James Franklin can’t help it if the grass is greener.

I gather from this that James Franklin intends to recruit a 2014 class at Penn State devoid of honor and integrity.

Or, he could simply be full of shit.  Yeah, I suppose that’s possible.

41 Comments

Filed under James Franklin Is Ready To Rumble, Recruiting

41 responses to “James Franklin can’t help it if the grass is greener.

  1. FCDore

    We’ll never forget you, Jon Franklin!

    I’m hopeful that Georgia will soon be competing with Stanford for an open DC position…

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  2. 69Dawg

    I think Franklin is a good coach but if Penn State thinks they are going to get someone better than the guy they all but ran off then they are nuts.

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  3. The Lone Stranger

    Clearly in the mind of Jimmy only Jimmy is a Man of Honor and Integrity.

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  4. Ben

    Those guys committed to Franklin, not Vanderbilt. This is a non-story, I think.

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    • You’d better hope the defensive players who’ve verballed to Georgia don’t agree. 😉

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      • David K

        I hope so but if they bolt with Grantham or re-open their recruiting , so be it. Recruiting is a relationship business and if some of those kids bonded with Grantham and no longer want to go to Georgia, good for them. If we make the right hire we should have no problem continuing to bring plenty of talent to Athens.

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        • Dawgfan Will

          There also is the possibility, as unsavory as it may be, that whoever we hire as DC may have kids who are committed more to him than to a particular school and who may come with our new DC.

          I wonder if there are any recruits out there who might give us a second look precisely because Grantham is now gone, like Davin Bellamy with Garner’s exit.

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      • Ben

        Eh, I guess I just assume the draw to play at UGA is greater than at Vandy, no matter what. Call me a Disney Dawgs.

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    • The Lone Stranger

      The story is Franklin is nothing close to a “man of integrity.”

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  5. Roswell Dawg

    Franklin is a hot head and really not that great of a coach. He came up against good competition, he lost. We lost this year because of Damian Swann’s antics, and an officiating crew who apparently had all gone through pre-frontal lobotomies in the week leading up to the game. Or they were just douche bags. Was Penn the ref on that one? Can’t remember.

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    • Mayor of Dawgtown

      Matt Moore was the ref in the UGA-Vandy game. He personally called the first bogus targeting call. He’s the one who was pulling out his flag before the hit was made.

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  6. Hogbody Spradlin

    Corch is proud of the new guy.

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  7. Irwin R Fletcher

    Can I get a footnote?

    Who said this?

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  8. Tronan

    Franklin’s an asshole. I can live with that. What I have a harder time is that he’s a hypocrite, too.

    This is why I don’t mind Spurrier. What you see is what you get – and he can be pretty funny. In an assholish way.

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    • DawgPhan

      Exactly. SOS is a dick. A finely ground and polished to a sheen, dick, but you know what you are getting. He seems to play it straight and treats his guys squarely. Franklin is more than happy to besmirch the name of a high school student if he gets to be the news story for 15 more minutes. Good riddance to him..I am sure Happy Valley is stoked to have someone willing to do anything, say anything, and look the other way when needed.

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  9. Will Trane

    Franklin is in State College Pa now. Marc Weiszer reported today that CMR was in Indianapolis on Sunday [and I guess the weekend] and due back in Athens today. What is the speculation of that trip and did he find out about CTG’ departure to Louisville while away. CTG and RP have a press conference this pm. Was UGA going to have one this pm too.

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  10. Will Trane

    Was and why is CMR in Indiana? What is the deal here Senator?

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    • Irwin R Fletcher

      http://www.afca.com/article/article.php?id=1160

      Again, there is the company called “Google”…the AFCA Convention is ‘the’ convention for coaches.

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      • DawgPhan

        shhh….knowing about the AFCA would be almost impossible for someone as far outside of the arena as Will Trane. I mean you would have to actually read articles about college football or follow coaches on twitter to know about it. Who has time for that while there are still obscure UGA coaches to complain about.

        Did you know that the women’s equestrian team has now lost 2 in a row to South Carolina…Fire him(or her I really dont know. I dont even know if they are in season right now much less if they actually lost). We need a new baseball stadium and the hot dogs in Sanford are not Kosher. Senator what happens when McGarity finds out that the White chocolate fountain at Golden Corral is neither a fountain nor chocolate. What then, senator?

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        • JonDawg

          I read this blog for several reasons, the three that come to mind the most right now are 1) I love UGA 2) The Senator’s writing style appeals to me, and he’s informative 3) and for dressing downs such as the one above by DawgPhan. It almost makes it worth having the Fire Anybody/Somebody! crowd around. almost.

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    • DawgPhan

      SER…how do you know that he was in Indiana, care enough to mention it twice, but not know about the largest annual coaches convention?

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    • Dog in Fla

      “Please check your overhead luggage rack for any personal belongings. All passengers for Train 91, Amtrak’s Southbound Silver Star, departing at 4:20 should proceed at this time to Gate 3-4. Please have your tickets ready for inspection.”

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  11. PTC DAWG

    Coaches Convention of some sort was going on.

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  12. Bright Idea

    AFCA annual convention.

