10 years, $75 MM
- Thread starter BobPSU92
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Lol, everyone said it was a great deal for Franklin, didn't hear many saying it was a great deal for PSU..
Sandy laughs at great deals for PSU.
Honestly, why spend 75 million dollars on a coach, when PSU could build a brand new arts museum, and possibly a new food science research building into developing a better product of onion dip? Where is the priorities of this university been lately?? , (note hint of sarcasm)......
I get tired of all those people saying: Who are you going to get to replace Franklin, or things could be worse, or be careful what you wish for if PSU fires Franklin, etc. Talk about living in your fears — with the primary fear being fear of your own incompetence at identifying a suitable replacement. Just imagine a “classified ad” saying:
Head football coach position available. Will pay minimum of $7.5 million per year with ten years guaranteed. Easily achievable bonus of $500K per year (just show up and it’s yours). Committing $X million (I forget the amount and don’t want any nit pickers to say “You have your facts wrong!”) to facilities upgrades, additional recruiting budget, and assistant coaches’ salary increases. Have shown willingness to renegotiate every two years or so. Traditional NCAA football power school with no competing men’s basketball program to divert resources or attention. Located in fertile recruiting area with few natural competitors for talent. Stadium with 100,000+ seats. Tremendous fan base including world’s largest alumni association.
I could go on and on — don’t you think just MAYBE PSU would have received applications from a few worthy candidates?.
Head football coach position available. Will pay minimum of $7.5 million per year with ten years guaranteed. Easily achievable bonus of $500K per year (just show up and it’s yours). Committing $X million (I forget the amount and don’t want any nit pickers to say “You have your facts wrong!”) to facilities upgrades, additional recruiting budget, and assistant coaches’ salary increases. Have shown willingness to renegotiate every two years or so. Traditional NCAA football power school with no competing men’s basketball program to divert resources or attention. Located in fertile recruiting area with few natural competitors for talent. Stadium with 100,000+ seats. Tremendous fan base including world’s largest alumni association.
I could go on and on — don’t you think just MAYBE PSU would have received applications from a few worthy candidates?.
Like in the NFL, if you guys really want to send a message, stop supporting the program. There is only 1 way this story ends before Franklin's 10 years are up.....people stop watching, people stop going to the games, people lose faith in the program entirely. That's how you send a message to the administrators, farnklin's "107k every game mantra" turns into "60k every game" and trust me, this team starts 2 and 2 next year, its gonna start happening. Personally, I havent given up on this staff, we need to hit the portal, let's get these recruits ready to go next year. Now a 3rd year of this stuff, it's going to be time for a lot of people to stop going to games, its going to be time to turn the TV off. Franklin AND the administrators can't live without the fans, they can't fund without the fans.
Franklin and all the coaches have a lot of work to do. This season has been a huge disappointment. Some random thoughts ....
What is the offensive identity?
Fix the O Line!
Great RB room?
Line up under center and run the ball! This slow developing run game will not work.
Up our recruiting efforts for the premier D line recruits. See UMich.
Find some coaches that can excel with the recruits we get ....
For all the talk about great recruiting from CJF ....
Watching scUM run their RPO yesterday with envy. Physical run game led to explosive plays. With the OC we could have had 3 OCs ago ....
F**** Pitt is better than us this year.
Per usual, the PSU Admin blew it with CJF's new contract. We have a 500 coach that will cost (rounded) $100MM to get rid of. Call his bluff. He should be working under his prior contract with 4 years left.
What is the offensive identity?
Fix the O Line!
Great RB room?
Line up under center and run the ball! This slow developing run game will not work.
Up our recruiting efforts for the premier D line recruits. See UMich.
Find some coaches that can excel with the recruits we get ....
For all the talk about great recruiting from CJF ....
Watching scUM run their RPO yesterday with envy. Physical run game led to explosive plays. With the OC we could have had 3 OCs ago ....
F**** Pitt is better than us this year.
Per usual, the PSU Admin blew it with CJF's new contract. We have a 500 coach that will cost (rounded) $100MM to get rid of. Call his bluff. He should be working under his prior contract with 4 years left.
I’ve been told it’s not the salary that is the big deal with the contract, after all Franklin isn’t really making more money per year. Although the media types tend to forget that the school is on the hook for the remainder of a ten year contract should they decide to part ways with Franklin.
No! It is all about the facilities upgrades! The nebulous facilities issues that Franklin won’t articulate. He tells the media to do their own research on what needs to be done. I’m sure the converted closet that is now the office of the DB coach is why Penn State is 7-5 this year.
I’m done ranting. That game was a very poor look given the announcement of the contract last week.
No! It is all about the facilities upgrades! The nebulous facilities issues that Franklin won’t articulate. He tells the media to do their own research on what needs to be done. I’m sure the converted closet that is now the office of the DB coach is why Penn State is 7-5 this year.
I’m done ranting. That game was a very poor look given the announcement of the contract last week.
