Everybody wants to say Dabo Swinney is an elite coach and IMO he is but he didn’t start out that way because is first 5 years he was average at best. Clemson was loaded when he took over from tommy Bowdon and he really didn’t start winning big until he got D-Watson, Bohd was good but he ain’t no Deshaun Watson baby. My Yellow Jackets put butt kickings on Clemson until Deshaun Watson come along. Y’all got to give James Franklin time to get EVERY piece in place because that’s what you’ve got to have to win the NC unless you get blessed with a players like Cam Newton and then you might slip up and win one butthe odds of getting a player like Cam are slim to none baby. Bottom line is you’ve got to give the man time to get all the positions filled with 4* and 5* players to get to where Alabama is and we just ain’t there yet but if you look at our recruiting you can see it’s coming. This coming up year is the year we will see James Franklin shine and this is the year we can start judging James Franklin on how he is doing. BTW we did have a guy like Cam and James Franklin brought him in and his name was S-Barkley baby and we seen how that turned out...big 10 championship 29-10 record while he was here recovering from unwarranted and unjustified death penalty sanctions. Plus we won a fiesta bowl lol. Just give it time brother because like navylion said the future is BRIGHT baby! I still would’ve gone for the win though lol
I get the frustration though because I love watching penn st win and I can be impatient sometimes but we’re really doing pretty dang good we just have to clean up a few things like the stupid penalties that drive me insane. Youth is the biggest problem we had this year and that will fix itself next year.
Intelligent posts above. The best is yet to come!
Excellent assessment on Dabo, but when Saban took over Alabama, he did not inherit a highly, successful program. Five years prior to Saban, Alabama was 36-27 and Saban's first year, his record was 7-6. Saban's Years 2 through 5, Saban's record was, 48-6 with two national championships. My point is, Saban was not given the perfect program with the perfect talent, but after one year, Saban was an immediate success. Saban put together an outstanding coaching staff and was very successful on the recruiting trail. Franklin has done and continues to do an outstanding job with recruiting, but after that, the coaching staff is weak other than Pry and Spencer who may leave unless given a significant, well-deserved pay increase. In 2018, PSU Football did not improve the slightest in the glaring areas as seen in yesterday's bowl game. Franklin needs to own it and change it rather than just talking about it.
Ask Roam Slick Nick knew exactly what he was doing when he took the job at Alabama. Alabama still recruited good and it got great when Saban got there. There’s a reason most coaches win the SEC or the NC when they coach at Alabama. The high school coaches tell the kids we don’t care where you go just don’t leave the state and the kids listen. The high school coaches are very loyal to auburn, Troy, South Alabama, UAB, North Alabama and especially Alabama lol and when you got that you get all the studs in State then they go to Mississippi Florida and Georgia and get their fair share of all the top talent. Alabama is a very special place in the eyes of all the kids that grow up there. It’s all about loyalty for them. Ain’t no other state has that anymore that’s why James Franklin said that the first thing he wanted to do when he took the job was to put a fence around the state of Pennsylvania and IMO he’s done that and it’ll only get better.
You're right about youth being our biggest problem. The Greatest, Mr. 409, once said...."Youth is a disease, but fortunately it can be cured.
To a certain extent it's a little ridiculous to try and say "look what Saban did" and then compare Franklin to him.
I mean, in Saban you're talking about a guy who holds the record for most national championships by any coach in history. Don't you think it's getting a little crazy when that's the "standard" you hold everyone else to?
Even Urban Meyer and Dabo Swinney wouldn't hold up to that comparison. Heck, Paterno and Bear Bryant wouldn't either.
Not to mention that Saban had about 12 or 13 years of head coaching experience at the college and NFL level before taking the Alabama job. Hardly a fair comparison to CJF short stint as a HC at Vandy!!!
That is a little ridiculous, but one would have their head in the sand to think that JF is any better than average( to be nice) on gameday..Too many head scratchers, not to be worried..about a coach in year 5..