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  13. Will Trane

    Thanks. I worked all weekend and do not keep up with the coaches conventions. Glad some of you keep up with their travel plans. Thought it might have been an AICPA, NWTF, NRA, or he was taking a course in taxation and ACA at UI. Saw comment from Marc Weiser blog but even he did not say convention and he writes for the Dawgs.

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    • Dog in Fla

      That’s reasonable. The 38th Annual NWTF Convention and Sport Show is not until Feb. 13-16, 2014, at Opryland,

      http://www.nwtf.org/special_events/convention.html

      and the 143rd NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits at the Indiana Convention Center in the center of downtown Indianapolis doesn’t happen until April 25-27, 2014,

      http://nraam.org/

      but if he likes his ACA reinsurance tax, he can keep (and pay) it or go to jail

      https://www.aca.org/conferences/

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    • Irwin R Fletcher

      Weizer’s article: “Richt is at a national coaching convention in Indianapolis and could talk to prospective candidates there and elsewhere.” …derp….the whole idea that you don’t have time to do a three word Google search because you ‘worked all weekend’ but you do have time to troll the comments with 4 or 5 posts from your ‘old browser’ …

      Anyway, I learned something today, so thanks.

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  14. Macallanlover

    I am sorry for the Vandy fans that want to be a program that can win 9 games regularly, or even dream for more, but that isn’t reality, just fantasy. Franklin was a dick, no doubt about it, he probably cannot help that. But the bad part of Franklin is he is a sleazy guy attempting to be a man of character. And he shows that every time he is under stress.

    Franklin was smart enough to get out when he had gone as far as he could take Vandy, and before he charade was exposed. His market value would have dropped substantially once it was evident that Vandy wasn’t ever going to play in Atlanta for an SEC title, and nine wins is the ceiling for the program, and that cannot be sustained on a regularly basis. It will be a tough job to attract a strong candidate, maybe a young hot shot that comes in and gets it done like Franklin did. But as Vandy fans showed under Franklin, even with a million plus in the metro area, the only time that stadium gets filled is when the opposing team brings in a large group.

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  15. James

    Senator mucho respect man but I’m disappointed that you of all people are helping this hyperbole get around the echo chamber.

    Two guys out of 25 switched to a PSU offer they probably didn’t actually have until Franklin got the job, and we’re morally outraged by this?

    Guy might be / probably is an asshole, and has probably said things to recruits that weren’t fully the truth, but Franklin is replacing a guy who was previously best known for an immature shouting match in New England with Tom Brady, telling recruits he was staying for the full bowl ban, and fired two PSU coaches three weeks before taking an NFL job. And this guy is consider one of the good ones.

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    • I think you’ve missed my point. Like love and war, all’s fair in recruiting, I say. But Franklin’s comments after Josh Dawson changed his commitment are FOS. He deserves to be called for his hypocrisy.

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      • James

        I don’t disagree with anything here, although I’d say your second statement is inherent given your first. 90% of these guy’s jobs is to talk shit.

        I’m referring more to the first headline you linked: “James Franklin trying to destroy Vanderbilt recruiting class”. Because he took two guys to a way better football program? Or because the 25 he recruited at Vandy liked him so much that him leaving means their reopening their search? Seems sensational, that’s all.

        And if you want to bring this full circle – Ohio State just hired Larry Johnson, who has basically been Penn State’s top recruiter for the past 15 years. He’s probably the classiest person I’m aware of in college football, and I’m sure he’s going to change his message and flip players to Ohio State using the same strategy all these guys do. So it’s not as if Franlin isn’t being forced to live and die by the sword like all these guys.

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        • I don’t recall head coaches – even the surliest, like Paul Johnson – question the character of a kid the way Franklin did when Dawson jumped.

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          • James

            Don’t disagree or want to be confused with condoning his nonsense. But if we’re picking on coaches for being POSs, there’s a pretty long list of offenders (120 or so, at least), and I’m much more worried about oversigning, cutting players, transfer restrictions, pulling scholarships and offers, and other action-related items than what some salty coach said at one of these hilarious elbow-rubbing fund raisers behind closed doors.

            But I get it, we don’t disagree at all here, and this is topical here because Franklin’s money quote was about a Georgia player. I guess I just find the moral outrage over one immature comment and a sensational headline a little limited given the bigger picture.

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  16. stoopnagle

    I think Franklin benefited from two things: first and foremost, Vandy has changed their approach to athletics and football in particular. There was a meeting of SEC presidents back when the first big tv contract (the one before adding the Ags and Tigers #3) & one of the proposals was for each school to earmark a certain amount of the new revenue towards academics. Guess who objected? Next, Tennessee Baylor’ing itself helped everyone in the east except Kentucky (but hey, even they got a win out of it, right?).

    One of those is going to persist; we don’t know if Butch Jones can get UT moving in the right direction but if he does, then Vandy will suffer more than UGA or UF or SC.

    I also agree Franklin had gotten as much out of Vandy as he could. That doesn’t mean he’s not a good coach (I think his players responded well to him and he can obviously recruit) or that he has good character (not many college coaches do).

    I can say I’m happy he’s gone, he was easy to hate, and I’m looking forward to him getting under Urban’s skin and coaching against Maryland every year. Should be entertaining. If Vandy goes back to being a doormat, then all the better.

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