This is the part that I just can’t comprehend…the university had all of the leverage and still managed to
the bed.
Penn State is going to become the laughing stock of CFB if Franklin doesn’t get to the playoffs or win a NC in the next 3-5 years because this is what that kind of money and contract length tells me the administration is thinking. Especially if season records continue to remain slightly above or below 0.500. That is what this type of pay grade demands.
$7.5 MILLION....a year. What does that buy? 10 houses worth 3/4 million. 150 Lincoln Town Cars. 260 pounds of gold. 19 Cessna 172's
This could pay 136 RN's salaries. And yea, it's before taxes. Plus there are corporate exec's and pro athletes, and many who make a lot more. It's a value proposition. There are some people who just need more money to be happy than us average folk.
I guess peon's like myself shouldn't try to comprehend how this is too much or not enough. We have worthy administrators who understand the appropriate value proposition better. We just need to have faith in the belief that "we have a very bright future under James."
This could pay 136 RN's salaries. And yea, it's before taxes. Plus there are corporate exec's and pro athletes, and many who make a lot more. It's a value proposition. There are some people who just need more money to be happy than us average folk.
I guess peon's like myself shouldn't try to comprehend how this is too much or not enough. We have worthy administrators who understand the appropriate value proposition better. We just need to have faith in the belief that "we have a very bright future under James."
We got Franklin and Franklin’s got this.
It was a dumb move. I'm all for upgrading PSU's facilities and football infrastructure, but no need to extend Franklin beyond his current contract. He simply hasn't earned it, unless you count flirting with other program head coaching vacancies every year. Solid recruiter, great CEO, ****** coach.
To be clear, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, in the contract except money and benefits for Franklin. Nothing aside from how much Franklin gets paid was involved in the contract - as is the case for head coach's contracts at every program in the country. Of the hundreds of head coach contracts out there - most of which can be accessed, in their actual complete form, on line - has anyone ever seen one that stipulates specifics about "facilities" or any other such thing, something that would be a logistical and legal nightmare, if one even tried to include it? So why would anyone think this one is somehow different? It isn't.
He is still going to flirt with other schools next year.
Yeah, the 10 year contract is nothing more than window dressing. The good (but sad) news is other schools see outside of the rah rah stuff and good recruiting, Franklin is a juice not worth the squeeze. Penn State, of course, is too stupid to see that.
I dont think Pitt has played a ranked team this year, let alone beat one. Let me put it this way - if we played Pitt's schedule, we wouldn't be 7-5. And if Pitt played our schedule, they wouldn't be 10-2.
I understand that. It is just vague language from Franklin that there is “commitment” from the administration regarding facility upgrades. The media, particularly some folks at BWI, have latched onto the words about facilities and program building while forgetting that Franklin will be owed every penny remaining on his contract if the university lets him go. But hey, he didn’t get a pay increase! I hope that in two years when Franklin flirts with other programs yet again, the admin tells him his options are honor the contract or go. As they should have done this time around.
That is my frustration.
They beat Clemson. And I don’t agree at all with your schedule swapping theory. We lost to Illinois. Period.
No anybody that thinks we would just walk out and roll Pitt is crazy this season. I like SC, but I'd take Pickett any day over him.
Renegotiation will be in year 4 of the contract. The buy-out drops then. Salaries will have escalated by then, thanks to PSU, Mich. State, and what the other self-proclaimed top tier programs will soon pay (Florida, LSU, USC, et. al.) So, if Franklin's teams have become a consistent 10 or 11 win regular season factor in the conference and nationally, he holds the cards again, as others will be after him and we will want to keep him. If not, others may not want him as badly, we should not want him as badly, and we may both be "stuck".
I believe we can get the same current results, and make all the facilities and other improvements, under an up-n-coming NFL or top P5 college team Coordinator, and at a fraction of the contract price. Franklin would not give back any money last season when asked, he has not donated to the school that I recall, so he is first and last about himself. Bonuses for bowls? Isn't that what the expectations are that come with a base pay of $7.5mm?! That's ok if the school and fans are ok with it, I guess. I'm glad he wants to be here, but that should not mean we have to accommodate him. We want to be a football factory? Then hire the right guy who can get us to the top consistently. We seem to be slipping a bit these last two years, with excuses and head-scratching answers readily at hand, while other schools we compete with every season, have taken positive steps and have shown the results.
James did a remarkable job from 2014-2019, with a couple of frustrating losses, but last season, this season, and quite possibly next season look to be about as mediocre as can be. With 2023, 10-2 needs to be the lowest bar, or we're all in for being Wisconsin or Iowa or Auburn or North Carolina or any number of other 2nd-to-3rd tier teams, depending on how you consider the tiers. The topmost tier to me is a very thin plank that holds maybe half a dozen teams at any one time.
