Is this amateur hour at its finest?

Midnighter

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Just read an article on the SI website. It stated the PSU made a statement in the summer before the season started that these 2 were removed from the university and the team before the season even started. So PSU already made a statement about the incident. This is only now being talked about because the police finally formally filed charges? So these hacks need to ask the question to cause problems. This situation seems to have been handled exactly as it should have by the university but the media wants the football coach to be a lawyer/PR/expert on these things? Why does a football coach need to respond to university legal proceedings which he can't talk about anyway? I mean WTF!! No one saying these guys are innocent and they have been dealt with by the university and now it is up to the law. Why does Franklin need to comment on it? PSU should just put out another statement to get a head of the narrative the media is going to make up.

The question wasn't, 'how did you respond to allegations of misconduct/rape/sexual assault by your players,' it was 'when did you find out?' which is the kind of thing you don't want to answer if the answer is, 'um, a month before we kicked them off the team,' or some other timeline that looks bad.
 
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BiochemPSU

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Didn’t Greg already tell her just that? Someone needs to give Franklin your phone number so he can consult with you about how to answer future media questions.

Didn’t realize PSU was a government agency. Thanks for your help. It’s only because people who think like you that the media has “control” these days.
Another graduate of the Pitt Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good and Who Wanna Learn to Do Other Stuff Good Too. People who think like me? Everyone has a phone, computer, tablet, and TV; you get 24/7 instant updates on anything and everything now. This message board isn't the media yet it spreads information via a "pay to know first" business model. You planning on stopping that how exactly? We going Spanish Inquisition and burning people at the stake? Concentration camps? You can't stop the flow of information, all you can control is what you put out there into the universe. I'm just saying do it smartly because people have a large distrust for these faceless entities, be they governmental or corporate in nature.
 
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Moogy

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Saoirse Ronan Bingo GIF by A24
Shocking response from a dedicated Franklin hater.
 
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Psu00

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Agree to an extent. OTOH, even allowing CJF to say those two sentences makes him a de facto spokesman on the matter and he'd likely be criticized for stonewalling by saying "no comment". The university likely wants the public information office to be the sole outlet for such statements.

Like it or not Franklin had to address the issue…… even if it was for him just to say he couldn’t address the issue and refer it to the university rep. Coaches have done this at other universities over the years.
 
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Moogy

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Like it or not Franklin had to address the issue…… even if it was for him just to say he couldn’t address the issue and refer it to the university rep. Coaches have done this at other universities over the years.
The way they handled it was better. Saying nothing is better than saying something to say you were saying nothing. Keep it at the University level and don't engage it at the football program level.
 
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Psu00

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Well the lynch mob ESPN was going to give this an anti-PSU spin regardless of how it was handled.

True, but a story about former players accused of a crime would disappear in a day or so until their trial started again.

Franklin and the PSU PR rep just threw a softball down the center of the plate for ESPN to create a new story and run with it. It’s no longer what 2 former players allegedly did, but how Franklin appears to not really care. We all know that’s BS but you know what the media and twitterverse will do with that.
 

BiochemPSU

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PSU should probably dial back the apparent indignance. Bad look.
I'm out now with another written statement that contains an apology for how this was handled. People appreciate when you own up to a mistake. Make Franklin available at a later date for questions, but throw it back on the media to appreciate the fact that the criminal process needs to play out for both the accused and the victims in the court room and not in the public arena, so Franklin will be very limited in what he actually can talk about. That PSU and the football program are here to support the community during these difficult times and that we want to see justice for those involved in this matter after the process has played out in its entirety. Good grief, it's not that hard, just act like a normal human being.
 

Psu00

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The way they handled it was better. Saying nothing is better than saying something to say you were saying nothing. Keep it at the University level and don't engage it at the football program level.

I respectfully disagree. The optics were terrible and have now created a new story.

I think if Franklin had just said I can’t address it and allow the university rep to give the statement that would have been fine too. It was the irritation shown, the theatrics of running from the microphone and summoning the PR rep only to return each time with ‘Hey guys, any questions?’ as if nothing happened and the PR guy getting irritated and angry that just made a bad situation worse IMO.
 

Midnighter

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I respectfully disagree. The optics were terrible and have now created a new story.

I think if Franklin had just said I can’t address it and allow the university rep to give the statement that would have been fine too. It was the irritation shown, the theatrics of running from the mike and summoning the PR rep only to return each time with ‘Hey guys, any questions?’ as if nothing happened and the PR guy getting irritated and angry that just made a bad situation worse IMO.


Spot On Channel 9 GIF by The Block
 
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LionJim

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It seems likely that CJF was taken by surprise at being asked the question. He needed to be prepared for it, if only to say ”Sorry, but I won’t comment.” Seems to me to be a rookie mistake. Asking oneself “What kind of BS am I likely to see thrown my way today?” is a valuable life hack. The fact that the reporters were told the subject was verboten doesn’t change this.
 
