Tuesday, December 14, 2010

ESPN: James Franklin will be Vanderbilt's Next Coach

Here's the link. This thing is limping towards being official

20 comments:

Douglas James said...

I'm not super psyched about this but I will reserve jumping the gun until 1) see what kind of staff he puts together and 2) see whether the University follows through with its promises to upgrade facilities even though Malzahn is no long coming to the Black and Gold

Anonymous said...

Douglas I think you probably echo the sentiments and feelings of every single Vanderbilt football fan right now.

Anonymous said...

Well said Douglas. Lets just wait and see how this thing play out. The fun will begin when we see the staff he puts together and where they come from.

Drew said...

Is this Vandy's first African American hire for one of the three major sports?

Douglas James said...

Drew I believe its the first African-American head coach for any of the 3 major sports at Vandy but obviously we have had prominent assistant coaches of color.

CAR said...

I am bummed. I think this is the wrong move.

That being said, i am glad to have a head coach with a reputation as a good recruiter and a young coach who has his whole career ahead of him. I also think it is great that he is a minority.

I should note I was also very much against the hiring of Stallings, Bobby Johnson, and thought the administration should give Caldwell a chance. I was clearly wrong about all of the three, and I hope I am wrong about this.

This is not the 'splash' hire Malzahn would have been, but I will reserve judgment for 2-3 years (Stallings and Johnson hires could have been considered failures after years 1 and years 2)

Anonymous said...

Im a little let down by this but I think the fact we were so close to Malzahn is part of the reason too.

Anonymous said...

I might be crazy but I am pretty sure I read sometime in the past few weeks that David Williams is on record stating that he really wanted to hire an African-American to be the next head coach. It is seems to me that the reason we are hiring Franklin rather than a more impressive coordinator like Roman or trying to hire someone with notable head coaching experience is largely because Franklin is black. This hire screams affirmative action hire to me. Leave it to the Vanderbilt administration to let their academic leftist elitist tendencies color their decision who to hire as the next head coach. They would rather hire someone who can be the first African-American head coach for any of the 3 major sports than trying to get the absolute best coach out there.

Douglas James said...

I don't think there is any evidence to support that assertion. The administration interviewed many candidates and I think he is the only one of color. He is a very qualified candidate (you can argue whether he was the best but believe me the administration is not stupid enough to hire the wrong guy soely because of the color of his skin) who has mentored an NFL QB (Josh Freeman), coached in the NFL, is know to be an EXCELLENT recruiter and who several other universities thought of as a future Division 1/BCS head football coach. I also don't think VCDW has the power to over-rule everyone else in the decision making circle and hire a guy becuase he is "Black", I'm sure he would need more qualifications than that. Also pretty brave of you to make such an assertion "annoymously". They wanted Malzahn (who is white), they didn't get him. So they hired the next guy on their list who happened to be African-american. To read anything more into the situation is incorrect in my opinion.

Anonymous said...

BUUURRRRRNNNNNNN haha, I really dont care. We needed a coach and they thought this guy was the best. Pitt targeted this guy to be their next head coach and we got him. Thats gotta say something about his... right?

Bobby O'Shea said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bobby O'Shea said...

Anonymous 4:12: I recognize that not everyone is happy with this hire and that intelligent minds can differ on who the correct choice was. But I would ask you (and whomever else comments, anonymously or not) to support claims like the one you just made with some evidence beyond "I read somewhere."

If VCDW made those statements (which frankly I doubt) that's one thing, but to levy such an accusation without a scintilla of evidence is wrong. I mention this, because you pivot nicely to a rant about "leftist elitism" and affirmative action pretty seamlessly. I take it from your tone, you're not a fan of either. That's all well and good, but I would submit your "take" is without basis other than to assume that the only reason Franklin got the job was because he is an African American. Just because you think Franklin is the wrong hire (assuming he's actually been hired), doesn't mean a) he was or b) the decision has anything to do with his race.

It might surprise you to find out that the VSL Braintrust, like our readers, have a divergent set of political views. Hardly, if ever, have any of us interjected our own political beliefs into a conversation about Vanderbilt sports.

KHH said...

I don't think we were ever "close" to Malzah, he used us as a pawn to get a raise at AU. Now that he's staying, we should move on. He's out of sight, out of mind.

I for one, don't know that much about Franklin, but let's give him a chance. Supposedly he's this terrific recruiter, so maybe he can get us some talent. Hopefully he's smart enough to clean house with the assistants we have and get excellent ones that can pick up the slack where he's needing it. He's the head coach in waiting, so he must be doing something right...I am trying to remain positive about this...GO 'DORES!!

Anonymous said...

Maryland? David could have aboard the Dread Pirate homeported in Key West or maybe even Mullin from Starkville but we get an ACC assistant instead.

Anonymous said...

At least Pitt was after him. So, let's keep our fingers crossed.

Anonymous said...

I'd rather let David Williams coach em up. We don't need an AD, hell any ole lawyer will do, so why do we need football experience on the sideline. Give good ole David another job, he certainly takes home enough bacon and loves tuning out the views of alumni (hint hint interview Leach)....

Anonymous 4:12 said...

Whoa whoa Bobby, easy killer. I have no problem with Franklin at all. If hes second to Gus Malzahn then he cant be that bad. I know its hard to judge the tone or context of a post but dang ha.

I read on Rivals that he was their top choice for the Pitt job. It was linked from Yahoo which I deem credible. ESPN even mentioned it on their "on-air" segment> pretty realiable too.

AD said...

Don't know if this comment made it up on one of these related posts, but I believe Franklin was the OC of Terp teams that lost to MTSU twice in the past three years. Is that right? Sort of worrisome.

There would appear to be a disconnect between his reputation and his results, but of course Douglas states the only appropriate response at the top of this thread.

bushman said...

I could care less about the color of his skin. I just want him to respect our kids and for them to play quality ball and graduate. We need a leader on and off the field. Hopefully, he will love Nashville and want to be here for the long haul. Maryland was 8-4 last year, I would take that in a second.

This whole thing reminds me of how I felt after Ron Mercer wasn't accepted to play here...

Anonymous said...

19 comments, and not a single mention of Heather Dinich being sorta hot? We are on task, aren't we.

As you were.