Recent Comments
Is his wife going too? Are there any other relatives still around? Want the full sweep.
Couple things here. First you didn't include that he was Alabama's director of football operations under Saban in 2014 and 2015, years that they were a #1 overall seed in the playoff, then #2 overall and won the title. He has exposure to the CEO side of running a program, and the X's and O's side.
The Pry comparison isn't accurate because there are many differences. First something that Shelton pointed out, Schumann is a very young up and comer, whereas Pry was much older and far above the age most coordinators usually become head coaches. Data shows that older coordinators who do not have HC experience almost always do not work out. Whereas young up and comers are split, but account for nearly all of the coordinator to HC success.
Another theory Shelton had which I agree with, is coordinators for CEO style HC's generally don't get experience in the other parts of the job and get siloed off into coaching X's and O's. Whereas if the HC is heavily involved in the scheme, he'll delegate some of the other responsibilities to his staff and they'll be better suited to learn the HC role. Just a theory but Saban and Kirby assistants seem to lend credence to this.
I'm not sure if Schumann the man has the personality type and know how to run a successful program here, but as far as experience and accomplishments he has to be a top candidate for this job (I have him in the top 3). If he does lack some of the qualities, maybe we could get him a Jerry Kill, or AHC/OC Dave Clawson, who says no. Whoever it is, they need to be a winner and have a support staff that 1. Knows how to run a winning program, 2. Can coach em up, get the most out of players, 3. Knows how to recruit and effectively scout the area, 4. Understands getting effort out of guys who you've already paid and building the best roster for your budget
More with less is the way to go
Man, we are never shedding that mindset are we.
The more I think about this the less convinced I am that he'd bolt at the first chance he gets. I know he left Vandy after having success there but I mean if he has similar success in Blacksburg, he'd have a pretty good pathway to the CFP nearly every year (certainly an easier path than at Vandy). And if he did have that kind of success, I imagine VT would be very good to him. Does $$$ really create that much incentive to go to some other bigger program where there's more pressure and a more difficult path to the postseason? He's from PA and was already at PSU so where would he really be lured to that is considered "home." Seems like that wouldn't be a factor.
Agreed. In one of my earlier posts I stated Franklin is one of the top, if not the top candidate right now to get us to the top tier of our conference. He would get us playing at a level where each season we can see a path to the ACCCCG and when we win it, an invite to the playoffs.
At that time, we would have become a program that can spend the money and have the program to attract CFB's coaching elite. It will be that guy who takes us to a Natty contender program.
So, it may well take 2-3 coaching hires to achieve this, assuming the next hire can bring us to the phase 1 promise land. With everything being sequential dependent, Franklin may be our best hope in achieving this and making it a 2 coach hiring process.
If we went with a Huff or Chesney type they would bring us up to a better plateau but may not be the answer, thus the need to hire the next best thing. In this scenario, we would potentially see 3 coaching hires to do so.
Man, the more I think about this, our journey to relevancy could take anywhere from 4-9 years.
More with less is the way to go, not less with more. And Franklin won't even have more here to do less with. It's been 13 seasons since he coached for a have not program and 10 years since he raised the floor at Penn State who had sanctions.
There's no proof he can do more with less in the current era. For that reason and because he's an asshole, I'm out. And let's be clear I'm fine with an asshole who can coach (Cignetti, Kirby Saban etc) but he doesn't coach, he recruits. And he clearly was struggling (as many other coaches have: Pry, Norvell, Belichick, Cristobal) to keep the players motivated and engaged when they've signed multi year guaranteed money NIL contracts. How do you keep players playing hard after they've already been paid? I don't have the answer, but good coaches like Cignetti, Lea, Deboar, Lanning, Elko have figured it out. Franklin clearly had not. That's a must have for whoever we're going to hire.
