Some fascinating reading about James Franklin's time at Vandy, from some names we all remember

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Some fascinating reading about James Franklin's time at Vandy, from some names we all remember

Post by BrentVU »

StateCollege.com interviewed seven of James Franklin's Penn State assistants who have now been with him for ten years, since he was hired at Vanderbilt in 2011. (Say what you want about him, but Franklin has been very loyal and magnanimous to his assistants.) They have lots of interesting things to say: Brent Pry, Andy Frank, Dwight Galt, Barry Gant Jr., Michael Hazel, Chuck Losey, and Kevin Threlkel.

Over a Decade and Counting: Seven Penn State Football Staffers Talk Loyalty and Longevity with James Franklin
https://www.statecollege.com/over-a-dec ... -franklin/


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Re: Some fascinating reading about James Franklin's time at Vandy, from some names we all remember

Post by VandyPhile »

1) that’s a really good article. You can see why he has engendered such loyalty and found success.
2) I think we have a coach now who is also as relationship focused, as thoughtful, as detail oriented and as incisive as Franklin. Hopefully we will see similar results!
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Re: Some fascinating reading about James Franklin's time at Vandy, from some names we all remember

Post by kay1092 »

Great article. And if you read the quotes you know why CJF was the greatest football coach we have ever had. I was pissed when he left and I still am because he was one of a kind.
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Re: Some fascinating reading about James Franklin's time at Vandy, from some names we all remember

Post by Seadog73 »

A couple of interesting things to me.
I remember CJF during halftime, in one of the ReVealed videos exhorting the team with "Will it to happen. Will it to happen." And here's this quote from Brent Pry about their time at VU "I swear to goodness, he just willed s*#! to happen"

Also there is this from Gant "It was an immediate response because those guys hadn’t won. So everything we told them, they kind of didn’t have anything to fall back on to say that “That’s not it,” or, “Well we used to do it a different way and had success.” So whatever we told them they really bought into." And that kind of describes what CCL is working on, with a bunch of players who did not win a game last year.

There may be more but that's all for now.

One addition - THRELKEL, brought up the cliff-jumping at Lake Chickamauga in Chattanooga on their staff retreat after the first season at VU. I think a video of that is still on the Vandy football YouTube channel.
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Re: Some fascinating reading about James Franklin's time at Vandy, from some names we all remember

Post by bornadore57 »

I was all in with James Franklin. I hung on his every word and thought he was the best thing that ever happened to Vanderbilt football. When he had the team, player-by-player, place their individual carbineer to create a chain, I may have shed a tear to two. He got me to go to a few games. I really thought he was helping develop men who would make the world better AND win football games. I also thought he would stay, based on his constant message of loyalty and team. Leaving went against everything he "preached" for three years.

The way he left and the apparent outreach to players committed to Vandy, certainly left me questioning his sincerity. I was then all-in with Derek Mason. It seems I remember Wesley Johnson, a player who graduated at the end of Franklin's tenure, saying something like the best Vandy team was the one to come. Then Temple showed up and... Well, we have all lived that nightmare.

In hindsight, I have wondered about Franklin leaving. I know there were many reasons. One which hasn't been mentioned much is the rise of Tennessee football under Butch Jones. It seemed, at the time, Butch was returning the Vols to glory and was making recruiting in the area much more difficult for Franklin and staff.

My how things change!

Being a Vanderbilt fan and being forever hopeful seem to go hand-in-hand. Coach Lea IS the real deal (in my heart). He is sharing all the right (per that heart) messages about Vandy being a great place to develop world changing men and to prepare for the life (and the football) ahead. He certainly seems to have greater support from the Vandy administration than any previous coach. On the other hand, his cupboard is bare and the SEC he is entering is not the SEC Franklin entered. It will take time. And, who knows how the changing landscape of college football will impact the future.

