“People look at you
strange saying you changed, like you worked hard to stay the same… and what
happens most of the time, people change. People change around you because they
start treating you different because of your success.”
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| (Photo by: landof10.com) |
That is the beginning of a song called They Don’t Love You No More, lyrics by Jay-Z. This applies to the
recent CBSSports.com article which
has 20% of college football coaches at the FBS level saying Penn State head
coach James Franklin is overrated. Yes, the same James Franklin that led
Vanderbilt to back-to-back 9-4 records. The same James Franklin that led
Vanderbilt to Top 25 finishes in two of the three seasons he was with the
Commodores. Let me also remind you of this; Vanderbilt, the doormat of the SEC
prior to Franklin’s arrival, was awful. How awful? Well, they hadn’t finished
in the Top 25 in more than 60 years. SIXTY YEARS. And there is this too, they’re
18-31 since he left (6-26 in SEC play) and likely won’t sniff the Top 25
anytime soon. Yes, THAT James Franklin is considered “overrated”.
Do we really need to get into the reasons why Franklin is
far from overrated? Apparently, we do.
Here are five reasons why James Franklin is NOT overrated.
1.
He wins.
I think this one speaks for itself. I’ve already mentioned what he did at
Vanderbilt. What about his accomplishments in State College? Are we going to
forget about that time he took a program coming off crippling NCAA sanctions
and in his third season was able to win a Big Ten Championship? Even going 7-6
in back-to-back seasons under those conditions with very little to work with in
terms of a roster is impressive. Last season he led the Nittany Lions to a
second straight 11-win season and a New Year’s Six bowl, taking out the
Washington Huskies and head coach Chris Peterson. Oh, by the way, 12% of those same coaches who said Franklin is
overrated, said Peterson is underrated. Weird, right?
2.
He can
recruit very, very well. The top coaches in college football all have one
thing in common, they can recruit talent. They can recruit college talent and
develop them into NFL talent because they bring in the right coaches to do so.
They know their area to recruit and they do it extremely well. They dive into
other areas of the country for that talent, and they get it. Penn State
football has been around a very long time and it hasn’t seen recruiting like
this in a very long time. Maybe ever.
3.
He can
market the hell out of his program. If you say that James Franklin is a top
notch X’s and O’s coach, you’re probably more wrong than you are right. If you
say that James Franklin is marketing genius and knows how to sell his program
to fans, alumni, letterman, and most importantly the families of those
recruits, then you’re 100% right. He is a marketing genius and if you’re going
to do what Franklin has done at Penn State, which is become a consistent top
tier team, you need to have those skills.
4.
He gets
it. If we’re being honest, James Franklin is a college head coach to his
core. He gets what that means. He gets what he has to do when he walks into
living rooms across the country to sit down with 16, 17, and 18-year old high
school players and their families. He gets what the fans want at a place like
Penn State and that is to win. He’s done that. I truly believe he isn’t going
anywhere anytime soon and if I’m anywhere close to right, then the winning is
going to continue at a high level. National Championships are coming to State
College.
5.
What you
see is what you get. I’ve had the chance to meet and talk with Franklin on
one occasion and he was exactly like he seems. Can he be a little brash? Sure.
But you have to be at times as a college head coach. Does he move to the beat
of his own drum? Yes. But his team follows that beat. He wants the best for his
team which means both on and off the field success. He wants the best for Penn
State which means bringing not just a winning team to Happy Valley, but a
winning program.
James Franklin’s critics will use plenty of excuses to say
why he is overrated but the fact is, he isn’t. It’s simple as that. I dare you
to name 10 head coaches in college football that do everything a head coach needs
to do in order to be successful better than James Franklin. The fact about that
is, you can’t.
I recently heard a discussion on sports radio about the next
coach to win a national title other than the four right now that have one
(Urban Meyer, Nick Saban, Dabo Swinney, Jimbo Fisher), and Franklin’s name was
immediately brought up as one of the 2-3 that could be next. If a coach is
overrated as Franklin is said to be, why is his name brought up in
conversations like this?
Answer: because he is NOT overrated.
End of story.