I believe we can get the same current results, and make all the facilities and other improvements, under an up-n-coming NFL or top P5 college team Coordinator, and at a fraction of the contract price. Franklin would not give back any money last season when asked, he has not donated to the school that I recall, so he is first and last about himself. Bonuses for bowls? Isn't that what the expectations are that come with a base pay of $7.5mm?! That's ok if the school and fans are ok with it, I guess. I'm glad he wants to be here, but that should not mean we have to accommodate him. We want to be a football factory? Then hire the right guy who can get us to the top consistently. We seem to be slipping a bit these last two years, with excuses and head-scratching answers readily at hand, while other schools we compete with every season, have taken positive steps and have shown the results.
James did a remarkable job from 2014-2019, with a couple of frustrating losses, but last season, this season, and quite possibly next season look to be about as mediocre as can be. With 2023, 10-2 needs to be the lowest bar, or we're all in for being Wisconsin or Iowa or Auburn or North Carolina or any number of other 2nd-to-3rd tier teams, depending on how you consider the tiers. The topmost tier to me is a very thin plank that holds maybe half a dozen teams at any one time.
Exactly.
BTW: Another infuriating inaccuracy put out there in the media is that "no raise" silliness. Franklin's new deal boosts his pay up by $1 million per year - over what it would have been - for the next four years. Not sure who initiated the propaganda that he wasn't getting more money, but I would expect it came from either Franklin's camp or Sandy Barbour's - who else would try to sell such an untruth?
But, for sure, the much bigger issue - much bigger even than the extra million per year over the next four years - is adding on an additional six years of guaranteed money, at crazy salaries. So it goes.
We need to get Franklin to quit. Make him share an office, cut his budget, and if necessary put a time clock in Lasch.
Is it still called flirting, when no one else is reciprocating?
A mediocre coach doesn’t get paid this much. Jimbo at least won an MNC but Tucker certainly doesn’t warrant his number either. You only extend Franklin to keep recruiting continuity. You sure as hell don’t up his salary. Harbaugh took a pay cut, Indiana is slashing their coach’s salary. He has done very little in the past 3 years to have earned his ‘raise’. And if he wants to flirt with other schools, go right ahead. Just change the names of OSU and Michigan to Oregon and UCLA or Bama and Arkansas. Anyone who knows football and did a deep enough dive on his teams wouldn’t go near him.
The opportunity cost - especially at an institution of higher learning - of paying for mediocrity should concern you. Your attitude is disappointing and sadly reciprocated by the financial stewards at PSU.
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The James Franklin coaching staff is the General Motors of college football. Doing less with more for years.
Clemson, OSU, and probably Alabama won’t be in the playoffs. If there ever was a year to get in it was this year, especially with a 5th year QB, a high profile OC and a 5-0 start.
Let’s say in a couple years we still suck. Could the administration really afford to pay James $60M (7.5Mx8years left) to go away? Would they? That’s the frustrating part. Unless he leaves, it feels like we’re “stuck” with him for a long time.
Let’s say in a couple years we still suck. Could the administration really afford to pay James $60M (7.5Mx8years left) to go away? Would they? That’s the frustrating part. Unless he leaves, it feels like we’re “stuck” with him for a long time.
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The fate of PSU football will be determined very quickly in my opinion. If the ten year contract puts JF on cruise control the program will continue trending down. If it motivates him do a 360 degree assessment and he effectively evaluates the good, the bad, and the ugly, the program has a chance to move beyond the 500-700 range maybe to the elite tier. Evaluating won't be enough. He must come up with fixes for the bad, and the ugly. And he is not starting from rock bottom; some of the bad and ugly at PSU might look pretty good at many/some schools. We have won the conference and have had 11 win seasons in JF's earlier years. But the move up won't be accomplished by doing the same things and expecting better results. Every play from every game film for the prior two years should be analyzed by player; and every element from tackling, to blocking, to running, to penalties, to kicking, to the training table, to the weight room, to clock management, to play calls, to the brand of jock straps being used should be graded a plus or a minus. Then you will know in detail where your weaknesses are, and then you might be able to fix them. More importantly, the standard of performance for players and coaches will become apparent, and wait for it, they can be held accountable right up to the head coach. There is a hell of a lot of work involved if you really want to know specifically where and how to elevate the program. The other alternative is to only sign the 100 best high school players in the country, and forget about the mundane stuff.
Franklin's guaranteed compensation is $7.5MM per year plus an annual $1MM "loan" for insurance, which I wonder if the university is allowed to either forgive or convert to compensation at a later tax deferred date. He also has $1.15MM in annual incentives. His buyout drops to a measly $2MM in 2024, and $1MM after that, but even the $6MM buyout in 2023 is rather minimal. I'm pretty sure that's total buyout, and not the buyout for each remaining year. So basically 3, maybe 2 years before Franklin can start looking again without an onerous penalty. I will refrain from commenting on PSU's negotiating prowess.
www.google.com
Penn St., Franklin agree to new 10-year contract
Penn State coach James Franklin has agreed to a 10-year contract extension to remain coach of the team through the 2031 season.
www.google.com
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