What is there to like about Coach Franklin?
- Thread starter BobPSU92
- Start date
1. Excellent high level executive functioning
2. Outstanding recruiter
3. Sharp eye for coaching talent
4. 'Gets' and lives Penn State/Success With Honor
5. From Pennsylvania
6. At times understands and acknowledges coaching shortcomings
7. Great in front of a camera
8. Very much a player's coach
9. Well organized
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He makes me appreciate my hairline so he has that going for him.... 
Under Franklin, the Nittany Lions are 2-15 against top-10 teams and 1-10 against top-5 teams. Since taking over as head coach in 2014, Penn State football is 1-8 against Ohio State and 3-6 against Michigan. All for $7m per year. I’d like to think Joe set a bar higher than that.
Nick Singleton is one of the best running backs in the country. Franklin has to make sure he's happy and keep recruiting him or he can leave for Bama if he wants. There's no more white tape with the players last name on their forehead of their helmet to identify them anymore.
Loved Joe but how do you think he'd make out these days with all the moving parts with NIL, the transfer portal causing constant recruitment of your own players, players wanting long hair and identity, social media issues etc.
There is NO off-season anymore with the format these coaches are going through. It's no life I'd like to live, $7 million or not.
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Start here then maybe:
| 1995 | Kutztown (WR) |
|---|---|
| 1996 | East Stroudsburg (DB) |
| 1996 | Roskilde Kings (OC) |
| 1997 | James Madison (WR) |
| 1998 | Washington State (TE) |
| 1999 | Idaho State (WR) |
I'd be willing to bet in these 6 years of coaching he didn't gross six figures altogether.
Joe may have wanted to set the bar higher but he did not. But keep grinding. You might get it right one day.
And the salary is a weak crutch. Get past it and grow the eff up.
$7 million. So easy a caveman can do it.
"Douds, John Lawson (Roskilde Kings of the Danish American Football Federation)"
The 11 Head Coaches Who Molded Penn State’s James Franklin
Answer: John Chaump, Denny Douds, Al Leonzi, John Lawson, Alex Wood, Mike Price, Larry Lewis, Ron Vanderlinden, Ralph Friedgen, Mike Sherman and Ron Prince. Question: Name the head coaches James Franklin played for and/or coached under.
www.statecollege.com
Ahhhh, you see this is where fantasy doesn't always meet reality. This is why I cannot take people seriously when they keep repeating this message board BS. One school ALL TIME has a record over .500 against the top 10...ONE. USC....that is it and it is barely over .500. As far as PSU and Joe goes.....well it's not what you are pretending it is. Below isn't a dig on Joe at all....yes you lose more to the top 5-10 than you win...even the great Joe got pushed around by the higher ranked teams all time. That is the reality in this sport and it pretty much goes for most schools.
Now Bama under Saban may be better as well as UGa the last 3 years, but newsflash....that is the total exception to the rule. So while people keep spouting out these salary numbers because they wish it was still 1982....it's not. This is what the current market is paying for a top 10-15 coach in college football.
Penn State Football: a look back at the Nittany Lions’ struggles against top 5 opponents over the years
After the loss at Michigan, we took a look back at Penn State Football's (mostly) unsuccessful history against top five competition.
victorybellrings.com
Across 46 seasons and 409 total wins, Joe Paterno put together a record of 13-33 against top five opponents. Eight of those 13 wins came in the 1980s.
Joe Paterno would coach another 25 years following that 1986 campaign, and over those 25 years, compiled a record of just 3-17 against top five teams. His last win over a top five opponent came in a week one win over Arizona in 1999. Paterno coached for parts of 12 seasons in the 21st century and failed to record a single top five win.
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Ahhhh, you see this is where fantasy doesn't always meet reality. This is why I cannot take people seriously when they keep repeating this message board BS. One school ALL TIME has a record over .500 against the top 10...ONE. USC....that is it and it is barely over .500. As far as PSU and Joe goes.....well it's not what you are pretending it is. Below isn't a dig on Joe at all....yes you lose more to the top 5-10 than you win...even the great Joe got pushed around by the higher ranked teams all time. That is the reality in this sport and it pretty much goes for most schools.
Now Bama under Saban may be better as well as UGa the last 3 years, but newsflash....that is the total exception to the rule. So while people keep spouting out these salary numbers because they wish it was still 1982....it's not. This is what the current market is paying for a top 10-15 coach in college football.
Penn State Football: a look back at the Nittany Lions’ struggles against top 5 opponents over the years
After the loss at Michigan, we took a look back at Penn State Football's (mostly) unsuccessful history against top five competition.
