James Franklin has proven he is the right coach for Penn State.

[Wallace Breen]

Your fun fact for the day:

In the past six years, James Franklin has won as many major bowl games (two) as Pitt has since 1938. Two major bowl victories in the past 83 seasons for Pitt: the 1977 and the 1982 Sugar Bowls.

That doesn't mean that much. We won a Cotton Bowl against Memphis, who didn't belong in a major bowl game.

 

[Agoodnap]

So Franklin should recruit players that have no aspirations to go to the NFL?
That'll improve the team

That's just being a jerk. He should recruit the best football players who also plan to take college seriously. You know, the type of football players that Joe would typically recruit. A few who had little interest in school and a few who weren't very good football players got into the program. But, on average most of us were proud of our team. Apparently you would have preferred something different.

 

[psu00]

Now do Jim Harbaugh for a comparison.

We’ll, I know he’s 4-3 against Franklin and has 1 playoff appearance. In any event, I don’t care about Harbaugh or Michigan.

Maybe, instead of trying to shift the attention to someone else, we should actually stay on topic and focus on what’s happening at Penn State.

 

[marshall23]

That's just being a jerk. He should recruit the best football players who also plan to take college seriously. You know, the type of football players that Joe would typically recruit. A few who had little interest in school and a few who weren't very good football players got into the program. But, on average most of us were proud of our team. Apparently you would have preferred something different.

I think Joe was the GOAT. But he is dead. So is college football as he/we knew it.

 

[marshall23]

We’ll, I know he’s 4-3 against Franklin and has 1 playoff appearance. In any event, I don’t care about Harbaugh or Michigan.

Maybe, instead of trying to shift the attention to someone else, we should actually stay on topic and focus on what’s happening at Penn State.

Penn State has a coach under contract for 10 years. There, now that what's happening at PSU.
After tonight.....CJF has 9 years and 11 games guaranteed money....win or lose.
It's really all about the whining and crying of a few here. It will have no impact on what actually happens to PSU football.

 

[marshall23]

That doesn't mean that much. We won a Cotton Bowl against Memphis, who didn't belong in a major bowl game.

Yet, you would still be touting your metrics had PSU lost that game.

 

[Nittany1997]

Don’t hate the player, you should hate the game.

 

[john4psu]

We’ll, I know he’s 4-3 against Franklin and has 1 playoff appearance. In any event, I don’t care about Harbaugh or Michigan.

Maybe, instead of trying to shift the attention to someone else, we should actually stay on topic and focus on what’s happening at Penn State.

Harbaugh is 1-5 or 1-6 versus his rival Ohio State and I would venture to guess sub .500 against rival Michigan State. Harbaugh has as many Big 10 titles as Franklin. No Big 10 coach fares well against Ohio State not even forever Big 10 rival Michigan yet you expect different from Penn State and Franklin. What was Joe's record against Ohio State? Against Michigan? Against Iowa? You have unrealistic expectations.

 

[PSUPride1]

Harbaugh is 1-5 or 1-6 versus his rival Ohio State and I would venture to guess sub .500 against rival Michigan State. Harbaugh has as many Big 10 titles as Franklin. No Big 10 coach fares well against Ohio State not even forever Big 10 rival Michigan yet you expect different from Penn State and Franklin. What was Joe's record against Ohio State? Against Michigan? Against Iowa? You have unrealistic expectations.

Joe was past his prime as coach when we joined the BIG. He kicked Ohio State's ass during his prime years.

 

[Agoodnap]

I think Joe was the GOAT. But he is dead. So is college football as he/we knew it.

Just because you decided to quit living life and being happy doesn't give you the right to make the rest of us miserable. We can do that by ourselves.

 

[john4psu]

Joe was past his prime as coach when we joined the BIG. He kicked Ohio State's ass during his prime years.

So kicking Ohio State's ass is 2-2 a .500 record? That was Paterno's record vs Ohio State before joining the BIG 10. Care to try again?

 

[psu00]

Penn State has a coach under contract for 10 years. There, now that what's happening at PSU.
After tonight.....CJF has 9 years and 11 games guaranteed money....win or lose.
It's really all about the whining and crying of a few here. It will have no impact on what actually happens to PSU football.

We all know the contract but it’s irrelevant to the OP debate of whether Franklin has proven he’s the right coach for Penn St or not.

There’s no crying at all. We were just discussing Franklin’s performance at Penn State by the numbers.

 

[psu00]

Harbaugh is 1-5 or 1-6 versus his rival Ohio State and I would venture to guess sub .500 against rival Michigan State. Harbaugh has as many Big 10 titles as Franklin. No Big 10 coach fares well against Ohio State not even forever Big 10 rival Michigan yet you expect different from Penn State and Franklin. What was Joe's record against Ohio State? Against Michigan? Against Iowa? You have unrealistic expectations.

I’m not trying to pick a fight (honestly ). I just think people often react with their heart and loyalty which then prevents any impartiality in these discussions.

Whether Harbaugh has also underperformed at Michigan is irrelevant to the evaluation of Franklin’s performance.

