Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1472993
A U G U S T 2 0 2 2 2 7 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M program, can look and say, OK, look at Player X. He came to Penn State, he was taken care of, and then once he became a real player, he was taken care of even more. That seems like something that would make sense to a parent or a recruit or a current player in our program: I came in. Me and my family were taken care of from a baseline that everybody in the program was getting, but then, once you earned it on the field, the market changed based on how the market sees me. That's not really for us to control, but it's important to understand that. I'd like to be able to say to a freshman who is coming in, "Look at so-and-so. He's done what he's supposed to in the class- room. He's done what he's supposed to do in the community. He's always repre- senting himself really well. You're talking about building your brand? Well, he's gotten out and done interviews and done really well. It's obvious a lot of people want to work with him. Then on top of that, he's producing on Saturdays, so he's done a really good job with his total brand." To me, that makes sense. And you'd love to be able to tell that story: Look at Player X. The opportunity is there for you to earn these opportunities. BWI: Where is Penn State in the tra- jectory of what you're envisioning? FRANKLIN: The challenge is that when these rules were put in place, there were no real conversations, and we took a very different model and approach. There was a committee formed, and there was nobody from football on the committee. We had the ability to take an approach that we thought was in Penn State's best interests. We took that approach. But again, it doesn't align with what the mar- ket is and with what we're competing against. I'm not saying it's right or wrong. Our approach was to teach the student- athletes how to be entrepreneurs. But again, anybody that works specifically in football knew what was coming. And for two years, we took an approach — I'm not saying it was wrong — that was very different than the model that people are working with now and what we're com- peting against. Now we're spending all our time trying to catch up, because we took a different approach from a model perspective. BWI: Neeli Bendapudi took office in May as Penn State's new president. Pat- rick Kraft is taking over as athletics direc- tor this summer. From what you've seen so far, how receptive are they to your vi- sion for Penn State football? FRANKLIN: It's been really good. Dr. Bendapudi has been phenomenal. Her energy has been awesome. She came and spoke to the team during spring ball and just got up in front of the team and was dynamic and was fun and engaging. That was great. We've had really good interac- tions. I also think it's a little bit different be- cause she has a different kind of struc- ture. She's got a chief of staff, Michael Wade Smith, who's very hands-on and involved. I think that's important, be- cause you don't really want to be going to the president for everything. They've got enough things on their plate. This helps with that — not just in athletics, and not just in football, but in all these different areas. And then Pat, I can't tell you how many times I've talked to him throughout the process, and then after the announce- ment. That's been really good. He reached out to me one morning, he texted me said, can you talk? And I was like, yeah, and we had a really good con- versation. At the end of the conversation, I'm like, "I'm in Arizona. You do realize it's 5:15 in the morning after we talked for 45 minutes?" He's like, "Oh my God, I didn't know. I forgot you were in Arizona." But with me, I would rather have that. I'd rather have the conversations so that I can hear his perspective and he can hear mine. Ultimately, he's the athletic direc- tor. He's got to make the best decisions. But having those conversations allows me to understand what direction he's going and why, and also for him to hear from me. I think that's really important, and it's been good. ■ "Probably the best model is to come up with a number that we're going to fundraise for every single year, so that every player in your program is getting something. Because if not, it could really throw off the dynamics in your locker room. Although, let's be honest, it's never really been even anyway in terms of attention, in terms of interviews. Certain positions have always [been different]. It's the same way in the NFL." F R A N K L I N