And if he gets a gig at ESPN that pays him a couple mill a year then we are on the hook for $6 mill for this year. For the benefit of PSU and the financials, I hope he eventually gets some kind of HC gig that minimizes the buyout we have to pay.
Arkansas or Virginia Tech
- Thread starter Itraindogs
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I do think Franklin can upgrade recruiting at VT and yes if the new coach can't recruit at least at Franklin's level then we won't win a NC with that coach.
I think this was the main problem with BGJ. He didn’t improve or learn from his gameday shortcomings. He was essentially the same coach we got in 2014. He was being paid too much to not be getting better.
After the UCLA game it was clear the season was a total disappointment. However, Oregon hinged on a blade of Grass, Indiana on perhaps the greatest catch ever in Beaver Stadium history and 1 point losses in 2 other games. It doesn't take a big stretch to see how this could have gone 7-5 with Franklin finishing the year. Blaming the coaches is a fan boy cottage industry on these message boards. Go to any teams site... coaching coaching coaching...fire fire fire......doesn't anyone know how to coach this game except people typing from home?
As for coordinators.....I've searched site for evidence anyone warned us that Knowles was a lousy hire and a loser everywhere he coached.
This team has talent with 2 glaring weaknesses and one suprise issue to me. Depth at LB was well known and of course, Rojas went down,
2 wide outs are of course #2 and finally the corners are okay....but can't seem to come up with the big stop.
If you are around #15 in NIL money....you are going to have flaws and lack of depth.
This is a new era of minor league football and what PSU football was through out history is meaningless. It carries absolutely no cache.
Money talks and what it says will determing if PSU gets back in the game.
COACHES.....the names will change, but the message boards will always stay the same.
Pat Kraft: "James, have you been actively searching for employment?"
BGJ: "Yes. Just this week I sent out 2 resumes and my agent Jimmy planted 3 articles trying to make me look coveted".
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Supposedly, the contract requires him to get market value for his salary. So, if the previous coach at that school made more than $1m CJF is not going to be able to give the discount.
I guess it's kinda like collecting unemployment, you have to be looking but don't have to accept a job.
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So take a job at some D3 school
But supposedly is the key word here...nothing has come out that confirms any of the alleged requirements.
All James has to say in an interview is "at this time I don't plan on using the portal at a high rate" and no one is going to hire him
This is from Reuters:
"The duty to mitigate clause requires him (James) to attempt to find a new job, stating, "Once terminated, Coach is obligated to diligently search for and make a good faith effort to obtain another position appropriate for his skill set and to provide the university upon request with evidence that he is seeking such employment." That clause also requires the 53-year-old Franklin "to make good faith efforts to obtain the maximum reasonable salary" at his new job."
This duty is widely reported, though I personally doubt it will ever be an issue in that Franklin is not wired to sit on a beach or go to a TV studio where he has no skin in the game. Sure, when you are 65+ and you have tapped out, these may be options, but not when you are a competitive person at the prime of his coaching career. Competitors at the prime of their life do not retire to sit on a beach or sit in a studio talking about what they believe the can compete at at the highest level. If I am an Olympic level fencer I do not retire at my prime to sit on the beach or talk about fencing on TV. Where is the juice in that? But if people don't get this, no way to explain it. You go to the sidelines where you have zero skin in the game when you tap out, and James has not. He will take a job, What he can or cannot accomplish will be up to him to determine. I think VTech would be a great spot for him. Less pressure, able to recruit well, and has coaches and players from PSU to set a decent foundation. It would something analogous to Kiffin when he went to FAU to rehab his reputation.
An interesting development last night was that LSU is now alleging that Brian K was fired "for cause" and that there is no money due him. In turn Kelley has filed a law suit against the state of LA, which even if he wins (he will) has 300m judgements against it that will never be paid out. Surely this a negotiating tactic. Having said that, when language in contracts establish a duty to mitigate, failure to do so may very well set up long term litigation.
"The duty to mitigate clause requires him (James) to attempt to find a new job, stating, "Once terminated, Coach is obligated to diligently search for and make a good faith effort to obtain another position appropriate for his skill set and to provide the university upon request with evidence that he is seeking such employment." That clause also requires the 53-year-old Franklin "to make good faith efforts to obtain the maximum reasonable salary" at his new job."
This duty is widely reported, though I personally doubt it will ever be an issue in that Franklin is not wired to sit on a beach or go to a TV studio where he has no skin in the game. Sure, when you are 65+ and you have tapped out, these may be options, but not when you are a competitive person at the prime of his coaching career. Competitors at the prime of their life do not retire to sit on a beach or sit in a studio talking about what they believe the can compete at at the highest level. If I am an Olympic level fencer I do not retire at my prime to sit on the beach or talk about fencing on TV. Where is the juice in that? But if people don't get this, no way to explain it. You go to the sidelines where you have zero skin in the game when you tap out, and James has not. He will take a job, What he can or cannot accomplish will be up to him to determine. I think VTech would be a great spot for him. Less pressure, able to recruit well, and has coaches and players from PSU to set a decent foundation. It would something analogous to Kiffin when he went to FAU to rehab his reputation.
An interesting development last night was that LSU is now alleging that Brian K was fired "for cause" and that there is no money due him. In turn Kelley has filed a law suit against the state of LA, which even if he wins (he will) has 300m judgements against it that will never be paid out. Surely this a negotiating tactic. Having said that, when language in contracts establish a duty to mitigate, failure to do so may very well set up long term litigation.
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That language allows him to work in TV or as a consultant
Bill Cowher wasn't a competitor?
Cowher tapped out;; did not want to compete anymore. So, no longer a competitor.
