I wrote a few months ago that head coach James Franklin is not overrated like
some people say he is. The in-game mistakes that have been made in the last few
years against likes of Ohio State and Michigan State are easily correctable. I’m
not making excuses for those situational mistakes because they’ve cost us potential
trips to the Big Ten Championship game and possible trips to the College
Football Playoffs. But to say Franklin is overrated, or that fans would be OK
with him leaving for another job, is simply ridiculous. That tells me that Penn
State fans, like most college football fans, are very spoiled.
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I don’t have insider knowledge. I don’t have ‘sources’. And nothing
I say is (usually) to be taken seriously, but this is something I’m a firm
believer in, James Franklin is NOT leaving Penn State any time soon.
The fact that he has gotten the Nittany Lions to where they
are now being another thing I don’t think fans really comprehend, winning 7
games each of his first two seasons is perhaps more impressive than the
back-to-back 11-win seasons and Big Ten title since 2016.
When I watched Franklin’s introductory press conference I compared
it to Bill O’Brien’s and one of the biggest differences was that O’Brien’s seemed
scripted and it didn’t feel like this was his “dream job”, which is
understandable because O’Brien is an NFL guy. Franklin is not. When I watched
Franklin’s I could tell he wanted to build Penn State into one of the top
programs in college football and wanted to be here for the long haul. This is his dream job.
He’s getting there, by the way.
If Penn State fans are OK with what he’s done and would have
a smile on their face should he leave, that again tells me that most fans don’t
get it. Building a football program into a consistent playoff contender is not an easy
task; look at Clemson's Dabo Swinney for example. Right now, Swinney is arguably
the second best coach in the country behind Nick Saban. In his first three
seasons at Clemson however, Dabo was 4-3 (he took over for Tommy Bowden during the
2008 season), 9-5, and 6-7. In comparison, James Franklin was 7-6, 7-6, and
11-3. Franklin had less to work with and more of a challenge playing in the Big
Ten. Penn State fans apparently got so accustom to winning that they forgot
loses happen, and that the Big Ten title might’ve been ahead of schedule. Even though he hasn't gotten back to the Big Ten Championship or made the College Football Playoffs, doesn't mean he's done a bad job. He's done a great job actually.
Then again, what were your expectations when he got to State College?
With more talent coming in and Franklin getting more and
more players that he wants, the wins will keep coming. Penn State has a chance
to finish this season 10-3 and play in another New Years Six bowl against a
top-tier program. That’s a big deal. Something that fans should appreciate and
understand the significance of.
It’s easy to say that the expectations are high for Franklin
and company, rightfully so, there is nothing holding him back and nothing
holding this team back from being one of the top programs in the country. But
fans have to hold back on the notion that Franklin isn’t a good coach, or that
leaving Penn State would be OK. The fact is, he is a good coach and it wouldn’t be OK if he left.
Lets all take a step back and stop listening to local media.
Stop listening to the pundits and think about where Penn State is compared to
where you the fans thought they would be at this point. I’d say they’re pretty
doing a damn good job, wouldn’t you?
