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Penn State AD: James Franklin is 'not on the hot seat'
If I told you before the season began that Penn State would start its season 2-2, you probably would not have been surprised.
On paper, games against Kent State and Temple looked like wins, a game at Pittsburgh seemed like a toss-up and a game at Michigan seemed like a loss. Penn State beat Kent State and Temple, and lost to Pitt and Michigan.
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So why, after four games of James Franklin’s third season at Penn State, is PSU athletic director Sandy Barbour answering questions about Franklin’s job status?
“James is not on any hot seat. He’s not on the hot seat, and he’s not going to be on the hot seat in December,” Barbour told The Altoona (Pa.) Mirror. “James is going to be our football coach. I believe in where this football program is going under James Franklin, and I think he’s going to be our football coach, period.”
Last weekend’s loss, a 49-10 beatdown at the hands of the No. 4 Michigan Wolverines, was bad any way you look it. Some hot seat chatter already surrounded Franklin after back-to-back 7-6 records in his first two seasons since coming over from Vanderbilt, and the chatter ramped up after Saturday’s ugly performance where the Nittany Lions were dominated in every phase of the game.
Barbour acknowledged Saturday’s performance was “disappointing,” but now a few years removed from the sanctions that stemmed from the Jerry Sandusky mess, says Penn State is “where [it] ought to be.”
“Was Saturday disappointing? Of course it was. But no one’s more disappointed than our coaching staff and our student-athletes in our football program. So I certainly understand where our fans are coming from and the disappointment.”
Barbour credited Michigan for being a “really, really good football team” and said the Wolverines are “in the neighborhood of where we’re trying to get back to.” She also made sure to point out that Michigan has not had to deal with scholarship sanctions the way Penn State did.
Ah yes, the sanctions. At what point are those sanctions, which dramatically cut available scholarships, no longer a valid excuse for mediocre results? They were, after all, reduced in 2013 (and completely lifted in 2015), allowing Franklin to bring in three straight full recruiting classes, all of which were ranked in the top 25 nationally by Rivals.com.
The roster is back to a full complement of 85 scholarship players, but what the Nittany Lions severely lack in comparison to a team like Michigan is talent and depth among its upperclassmen (PSU’s top three linebackers — two of which are seniors — all being injured didn’t help, either). This isn’t to say there haven’t been some underwhelming parts of Franklin’s tenure, particularly his in-game coaching and decision making. Any way you look at it, a 49-10 loss ultimately falls back on coaching, but Barbour is right to pump the brakes on any perceived tenuousness in Franklin’s job status — for now.
For now, the effects of the sanctions are legitimate but waning.
“[Sanctions are] part of our reality,” Barbour said. “I know lots of folks view that as an excuse, and I don’t like to make excuses either, but that’s our reality.”
Barbour said she will judge Franklin on a season-by-season basis, not week-by-week.
Penn State’s next two games against Minnesota and Maryland, both at home, are very winnable. Win those games, and the young Nittany Lions are probably on their way to another respectable seven-win season with raised expectations in 2017.
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Seven wins isn’t what Penn State fans want to hear, especially with three national powers — Ohio State, Michigan and Michigan State — in the same division. But with a new offense showing improvement from Franklin’s first two years, the program’s trajectory would still be trending up at seven wins — even if the win total wouldn’t necessarily show it.
However, if PSU loses those games and plunges toward a losing record, calls for Franklin’s job would get a lot louder, and have a lot more validity behind them.
Nonetheless, it looks like Barbour (who, it should be noted, did not hire Franklin) is going to be patient.
From the Mirror:
As she pointed out several times, patience and trusting the process are two key elements in judging Franklin and the overall program.
“I believe very strongly that we’re going to get to a competitive place where everybody’s going to be really excited about Penn State,” Barbour said. “It may take longer than some people want, it may take longer than some people think.
“Frankly, all of us would like it to happen today. There are just some of us that believe there are some realities – not necessarily that any of us can control – that I think dictate giving it a little bit longer runway than most would like.”
For more Penn State news, visit BlueWhiteIllustrated.com.
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Sam Cooper is a writer for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
