Two former SEC coaches now in Big Ten in war of words over recruiting

Former Vanderbilt coach James Franklin came off like quite the hypocrite at Big Ten Media Days in Chicago.

Going into his third season at Penn State, Franklin again suggested that other institutions are using the Nittany Lions’ disgusting past to turn kids away from Happy Valley — “negative recruiting,” it’s called.

Previously one of the most proud programs in America, Penn State is now ground zero for maybe the biggest scandal in college football history. Not only did longtime defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky sexually abuse countless boys for decades, but mythical coach Joe Paterno has been accused of knowing and doing nothing about it.

Sandusky’s damage, which ruined so many innocent lives due to his predatory nature, may never be undone.

Defiant until his dying breath, Paterno denied any knowledge of the horrors perpetrated — many of which occurred at his own facility — and destroyed his legacy as a result. It was sad to watch for all of us.

It’s a distinct possibility that Penn State never returns to being Penn State. Paterno won two national championships and made a name for himself as one of the all-time greats with his old-school, blue-collar, small-town ways. But the Nittany Lions are a broken brand, and Franklin is having a hard time fixing it.

According to Franklin, conference foes are playing some dirty pool by not letting the Sandusky story die. He told the Reading Eagle last month that Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State were among schools using Penn State’s previous problems to their advantage.

“We’re talking about some sensitive subjects,” he said Monday. “Some use it, some don’t. I would say, in our position, we probably have to answer more tough questions than any program in the country.”

After Bill O’Brien went 15-9 in two seasons before heading to the Houston Texans, Franklin has posted two 7-6 campaigns. He’s clearly being lapped in the Big Ten East by the Wolverines, Spartans and Buckeyes.

“My focus needs to be on the things that we can control,” he said. “That’s not one of them. For me, answering questions about things that happened 40 years ago when I was 4 years old, I don’t know if that’s necessarily the best use of my time or anyone else’s.”

Unfortunately, more details of Sandusky’s terrorizing tenure in Happy Valley continue to make headlines. Recent reports suggest that Paterno was made aware of these indefensible acts as far back as 1976. Court documents alleged that former assistant Greg Schiano knew of Sandusky’s crimes, too. Schiano has denied it.

Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio was one of Franklin’s targets when crying foul on the Sandusky situation.

“I know we have a lot of reporters here,” Dantonio (below) told reporters Tuesday. “Everybody’s got a pen. But from my standpoint, I have not said anything negative about Penn State, and hopefully our coaches have not as well. So I was surprised to read that.”

Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

Dantonio admitted that he can’t supervise all of his assistants around the clock — nobody can. However, Franklin implied that the tactics employed were systemic within some programs. It was quite an accusation.

“I don’t know what happens out there on the road completely,” Dantonio said, “but it’s not our M.O. and that’s not how we do business.”

Ohio State was another school on Franklin’s hit list. Needless to say, Buckeyes coach Urban Meyer is far from considered a saint by those in the business — ask some of his former supporters at Florida. But he has a track record for being a dynamic recruiter, both before and after Happy Valley became not so happy.

Surely some parents don’t want their sons going to Penn State, especially if Ohio State is another option.

“Absolutely not,” Meyer also said Tuesday, “and that’s the first time I’ve heard that. I’ll address that with Coach Franklin if that is an issue. That’s a pretty strong allegation that I’ve not heard yet. So that’s not been presented to me until this moment. Absolutely not.”

As promised, Meyer cornered Franklin (below) at Media Days to discuss the matter. He left that meeting satisfied with their conversation. Again, Franklin didn’t directly accuse Meyer. The implication was there, though.

Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

“We’ve got a great deal of respect for every school in our conference, and we do just fine with recruiting,” Meyer said. “We don’t worry about that stuff.”

The irony here is that Franklin raided the 2014 recruiting class he was building at Vanderbilt the moment he got the job at Penn State. Seemingly overnight, just a few weeks before signing day, practically all of Vandy’s commitments began to waver. Each suddenly wanted to go to another school 700 miles to the East.

While it’s not unusual for players to commit to a coach more than a program, Franklin went way overboard.

“I’ve never seen it in this volume, quite this fast, of someone trying to pillage their own commitment class for their new job,” Jesse Johnson, who covers Vanderbilt for Rivals, told USA TODAY.

Vanderbilt signed the No. 26 class for 2013 according to the composite rankings at 247Sports. However, the Commodores fell all the way to 46th the next year thanks to Franklin’s underhandedness as he exited stage left.

“Normally, you’re going to have staffs take some kids,” Johnson said. “But I don’t think I’ve seen many cases where it seems like the entire class is trying to be taken to the next job.”

Franklin won nine games twice at Vandy, which is an incredible accomplishment. He spun that success into a bigger and better job at — what used to be, at least — a traditional power. However, now he’s having a hard time competing in the Big Ten’s premier division. Remember, the two Tennessee teams he beat both went 5-7.

One of those years, Florida tanked all the way to 4-8. The East wasn’t exactly Murderer’s Row at the time.

By comparison, Dan Mullen taking Mississippi State — another SEC program with no winning history — from unranked to No. 1 in the country two seasons ago was much more impressive. The West was (and is) stacked.

Whether Franklin can actually coach isn’t the issue, though. It’s not like he didn’t know what he was getting into when he bolted. You can’t just put Sandusky behind bars and proclaim “back to football.” Scars last forever. Should Penn State fail to recover, not many outside Happy Valley will be heartbroken.

If Franklin didn’t want to clean up some leftover Sandusky mess, then he should have stayed in Nashville.

John Crist is the senior writer for Saturday Down South, a member of the FWAA and a voter for the Heisman Trophy. Send him an e-mail, like him on Facebook or follow him on Twitter.