Did I mention "forever hopeful"?
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Re: Some fascinating reading about James Franklin's time at Vandy, from some names we all remember

Post by geeznotagain »

bornadore57 wrote: Mon Jul 26, 2021 8:09 pm I also thought he would stay, based on his constant message of loyalty and team. Leaving went against everything he "preached" for three years.
I bleed black and gold just like most of you do on this board. But is "staying" here long-term a realistic expectation? If ANY coach here does really well isn't he going to get an offer from a school with a bigger name and with a bigger paycheck, and isn't he going to leave? Aren't we forever going to be a "stepping stone" job? If ex-CJF lightning were to strike here again, I think I would just enjoy it while it lasted and hope against hope that no great offers would materialize. The main exception I can think of is that if somehow we had a coach who had great success late in his career (in his 60's maybe), who loved Nashville and didn't want to move any more.
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Re: Some fascinating reading about James Franklin's time at Vandy, from some names we all remember

Post by MrMemorial »

geeznotagain wrote: Mon Jul 26, 2021 9:50 pm
bornadore57 wrote: Mon Jul 26, 2021 8:09 pm I also thought he would stay, based on his constant message of loyalty and team. Leaving went against everything he "preached" for three years.
I bleed black and gold just like most of you do on this board. But is "staying" here long-term a realistic expectation? If ANY coach here does really well isn't he going to get an offer from a school with a bigger name and with a bigger paycheck, and isn't he going to leave? Aren't we forever going to be a "stepping stone" job? If ex-CJF lightning were to strike here again, I think I would just enjoy it while it lasted and hope against hope that no great offers would materialize. The main exception I can think of is that if somehow we had a coach who had great success late in his career (in his 60's maybe), who loved Nashville and didn't want to move any more.
Other than Notre Dame, is there a school out there that CCL would leave here for if he got things turned around? I really can't think of one. Even all the Ohio State/Clemson/USCw/etc don't seem like something he would jump automatically jump at once successful here.
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Re: Some fascinating reading about James Franklin's time at Vandy, from some names we all remember

Post by LawoftheWest »

During his time at Vandy I was not in love with Franklin to the extent expressed in this thread.

On the positive, he was a great salesman and motivator. He was innovative in his approach to recruiting, for example using a helicopter to arrive at high schools. He was also high energy.

On the negative, I saw too many bonehead plays during his tenure. Just my opinion
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Re: Some fascinating reading about James Franklin's time at Vandy, from some names we all remember

Post by FayetteDore »

LawoftheWest wrote: Mon Jul 26, 2021 11:53 pm During his time at Vandy I was not in love with Franklin to the extent expressed in this thread.

On the positive, he was a great salesman and motivator. He was innovative in his approach to recruiting, for example using a helicopter to arrive at high schools. He was also high energy.

On the negative, I saw too many bonehead plays during his tenure. Just my opinion
The story at the end of the article about the stairwell meeting with (read: chewing out of) his assistants during their first official visit weekend underscores your positive point.

As to your second point, I liked CJF going for it on 4th down, seemingly more than any other coach I've ever seen. I don't have the statistics on his 4th down success rate but my memory is that it was pretty high.
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Re: Some fascinating reading about James Franklin's time at Vandy, from some names we all remember

Post by Doreknox »

LawoftheWest wrote: Mon Jul 26, 2021 11:53 pm
On the negative, I saw too many bonehead plays during his tenure. Just my opinion
You seem to be confusing CDM with CJF. CDM's tenure will forever be known as the "Boneheaded Era."
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Re: Some fascinating reading about James Franklin's time at Vandy, from some names we all remember

Post by commadore »

Doreknox wrote: Tue Jul 27, 2021 9:38 am
LawoftheWest wrote: Mon Jul 26, 2021 11:53 pm
On the negative, I saw too many bonehead plays during his tenure. Just my opinion
You seem to be confusing CDM with CJF. CDM's tenure will forever be known as the "Boneheaded Era."
CDM era would be LACK OF PLAYS on both offense and defense.
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Re: Some fascinating reading about James Franklin's time at Vandy, from some names we all remember