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Grant Green

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It seems likely that CJF was taken by surprise at being asked the question. He needed to be prepared for it, if only to say ”Sorry, but I won’t comment.” Seems to me to be a rookie mistake. Asking oneself “What kind of BS am I likely to see thrown my way today?” is a valuable life hack. The fact that the reporters were told the subject was verboten doesn’t change this.
I had the opposite take. He seemed like he was waiting for it to come up and knew that he was going to immediately yield to the PSU spokesman (not sure who that is). He started walking away before the first question was finished.
 

manatree

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That was the worst press conference performance since Chambers' post Watkins arrest fiasco.

The entire point of having a press conference is to allow the reporters to ask questions. If you don't want them to ask questions, or want to tell them what questions they can or cannot ask, don't hold the press conference.

I understand that PSU released an official statement the day before, but it is the reporters job to ask questions. Even after the statement was read it is still their job to ask Franklin for any comments. Why ask? Because they just might answer it.

There is no great way to handle the situation, but to have Franklin walk away from the microphone and have the two PSU media folks whine about it was childish. Just allow Franklin to answer the question with "I cannot comment on the situation. Next question please."

And for those saying that PSU should revoke press credentials, you are even dumber than the folks that prepped Franklin for that press conference.
 

Midnighter

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Snyder has an article on The Athletic about this. Below are the only mentions of Franklin:

Penn State football coach James Franklin declined to answer questions about the charges against Lyons and Keys after Wednesday’s practice.

By Aug. 3, both were removed from the roster and coach James Franklin would not entertain questions about their removal from the team and the university.
 

PSUJam

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Snyder has an article on The Athletic about this. Below are the only mentions of Franklin:

Penn State football coach James Franklin declined to answer questions about the charges against Lyons and Keys after Wednesday’s practice.

By Aug. 3, both were removed from the roster and coach James Franklin would not entertain questions about their removal from the team and the university.
You want to see a BS/CYA take from Audrey?

Again, she posted the video before the presser was even over.

 

OhioLion

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Oct 12, 2021
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The university released a statement yesterday and indicated there would be no further comment. Then, the spokesperson read a statement which concluded with "...we released a statement yesterday and our program and athletic department will have no further comment.”

What effin part of that statement did she and her buddy not understand? For her to ask a question literally 20 seconds after being told there would not be any further comments was like dealing with a 1st grader and was complete grandstanding on her part.

If I were PSU, I'd yank her media credentials for the rest of the year.
I actually was thinking it reminded me of my days teaching sixth grade students. Read the directions, work an example, and immediately get a question on what they were suppose to do.
 
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Lion84

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Maybe she should have posted - we were told they would not answer questions about this but I asked anyway and sure enough they would’t answer questions about it - I guess not as sexy as “refused” to answer questions.
 

PSUJam

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Maybe she should have posted - we were told they would not answer questions about this but I asked anyway and sure enough they would’t answer questions about it - I guess not as sexy as “refused” to answer questions.
Audrey shut off all comments after she posted it. She knew exactly what she was doing. She's a hack that tries to hot take her way to 5 minutes of fame. She hit this time, now let's see where it gets her in the next PC.
 

WestSideLion

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Oddly enough, Audrey Snyder and John Sauber's podcast, Nittany Dispatch has not been uploaded this week - they usually do that early in the week. Not sure if this issue had anythng to do with it.

I don't have a problem with CJF's response. This is a legal matter of two former players/students. What kind of response is he supposed to provide? Any kind of response would have just invited more questions that he is not in a position to answer.

But, I guess at PSU, it is the head football coach's responsibility to deal with, and address questions about, criminal activities of former players. :rolleyes:
You listen to Audrey Snider’s podcast, ro? We gotta talk mano a mano, friend.
 

wbcbus

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PR folks will use this as a case study. What a completely unforced error. All Franklin has to do is not come in with the attitude and state simply and politely that he’s unable to comment on ongoing legal matters. It couldn’t be easier, and this wouldn’t have made a blip on the national radio. Instead, his attitude towards it and the indignance of the PSU rep have our reputation again being dragged through the mud. Whether that’s justified or not is completely irrelevant, it’s happening and could’ve been avoided through the most basic of PR management.
 
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grinagrin

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Oct 25, 2021
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PR folks will use this as a case study. What a completely unforced error. All Franklin has to do is not come in with the attitude and state simply and politely that he’s unable to comment on ongoing legal matters. It couldn’t be easier, and this wouldn’t have made a blip on the national radio. Instead, his attitude towards it and the indignance of the PSU rep have our reputation again being dragged through the mud. Whether that’s justified or not is completely irrelevant, it’s happening and could’ve been avoided through the most basic of PR management.
Even if CJF came out from the beginning and said what you suggested, our idiotic beat writers would still ask those questions for their own personal agenda and waste everyone’s time…
 

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