Finebaum Grilling James Franklin

Re: Finebaum Grilling Jame Franklin

selmaborntidefan said:

Some of you are letting your anger over Franklin blind your judgment in assessing his accomplishment.

You can bark about the East being "down" all you wish (and you're right), but that still doesn't change the fact that the players recruited to Vandy on the whole are not even in the same solar system as those who wind up at Florida or Georgia or Tennessee. Even if you want to say he had "this star and that star," he didn't have an entire roster full of them.

Georgia was so deep at QB not so long ago that both back-ups to Aaron Murray went to other schools and did pretty good (Mettenberger and Marshall). Do any of you seriously think that whoever the Vandy back-up QB was last year was really on anyone's radar? In most years, Vandy's starters wouldn't be able to beat the third string head-to-head with the three teams I mentioned.

Criticize his comments, criticize his character, but don't disparage what was a helluva accomplishment.

Should we say that the only reason Florida State was in the national title game this year is because recruiting has been "down" at Miami and Florida lately and they thus benefited? It's sort of a circular argument - isn't Franklin at Vandy at least part of the reason some other schools are down?

Again - not defending him but don't let your emotion blind your analysis.

Click to expand...

A: Both Marshall and Mettenberger got in trouble, I know that might not be your point but let's not gloss that over.
B: Franklin is making over 4 million a year, for fourth place in the SEC East. Is fourth place relatively good? Sure, it is. But, is it 4 million dollars a year good? That's the question a lot of us are asking, a lot of coaches get overhyped for modest success under difficult circumstances.

Let's put this another way. Nick Saban, former NFL head coach and BCS championship was criticized for making about what Franklin is making now. Franklin, whose bright spot on his resume is 4th place in the SEC East...

Re: Finebaum Grilling Jame Franklin

You cannot be serious here

KrAzY3 said:

A: Both Marshall and Mettenberger got in trouble, I know that might not be your point but let's not gloss that over.

Click to expand...

Completely missed the point

KrAzY3 said:

B: Franklin is making over 4 million a year, for fourth place in the SEC East. Is fourth place relatively good? Sure, it is. But, is it 4 million dollars a year good? That's the question a lot of us are asking, a lot of coaches get overhyped for modest success under difficult circumstances.

Click to expand...

Give me the name of the last guy who won nine games at Vandy in consecutive years.

For that matter....give me the name of the last guy who has consecutive winning seasons at Vandy? (It was in 1974-75 and they had TWO different coaches, one of them a former Alabama player).

Also, Franklin didn't make four million a year in the SEC, and if the SEC is actually much better than the B1G, he'll easily do better there. Furthermore, almost nobody is asking questions, people are going off on the guy.

KrAzY3 said:

Let's put this another way. Nick Saban, former NFL head coach and BCS championship was criticized for making about what Franklin is making now.

Click to expand...

Of course he was - he had said he wasn't going to be the Alabama coach. Apples and oranges. Astute observers at least noted that Saban took a pay cut to come to Alabama.

Also - are you SERIOUSLY comparing a guy who has been a head coach three years with Nick Saban after a long career of learning from your mistakes? Wouldn't it be fairer to compare their first three years as head coach at an FBS school?

Saban: 19-16-1 (.542)
Franklin: 24-15 (.615)


Now - I'm not for one second suggesting Franklin is going to have the subsequent success of Saban. I'm not even an advocate of the guy. Maybe he'll flop at Penn State or maybe not.

KrAzY3 said:

Franklin, whose bright spot on his resume is 4th place in the SEC East...

Click to expand...

We could play that game with Saban to LSU, too - couldn't we? In his first four years, he never finished higher than FIFTH in an 11-team league.


Some of you need to realize that Vandy fans don't look at the game the way our fanbase does. By their standards, he was eminently successful. It was also time for him to cash in and get out of town (a la Franchione) while the getting was good.


Franklin may flop as a head coach. He may not. But don't spin the story as the only reason he won at Vandy is because teams with significant advantages are having "down years."

How many starters at Vandy could start at Florida, Georgia, or Tennessee? Two maybe?

How many back-ups at those schools could start at Vandy? All of them.

That's all I'm saying.