Since you brought it up, I looked up Harbaugh’s Big Ten coaching numbers. Overall, Harbaugh has been equal to just slightly better than Franklin by the numbers:

1. Head to head- 4-3 Harbaugh
2. Big Ten champs- 1-1
3. Playoff appearance- 1-0 Harbaugh
4. Bowl record- Franklin- 3-4, Harbaugh 1-5
5. Overall record (in B10)-
- 61-24 (.718) for Harbaugh
- 67-34 (.663) for Franklin.
6. Conference record (in B10)-
- 42-17 (,712) for Harbaugh
- 42-28 (.600) for Franklin.
7. Winning percentage against rivals (OSU, MSU, PSU/UM)-
- 8-12 (.400) for Harbaugh
- 7-17 (.292) for Franklin.

For years, everyone here has proclaimed Harbaugh to be a failure. But when Franklin’s numbers are put up against Harbaugh’s and are similar……. suddenly it’s not failure. It’s unrealistic expectations. Respectfully, the only difference appears to be the blue and white glasses being used to read the results.

Again, this has nothing to do with Franklin personally. Just about everyone agrees he has the right focus on academics and is a good ambassador for the university. We’re simply talking his performance on the field heading into year 9.

 

[john4psu]

I’m not trying to pick a fight (honestly ). I just think people often react with their heart and loyalty which then prevents any impartiality in these discussions.

Whether Harbaugh has also underperformed at Michigan is irrelevant to the evaluation of Franklin’s performance.

Since you brought it up, I looked up Harbaugh’s Big Ten coaching numbers. Overall, Harbaugh has been equal to just slightly better than Franklin by the numbers:

1. Head to head- 4-3 Harbaugh
2. Big Ten champs- 1-1
3. Playoff appearance- 1-0 Harbaugh
4. Bowl record- Franklin- 3-4, Harbaugh 1-5
5. Overall record (in B10)-
- 61-24 (.718) for Harbaugh
- 67-34 (.663) for Franklin.
6. Conference record (in B10)-
- 42-17 (,712) for Harbaugh
- 42-28 (.600) for Franklin.
7. Winning percentage against rivals (OSU, MSU, PSU/UM)-
- 8-12 (.400) for Harbaugh
- 7-17 (.292) for Franklin.

For years, everyone here has proclaimed Harbaugh to be a failure. But when Franklin’s numbers are put up against Harbaugh’s and are similar……. suddenly it’s not failure. It’s unrealistic expectations. Respectfully, the only difference appears to be the blue and white glasses being used to read the results.

Again, this has nothing to do with Franklin personally. Just about everyone agrees he has the right focus on academics and is a good ambassador for the university. We’re simply talking his performance on the field heading into year 9.

Did Harbaugh inherit a team coming off sanctions and depleted scholarships? If you did Franklin's last six years, that would be a much more apples to apples comparison, but it wouldn't suit your argument.

Every Big 10 coach struggles against Ohio State.

 

[john4psu]

Please note where WE ARE in the above graphic that takes into account the past five seasons and according to Penn State "fans" the past TWO DISASTROUS ones in which we as "fans" should be by their "expert opinions" we should be calling for Franklin's head and or jumping off bridges because we're not an elite football factory.

 

[john4psu]

I’m not trying to pick a fight (honestly ). I just think people often react with their heart and loyalty which then prevents any impartiality in these discussions.

Whether Harbaugh has also underperformed at Michigan is irrelevant to the evaluation of Franklin’s performance.

Since you brought it up, I looked up Harbaugh’s Big Ten coaching numbers. Overall, Harbaugh has been equal to just slightly better than Franklin by the numbers:

1. Head to head- 4-3 Harbaugh
2. Big Ten champs- 1-1
3. Playoff appearance- 1-0 Harbaugh
4. Bowl record- Franklin- 3-4, Harbaugh 1-5
5. Overall record (in B10)-
- 61-24 (.718) for Harbaugh
- 67-34 (.663) for Franklin.
6. Conference record (in B10)-
- 42-17 (,712) for Harbaugh
- 42-28 (.600) for Franklin.
7. Winning percentage against rivals (OSU, MSU, PSU/UM)-
- 8-12 (.400) for Harbaugh
- 7-17 (.292) for Franklin.

For years, everyone here has proclaimed Harbaugh to be a failure. But when Franklin’s numbers are put up against Harbaugh’s and are similar……. suddenly it’s not failure. It’s unrealistic expectations. Respectfully, the only difference appears to be the blue and white glasses being used to read the results.

Again, this has nothing to do with Franklin personally. Just about everyone agrees he has the right focus on academics and is a good ambassador for the university. We’re simply talking his performance on the field heading into year 9.

Where should Joe had the program in years 18 and 19?

 

[rrdd2021]

Exactly. Franklin makes the kids go to class and holds them accountable, but the majority of the team is taking “easy majors”. It’s simply the way college football works these days and PSU is no different from any other major program.

Exactly right and it's comical how some fan bases claim "we do things the right way." Here's a clue to what's going on - PSU, OSU, Michigan, and Notre Dame all recruit the same 4 and 5 star players whether they're college material or not. The one fan base that's really bad is the "holier than thou" Notre Shame clowns.