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Drew Harris has entered the chat
I would not be opposed to Lincoln Riley as head coach.
I feel like that's really downplaying his record at Vandy. He's coached 30% of Vandy's bowl games and before he arrived the last time Vandy won 9 games was 1915. He did it back to back years there. He might have done a little bit less than more at Penn State, but I think he's shown he can also do more with less.
That's the problem with not knowing the full terms of the deal he has been offered. From what I gathered, VT has met all of his asks. I would assume it's an enticing assistant coach pool as well, but we don't know. But I do agree if we pay top dollar for Franklin with no room for a good staff, that's going to be disappointing. The appeal with Franklin is recruiting first and foremost, and then you need to have a very strong staff around him.
We'll see how it all shakes out, but if VT has met every ask, I don't see what more he needs. He either wants to coach at VT or he doesn't. I'm starting to wonder if the market for him just wasn't what he or his agent anticipated, and we came in with a very unexpected top-dollar offer which no one else is able or willing to top at the moment. I also don't think FSU will open this year, nor do I think they could afford the buyouts for Norvell and his staff and a comparable deal for Franklin and his staff. I'm starting to wonder the longer this drags out if Franklin will just do TV for a year and wait it out for next year's cycle.
I am curious who else VT is considering/pursuing at this point. With the type of numbers floating around, we could land some very big fish if they're willing to bite.
I think there's a fair to reasonable chance we'll still be talking about hiring Franklin a year from now
Agreed, and while wary somebody will give him a job. But I don't remember how he was actually doing as a coach. I think he had them in bowls but not really threatening to win the B1G.
I'm surprised it hasn't happened already
At this rate we are going to need a part 2 to this thread.
I would not consider James Franklin a top 30-40 coach, even though he has elevated status because he was part of a strong program that placed top of the line assistants repeatedly with him defensively.
Les Miles was a garbage coach who won a natty. You have to match the situation to the demonstrated skill set. If they pay Franklin that money, they are not going to have the dollars to bring in a Tom Allen/Manny Diaz/Larry Johnson type of assistants.
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Russillo made mention of Franklin to VT in his latest pod. He tends to keep company with folks that actually know what they are talking about fwiw
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Orrrr, plot twist: VT offers Lincoln Riley (not represented by Sexton) a similar deal to Franklin, and tells Sexton to piss off.
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Rumor has it that USC is exploring options about getting rid of Lincoln Riley. If so, expect that to significantly delay any Franklin decision.
Probably, but it's paid for by the loser.
In that article linked at the top there was mention about him acknowledging the issues and that he has a plan in his head of how to prevent it from happening again. Identifying mistakes, and putting a plan in place to correct the issues - sounds like a pretty core HC competency we've been lacking for a while. Now, all he needs is a school to give him a chance to coach again and put those plans into practice.
So....the winner gets an all-expenses paid vacation?
I hope we include the Penn State offset language in whatever contract we write for the next coach.
Wouldn't touch this guy with a 10 foot pole. Yeah, he was absolved of wrongdoing, but how can the head coach not know this is going on? Bad leadership in my book.
He also had a good pandemic year, then fell off a cliff after his DC of several years left. He's washed and I don't think he'd elevate the program significantly compared to others.
He is interested in getting back to coaching and that settlement has to be at or near the 130 million. Northwestern had to fire the University President who sacked him for cause before the investigation was over.
That said, he had no idea that there was a hazing program that lasted for multiple years going on his locker room. That alone makes me wary. That said, I don't think that will ever be an issue for him again. Once bitten...
You could argue that Vandy was one of the 5 worst Power 5 programs before he got there. The success they are having recently is absolutely on the foundation he built.