As for TV/consultant, in light of the requirement to secure a position "appropriate for his skill set" and "maximum reasonable salary" these would be deliberations for the judicial system. But I think this is a moot point. James will be coaches in 2026. Bank on it.
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But he was a competitor...how things ended here for Franklin could easily make his wife not want him to get back into coaching. He may feel the same way
But, again, the language doesn't state he needs to coach again.
Like I said I cannot explain this to you. James' wife is not going to dictate what James is going to do. As for what the language does or does not obligate him to do I will leave that to a lawyer, though I do not think it will ever get there.
When I was in the Himalayas in 2000 I was around many high altitude mountaineers who had "failed" over and over summitting a given 8k meter peak. Wives and husbands pleaded for them to give it up (expense, injury, death). Guess what? There were in Nepal, not talking about mountaineering on TV
James will be coaching in 2026.
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Which still would have been a hard sell for next year. A team with all these expectations losing 5 games with next year supposedly going to be worse. That doesn't sound much better than rolling the dice on a retread coach.
Could be we were destined to be screwed either way and maybe should have kept him to save the money, but you have to drum up some hope somehow to avoid a bunch of empty seats. Wonder what the break even point would have been, do you allow the stadium to get 25% empty to save that $50 million? May have to call Bob Nutting about this one.
It's a tough situation right now all around. The best hope now is find a coach to turn it around. It's a 50/50 shot of either getting over this hump or becoming Nebraska. It's our turn to spin the wheel.
Don't see Big Game James being a TV staple, who is going to want to tune in to a solid diet of "Obviously"?
ESPN rolled out buffoon Berman for 40 years of his “Bert Be Home Blyleven” nonsensical schtick. “Obviously” would not even be close.
Problem with that is Big Game James has 0 entertainment value. He doesn't even have any "schtick". Can't even perform to buffoon level.
You've repeated this. Are you serious? Ultra competitve compared to who? I describe James Franklin as a lot of things, and the majority of them good, but ultra competitive, compared to say the Ohio State, Oregon, and former Michigan coach isn't one of them.
I don't think "it starts and ends with love" works at this level and this era (or any era). It should've started with grab some ******* bench when players repeatedly jump offsides or made boneheaded personal fouls at critical times.
And if he takes a job just to take a job he's not a competitor...he's an idiot.
As an attorney, if that's the language he doesn't need to coach
Perhaps you miss my point. I think PSU would have been better to make the change after the season.
Giving an incoming coach (with less time for roster players to plan an exit and keeping the recruiting class together as much as possible).
My argument is the timing.....and that things are worse because of 6 weeks of uncertainty. If you are paying the coach anyway why not support him and let him try to salvage some semblence of a season. It certainly couldn't have been worse. The early firing was something Kraft thought would make it easier for him. Quite the opposite. No roster, no recruits, no coach. The future looks bright.
Unlike all the creative minds here.
We have a lot of never played the "Game"....no "Game" and never got put in the "Game."But....we talk a good "Game."
Ramblings from the ultimate T-shirt fanboy. You've been nothing but wrong and doubling down on your idiocy proves your lack of mental capacity. About as functional as a rabid dog.Unlike all the creative minds here.
But....we talk a good "Game."
Obviously you of all people should obviously agree that a cancer should be removed as soon as obviously possible, so that the patient can survive.
Good luck trying to enforce that in any meaningful fashion. Doubt that PSU would go to court, particularly if reports that it paid Manny Diaz 1/3 of what Pry was getting are true.
So you are the guy who is still pissed he was cut from the jv team. James says thanks for the 50 million and the memories.
What will the next "cancer" cost?
Natty or bust.....LOL
He has to "seek." There is no obligation to accept a position he does not deem equal or better.
Your mind is stuck in 1980. Players are paid and free agents now. A decent man will be able to bring in experienced quarterbacks and other players who want to take a step up from mediocre programs or grab a chunk a cash unavailable where they are. The idea of relying upon only recruiting alone is dead.
Roster and recruits? What coach will not be bringing his players and recruits with him? Have you any idea of what Indiana has done the past two years? These players will come from his current team or places like second division teams where outstanding players have proven themselves.
Timing is bad? Why? Do you think Kraft has not spoken to coaches and their agents since the firing? Why wait till the season is over to start the process? When Kraft knew the season was lost he made his move and decided to get started on the rebuild. Smart on his part.
This line about people who havent coached not knowing what they are talking about his bull****. Its more like you people who have never run a business not knowing about cutting your losses and restructuring a failing enterprise.
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So you want to hold the player hostage and not be transparent with them? Yeah, that would work great.
Notice all the other coaches that have been fired.
Delaying the inevitable is never fair to anyone involved. Franklin's time was over and they made they move when they should have. Arguably one week late.
I can see the point, but it would have been difficult to keep under wraps that he would be fired at the end of the year. If word of that leaked out, we would be watching 50 point blowout losses every week instead of how we have at least gotten to see them battle it out. They have kind of rallied around the backup QB and interim coach these last three games and made it more interesting than we thought it would be, if only to build up our hopes to knock us in the jaw at the end.
I think you miss the point. You are interpreting ultra-competitive strictly in the domain of sideline coaching , not as a careerist. You do not rise from a QB at East Stroudsburg through the coaching ranks to leading a program where your buyout is 50m by being unambitious. So, yes, I am serious that he is ultra-competitive; when he said that he "wanted to win a National Championship at Penn State, but now "we" will do it elsewhere," he may be delusional in your and many other people's minds, but he firmly believes this. He is not lacking confidence, competitiveness, and passion. This kind of person will find it hard to stay off the sideline. How successful he is will depend on many factors.
He was done at Penn State. You could see it in his demeanor.
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