Post by alathIN »

FayetteDore wrote: Tue Jul 27, 2021 8:04 am As to your second point, I liked CJF going for it on 4th down, seemingly more than any other coach I've ever seen. I don't have the statistics on his 4th down success rate but my memory is that it was pretty high.
Of all the things xCJF did as Vanderbilt's head coach, I was most impressed with his judgement about taking risks.
There has been a tendency with Vanderbilt coaches to become excessively risk-avoidant - which itself is risky. Like the guy who's too afraid of stock market volatility to invest, so keeps his retirement fund in cash in mason jars buried underground. Inflation will eat away at that money far more so than average market performance over the long term.
xCJF was a master of what Admiral Nimitz called "calculated risk." Don't be afraid to be aggressive and take risks... but also use your judgement and don't take stupid pointless risks.
geeznotagain wrote: Mon Jul 26, 2021 9:50 pm I bleed black and gold just like most of you do on this board. But is "staying" here long-term a realistic expectation? If ANY coach here does really well isn't he going to get an offer from a school with a bigger name and with a bigger paycheck, and isn't he going to leave? Aren't we forever going to be a "stepping stone" job? If ex-CJF lightning were to strike here again, I think I would just enjoy it while it lasted and hope against hope that no great offers would materialize. The main exception I can think of is that if somehow we had a coach who had great success late in his career (in his 60's maybe), who loved Nashville and didn't want to move any more.
Totally agree.
Any coach who exceeds expectations is going to get a chance (or a lot of chances) at a bigger marquee job.
Unless you are Alabama, you are going to have this "problem."
It is a very nice problem to have - much better than the alternative - a coach who sticks around for a long time because nobody wants to hire him away.

It is not realistic to say "We need a coach who will do dramatically better than Vanderbilt's historical average, and will stay here long term."
Let's get the first part taken care of... and if the "stay long term" doesn't work out, we at least will be a more attractive job for the next up-and-coming candidate who outperformed expectations where he was before.
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Re: Some fascinating reading about James Franklin's time at Vandy, from some names we all remember

Post by jpmando »

Those questioning Franklins accomplishments (silly notions like the SEC was "down" while he was here) haven't suffered the pain of VU football quite long enough.

For me he was the real deal, did what he said he would do, made football at Vandy relevant and successful. Perfect and squeaky clean? Of course not. And blaming him for the scandal or poaching players is baloney, in my opinion.

I for one appreciate what he did. He deserved his promotion .
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Re: Some fascinating reading about James Franklin's time at Vandy, from some names we all remember

Post by UltimateVUFan »

jpmando wrote: Tue Jul 27, 2021 12:00 pm Those questioning Franklins accomplishments (silly notions like the SEC was "down" while he was here) haven't suffered the pain of VU football quite long enough.

For me he was the real deal, did what he said he would do, made football at Vandy relevant and successful. Perfect and squeaky clean? Of course not. And blaming him for the scandal or poaching players is baloney, in my opinion.

I for one appreciate what he did. He deserved his promotion .
Fair enough, though he certainly exacerbated the scandal by telling one of those involved to delete text messages rather than reporting them to the proper authorities.
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Re: Some fascinating reading about James Franklin's time at Vandy, from some names we all remember

Post by Seadog73 »

A point of accuracy - the article identifies Brent Pry as Defensive Coordinator at Vandy. I would bet some money Bob Shoop was D-coordinator and Pry was LB coach.

Also interesting they did not mention that his 2 coordinators at VU "moved on" after a time in Happy Valley - Shoop and John Donovan.
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Re: Some fascinating reading about James Franklin's time at Vandy, from some names we all remember

Post by DeefromAtlanta »

James Franklin was successful at Vanderbilt because he changed the culture of the program in every area. Clark Lea knows he needs to do the same thing. I hope he can. Unfortunately, it's a much tougher landscape he has to navigate. It might take two more years than Franklin to make the change. And if he's successful?

He won't leave.
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