Across 46 seasons and 409 total wins, Joe Paterno put together a record of 13-33 against top five opponents. Eight of those 13 wins came in the 1980s.
Joe Paterno would coach another 25 years following that 1986 campaign, and over those 25 years, compiled a record of just 3-17 against top five teams. His last win over a top five opponent came in a week one win over Arizona in 1999. Paterno coached for parts of 12 seasons in the 21st century and failed to record a single top five win.
Without context the wins/losses vs. top five teams is sort of meaningless - I'd want to know what Penn State was ranked when playing these teams. My guess is 'lower' for the majority of them (which is usually the case now). Again, the record vs. top five, top ten teams is really incestuous for Penn State because most of those teams are Michigan and Ohio State. Bigger problem for Penn State has been losing to teams they should beat, like Minnesota and Pitt.
Paterno would have approved of James Franklin and how he's run the great program he created!
PSU had 4 losing seasons in 5 years at one point under Paterno. Minnesota you say,,,,who was #2 in the country and lost to Minnesota at home in 99? In reality Joe had 2-3 average seasons usually (7-9 wins) and went on a run every 4th year. There are exceptions to that, but it was something like that. That was more of the norm under him and it was a GREAT run under Joe. Even when it's pointed out these records against top 10 is the norm people will move the lines as they need it to fit their opinions.
The year JF lost to Pitt they beat tOSU and won the Big Ten title. So that is a pretty bold choice to make as that team started out awful and completely turned it around. That year was a great example of a coach not losing the team and turning it around. For someone who says they are fine with JF you sure seem to get defensive when it's pointed out that coaches don't tend to excel against the top 10. I think Jimmy Harbaugh was 2-13 versus top 10 going into 2021. I think he is now 4-15 or something close to that. So last year when he beat the teams he was supposed to....it was just ho-hum. 4 NYD bowls and 11 win seasons in 7 years is just the average. JF has lost games he shouldn't have. Guess what....so has every single HC ever. JF has messed up play calling, timeouts, and had teams come out flat. Guess what, so has just about every HC around. There are a handful of HC's playing at a handful of schools doing better. Most of them are already being paid more as the salary chart Marshall posted bares that out. I know he isn't perfect, but I also know PSU is in a decent spot right now under him too.
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Ehhh, you taking this too personally. Of course Joe blew games. So has Franklin. My point was the things standing in the way of progress (getting to the next level) haven't been Michigan and OSU as much as self inflicted wounds via bad losses.
You're confusing defensiveness for objective honesty. Very obvious you are ride or die with JF. Good for you.
Now you're just projecting. By saying most coaches against the top 10 have similar records isn't objective honesty somehow? Am I making that up or is it true? I'm not ride or die with JF, that is you projecting. I deal with reality. He's a top 15 coach currently and being paid as such. His record against the top 10 is about the same of many of his peers. UM fans were saying the same exact BS 3 years ago about his top 10 record (OSU and MSU records) and plenty wanted to move on from him. A ton of fans are knee jerk and don't tend to look at the overall picture. The health of this program right now really isn't bad...so I'm not sure what this is even all about outside of the few that hate on JF no matter what (you are not that guy either, not at all).
Ride or die...absolutely not, but after four 11 win seasons in 7 years and coming off a Rose Bowl and a team that is projected to be decent....yeah...I'm saying he's doing ok. If he comes out and lays an egg this year and next....my opinion could change, but I'm talking about what is actually occurring and not repeating message board cliches that most people don't even bother to look at across the board.
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Right. He is doing okay. Is that what we're talking about here? Him being okay? Definitely a good coach and appropriately compensated? Yes - I think most agree with that. But, you are chastising anyone with a dissenting opinion and I don't get it. The record vs. top teams and OSU and UM is a fact. As are the 11 win season and NYD bowl games/wins. Great. You don't have to push back on how folks choose to deploy their fandom and/or criticism of Franklin. He does a lot of things very well and has work to do in other areas. The trajectory is up - but it was up in 2016 too. We're sort of flatlined at 11 win seasons with two predictable losses until we can get over the hump. That, of course, is the problem of only a handful of programs, so we're in good company, but knowing you like to play 'whatabout', Mark Richt was as or more successful at Georgia than Franklin at Penn State and they went out, got a better coach, and have won two National Championships in the hardest conference in football. To that point, Georgia was not as historically successful as Penn State (they have since surpassed). None of this is knee jerk - Franklin is in his ninth year here. It's valid to ask if he's ever going to win another B1G Championship and/or make the playoff.
So what do we like about Franklin?
The problem is to a vocal few here, you can't hold any dissenting or critical view of Franklin and still say positive things about him. It's the same three posters over, and over, and over again.
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