Most concerning to me is the amount of elite talent that went there and ended up undrafted. Especially on the offensive side of the ball. Talent carried him while he was there but there was a clear lack of development among many highly talented players, who ended up transferring out to lower programs. This was a pattern in the Franklin era, and the hallmark of a mid/bad developmental coach (Bitch Jones at Tennessee comes to mind)
Ps: I also take issue with the Buzz comparison. It's not like Buzz Williams at all, it would be much more like Georgia hiring Tom Crean after he was fired from Indiana.
He will start first game. No way he is on the bench especially watching practice clips.
I was going to say this, there's no chance he isn't in the starting rotation.
I have no doubt that Shane would be the type to say, "And this is how it's done in the modern era. Get the fuck out of my way."
Nice work taking Egbert's comment and expanding on it. Good comments, both of you. Leg'd.
Yes. Most people who work in a school atmosphere retire at the end of the year not a random Thursday.
I said it after SC beat us. Do not want him to coach VT ever.
So after the football hires get made?
I agree on that aspect. I'm not sure if he'd be successful, but I think the thought that "he'll be the same old same and Ballein will be running things" is not true at all with Shane.
I hope my source was right. He has shed blood, sweat, and tears for the program in the past. Nobody doubts he is a Hokie, but his ways are too old fashioned and set in their ways. We need new blood and he wants to keep the status quo.
Even if Shane had the same mentality and tried to shake things up in Merryman, I can imagine the people in and around the program who are part of the old guard would continually be trying to say, "hey Shane, I see what you're doing...but here's how your dad did things back in the day." Absolutely don't want that kind of influence on the coach.
Franklin would probably just about nuke the old guard mentality and I'm all for it.
Probably. I was running off of memory and he's not worth my time googling.
He's not taking a backseat to anyone in Merryman
I don't actually think this is a bad thing. In fact, I want the next coach to sort of take charge. It's one of the positives I'd assume we'd get from Franklin. I think he would take charge of the program in a way that Fuente and Pry couldn't or wouldn't. I wouldn't mind Shane if he did that but at the same time I think VT needs to break from the Beamer legacy. I'd hate for Shane to come here and fail and sully the name, too. I'd just much rather not go in that direction.
I would be happy if it only took 2 HCs to get from basement to Natty as I don't think 1 HC exists can do both or, if he does, anyone can identify who that is.
I know it was already said, but I do want to double down on just how good a point this is.
Is there any coach out there right now that anyone here is confident can win a Natty for Virginia Tech? Any coach that we can reasonably hire that would take us from where we are now with the smoldering remains of a once proud program burnt to a crisp by 2 completely botched coaching regimes back up to get enough legitimacy that people ignore the ACC aspect of our conference and get us seeded in the playoff to the point where we can roll through the best of the SEC and Big Ten to win a Natty?
I don't think there is one coach out there who can do it. Not one. And if we hit the damn lottery and got a guy who even remotely approached that level, of even getting us into the playoff mix, we all know that person is gone at the first chance they get to a bigger school.
So if there isn't that guy out there, what's the next best option? Getting a guy who significantly raises the floor, and raises the ceiling to the point where we can at least be close to the conversation. A guy who rebuilds us from the inside-out, who has us operating like we should at all levels of the Athletic Department to support what needs to be the main revenue driving mass marketing venture of the university. And realistically, a guy who gets us in position to be top of the list when it comes time for the P2 to expand when the ACC implodes.
And I don't think there is anyone better out there who can get us to that point than Franklin.
Let me go ahead and set a countdown timer on that bad boy. If true, that's a moment worth popping a bottle or 2 over.
Don't worry about it. He has good sources.
Source?
My understanding is he is leaving at the end of the current school year.
If Whit finally got him to retire, I understand why he's being allowed to stay
no: see the latest rant from him, and there are a number linked above

I would have no problem with his return. I am actually surprised that he was banned. I thought he had left to avoid exploding over our football program.
A lot of times I have agreed with his points and comments even if I don't necessarily agree with how he stated it. I know that there are posters here that also seemed to deliberately try and strike up discord with him.