a lot of "meh" offer from places like UVa and BC, and now he's arguably the best QB Penn State has ever had.
October 2nd, 2018 at 11:43 AM ^
I still can't believe that was their playcall. That's like Borges and Hoke out of the timeout against OSU bad.
October 2nd, 2018 at 4:37 PM ^
Yup, run the same play out of the same formation. It happened right in front of me and I couldn't believe that they were that dumb.
At the time, I wanted them to kick the XP and play for the win in OT. I didn't know Gardner was playing on a broken foot... Damn... Now I'm all sad.
October 2nd, 2018 at 11:47 AM ^
I’d take his results over Harbaugh, and he had a much tougher rebuild.
October 2nd, 2018 at 11:55 AM ^
The thought that he had a much tougher build is a farse. Tom Obrien saved PSU from the pit they were supposed to go in. He kept upperclassman around who kept the underclassman. I will give Franklin his due for his recruiting but as a football coach he is an complete fraud.
Lets look at who he has actually beaten in the last 3 seasons.
OSU in 2016 and Washington. Washington was legit even though the P12 is poop.
He cost his team the MSU game and OSU games last year, the rose bowl and cost them dearly the other night. He struck gold with Mcsorely and Barkley, and without those two he is already fired.
Look how much 1 play changed the narrative on this clown.
October 2nd, 2018 at 12:06 PM ^
Bill O'Brien, not Tom.
October 2nd, 2018 at 12:43 PM ^
Did I say he was a better coach? No. Look at the results, they have 5-6 very good wins over last few years. Any neutral fan would say PSU has better results than UM.
They had scholarship reductions his first few years I believe and he was recruiting with other coaches using the JoPa situation against him.
You can say he's been lucky with McSorely and Barkley, but others could say Harbaugh has been lucky with Peppers and Rudock. Without Rudock in year one Harbaugh would most likely be on the hot seat right now.
I didn't say I'd rather have Franklin over Harbaugh, just stating the facts. It makes the fanbase look dumb when they try to bash a guy who has run a clean program and is outperforming this one. Hopefully this year is the turning point.
October 2nd, 2018 at 12:56 PM ^
49-10. Do you know the last time Michigan lost by 39+ points? 1935, 40-0 against Minnesota. Even RichRod never managed that.
Outcoached by Brady Hoke.
Brady Hoke.
BRADY HOKE!
The man is not a good football coach. This isn't particularly debatable. Continuing to press this point only proves that you aren't able to make a second-level analysis of the situation.
By your analysis, Buster Douglas was a phenomenal boxer, the Soviet Red Army team was terrible at hockey, and Forrest Gump was the best shrimper in history.
It's not that results don't matter; it's just that they don't always tell the whole story. In this particular case, the results are extremely misleading.
October 2nd, 2018 at 1:22 PM ^
Why are you talking about Brady Hoke here? Harbaugh beat Franklin 49-10, the next year Franklin beat Harbaugh 42-13.
Keep going with that 1 game sample size though.
October 2nd, 2018 at 2:05 PM ^
Harbaugh also beat Franklin 28-16 in 2015, and it wasn't even that close (we took a knee inside their 10 to end the game).
And yes, Brady Hoke beat him in '14. So we've seen Franklin's work up close four times, and it's been ugly for him in three of them.
October 2nd, 2018 at 2:57 PM ^
Because Brady Hoke has been established as a terrible coach, whose one good year was a result of not quite screwing up Denard yet and having ridiculously good luck.
And yet, he out-coached James Franklin.
Not because Michigan won the game, and not because Hoke was in any good -- his end-of-half clock management was awful. But Franklin's end-of-game clock management was his "hold my beer." With about two minutes left in the game... he used a much-needed timeout to avoid a delay of game penalty... on fourth down... from the two yard line... when they were already planning to take an intentional safety. Surprising nobody but himself, when the on-side free kick failed, PSU never touched the ball again. (I suppose I should give him some credit for not kicking deep).
Evidence has simply piled up from there.
October 2nd, 2018 at 2:44 PM ^
" The man is not a good football coach. "
The man is not a good in-game coach.
...but coaching is WAY more than just that.
If coach A recruits enough better than coach B to win every game, even though he is a worse in-game coach... coach A is the better coach.
The results are a sum of the various facets of coaching. If the results are good - you're a good coach. The SUM of the parts is what matters.
October 2nd, 2018 at 3:58 PM ^
Uhhhh... No.
Recruiting is part of the sum total of a program, and some head coaches add to that in a big way. But no way a better recruiter can make up the difference between giving your players a chance to win as opposed what Franklin did Sat.
You can ultimately blame the coach of the program doesn't recruit well, but can't knock his coaching if he's doing more with less.
October 2nd, 2018 at 12:05 PM ^
Why did Franklin have a much tougher rebuild?
October 2nd, 2018 at 12:07 PM ^
Woooo boy - Grabbing my popcorn for this
I agree with you.
The vast majority here will not.
I expect to see at least 2 people comment in the moderator sticky to demand you are banned.
This place can be such a circle jerk about protecting Harbaugh, regardless of any real results.
Everything he does is the best and any failures are not his fault and "just wait for next year!"
October 2nd, 2018 at 12:37 PM ^
No, the board just doesn't have any patience for the neverending parade of trollish hot takes regarding Harbaugh. You posted nothing of substance here, just a bunch of flamebait hoping to get a nibble.
Is Michigan where we had hoped to be when Harbaugh took over? No. Is Michigan better off than we have been in the past 15-20 years regardless? Yes. If you don't agree with that, then come back with the alternative; otherwise you're just trolling.
October 2nd, 2018 at 1:25 PM ^
Agreed. Look at how Michigan played under the last two coaches. I doubt they win the game at Northwestern. Harbaugh is our guy. This thing is going to take off in my opinion. Maybe not this season but soon we will be in the mix again. We should have beat OSU in 2016.