Fifth OC Under Franklin Bites the Dust
The axe had to fall after the Michigan loss but for whom did the bell toll? Certainly not James Franklin, who is the constant factor during his ten-year tenure, during which we have seen five offensive coordinators. Franklin’s sweetheart contract’s $68 million buyout precludes even thinking in that direction. So, after firing Kirk Ciarrocca after the 2021 season in favor of hiring Yurcich, now Yurcich is gone. At some point, we need to ask whether the OC is really the problem.
Interesting that we’ll be seeing Kirk Ciarrocca on the opponent’s sideline next Saturday. He is the current Rutgers OC, so our loss might be Rutgers’ gain. Adding two and two to get twelve, some PSU fans will naively propose that the Nittany Lions hire Ciarrocca back now. Their heads are completely up their asses. What is this, George Steinbrenner and Billy Martin?
Given Franklin’s penchant for firing OCs, who will want to work at Penn State? I hear that Jimbo Fisher is out of a job. In any case, James Franklin moved his Tuesday press conference to Monday for the second week in a row undoubtedly to discuss this move and who will call the offensive plays. Perhaps he’ll explain why he’s been so flighty with OCs.
Come to think of it, I wonder whether Yurcich was playing out an ultimatum in calling the Michigan game. It sure looked like it, given some of the dumb desperation calls, although we don’t know whether Yurcich called them or Franklin whispered them into his headset. Remember when I exhorted the Nittany Lions to shitcan the trick plays in favor of fundamental football? I wanted them to confuse the defense, not make them laugh at us. Well, we made them do the latter, particularly with that ridiculous fourth-quarter two-point conversion. Certainly fitting as Yurcich’s last play.
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Big Al says
Yeah, that 4th quarter 2 point conversion attempt was stupid, but the 2nd quarter attempt was even stupider. It just showed how desperate Franklin has become and how little confidence he has in the offense. Plus, it messed up my 23-16 score prediction.
If Franklin’s going to be calling the plays for the Rutgers game, taking Rutgers and the 16.5 points seems like guaranteed money. The Kitties might not even score 17 total points, let alone beat them by 17 points. Rutgers offense sucks so bad (the only thing they can do is run, and Monangai and Wimbush are no Corum and McCaffery) that 10 points should be enough to win.
PS I think Franklin’s buyout is currently $72 Million and declines to $64 Million next Jan 1 and then by $8 Million every Jan 1 until 2032. So, he isn’t going to fired before Jan 2028 at the earliest. I’d guess the only way State gets rid of him before 2028 is if Kraft refuses to give him a pay raise the next time he tries re-negotiate his contract. (which will probably be next January if he finishes 10-2 and wins the bowl game.) It’s hard for him to make ends meet on $8M a year given current inflation.
The Nittany Turkey says
Franklin was exquisitely sensitive when Dave Jones questioned him at his post-game presser about both two-point attempts. Franklin said he answered the question and Jones said he didn’t think so. Franklin glared at Jones for an interminable moment, then started scribbling furiously. He was obviously pissed off to the extent that he fumbled Audrey Snyder’s question and needed to ask her to repeat it. That made me wonder whether it was Franklin himself who made the desperation decision to go for two both times.
I’ll credit the weird-ass play itself to Yurcich. But I still must wonder whether Franklin was the decision factor,
Your comment that Franklin might not be able to make ends meet on $8 million a year reminded me of Latrell Sprewell rejecting his $56 million contract (or something like that) with the NBA Minnesota Timberwolves. Said Sprewell, “How am I going to feed my kids?”
—TNT
K. John says
I think only 7 million a year is actually guaranteed which would make the buyout 56 right now. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter as we are stuck with him for three more years unless he leaves on his own ( not happening because nobody is going to pay him what he makes now) or gets so desperate he does something stupid to try to get over the top and gets fired for cause which I think is somewhat likely at this point. The legacy is written. He doesn’t beat good teams. His record against the top 25 is atrocious. It is even worse than what is reported because they never talk about where teams finish.
The Nittany Turkey says
The worst case would be that Pat Kraft renegotiates Franklin’s contract to extend it another fifteen years to ensure James a comfortable retirement, with a $100 million inflation adjusted severance agreement. I don’t think Kraft is that stupid; however Sandy Barbour sure as hell was! Maybe not stupid, but she had the inverse Midas touch — whatever she touched, she turned to shit. At Cal, the huge budget overruns on the stadium were her swan song; at Penn State, it was Franklin’s contract. Just why in the bloody hell Penn State hired her after she was fired at Cal is a major mystery, but things were in turmoil back then, so perhaps she was the best they thought they could get. Yeah, and her legacy lives on in the form of James Tiberius Franklin.
—TNT