That is a little ridiculous, but one would have their head in the sand to think that JF is any better than average( to be nice) on gameday..Too many head scratchers, not to be worried..about a coach in year 5..
Average coaches don't hang with a top 5 team year in and year out. Franklin is able to routinely give Ohio State and Urban Meyer a game. As I've said before, he need to work on end game tactics and getting tight in big moments, but you don't hold leads against many top 5 opponents if you have no idea how to game plan.
To really look at an apples to apples comparison you can't realistically compare an 8 year head coach to a 23 year head coach and make a fair assessment of Franklin's first 8 years compared to the latter 15 years of the 23 years Saban has coached! That is ridiculous!
HOWEVER, if you look at the body of work between the 2 in each of their first 8 years, which is how long CJF has been a head coach, that is a relevant comparison. Not to mention that Saban didn't have near the challenges CJF had to deal with in fielding his PSU teams.
Franklin in his first 8 years as a head coach is 69-36. Franklin had 5 of the 8 seasons with 9 or more wins. Not opinion but documented FACT!!!
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vanderbilt Commodores (Southeastern Conference) (2011–2013) | ||||||||
| 2011 | Vanderbilt | 6–7 | 2–6 | T–4th (Eastern) | L Liberty | |||
| 2012 | Vanderbilt | 9–4 | 5–3 | 4th (Eastern) | W Music City | 20 | 23 | |
| 2013 | Vanderbilt | 9–4 | 4–4 | 4th (Eastern) | W BBVA Compass | 23 | 24 | |
| Vanderbilt: | 24–15 | 11–13 | ||||||
| Penn State Nittany Lions (Big Ten Conference) (2014–present) | ||||||||
| 2014 | Penn State | 7–6 | 2–6 | 6th (East) | W Pinstripe | |||
| 2015 | Penn State | 7–6 | 4–4 | 4th (East) | L TaxSlayer | |||
| 2016 | Penn State | 11–3 | 8–1 | T–1st (East) | L Rose† | 7 | 7 | |
| 2017 | Penn State | 11–2 | 7–2 | T–2nd (East) | W Fiesta† | 8 | 8 | |
| 2018 | Penn State | 9–4 | 6–3 | 3rd (East) | L Citrus | |||
| Penn State: | 45–21 | 27–16 | ||||||
| Total: | 69–36 | |||||||
Saban's first 8 years as a head coach his record was 61-33-1. Saban had 4 of 8 seasons with 9 or more wins.
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toledo Rockets (Mid-American Conference) (1990) | ||||||||
| 1990 | Toledo | 9–2 | 7–1 | T–1st | ||||
| Toledo: | 9–2 | 7–1 | ||||||
| Michigan State Spartans (Big Ten Conference) (1995–1999) | ||||||||
| 1995 | Michigan State | 6–5–1 | 4–3–1 | 5th | L Independence | |||
| 1996 | Michigan State | 6–6 | 5–3 | 5th | L Sun | |||
| 1997 | Michigan State | 7–5 | 4–4 | 6th | L Aloha | |||
| 1998 | Michigan State | 6–6 | 4–4 | 6th | ||||
| 1999 | Michigan State | 9–2[n 2] | 6–2 | T–2nd | Florida Citrus[n 2] | 9[n 2] | 9[n 2] | |
| Michigan State: | 34–24–1 | 23–16–1 | ||||||
| LSU Tigers (Southeastern Conference) (2000–2004) | ||||||||
| 2000 | LSU | 8–4 | 5–3 | 3rd (Western) | W Peach | 22 | ||
| 2001 | LSU | 10–3 | 5–3 | 1st (Western) | W Sugar† | 8 | 7 | |
TOTAL 61-33-1
So based on this documentation CJF is on pace if his trend continues to be the next Nick Saban! Franklin is a better than average coach!! The stats tell the story if you are using Saban as a bench mark!!!
