Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1524108
A U G U S T 2 0 2 4 2 7 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / T H E B I G P I C T U R E / / / / / / / position, but there are some really good candidates. BWI: What do you make of the changes that are coming in NIL nation- ally and Penn State's approach? FRANKLIN: I think the biggest thing is the ability for it to come in-house. Now, what that exactly means, I think a lot of people are still trying to figure that out with guidance through the NCAA, state laws, conference rules. There were a ton of conversations about this at our Big Ten meetings. I think there are going to be certain things that still have to [re- semble] the NIL that we've had the last couple of years, but the majority is going to be able to come in-house in terms of the ability for tax deductions. Some of the strange relationships with players [are going to change]. They're coming to us to recruit them, but then we can't have a conversation about NIL. For a lot of them, NIL is a major part of their decision-making process, and we're not able to have this conversation; we're handing it to some- body else, and you don't know how those conversations are going. Are they being communicated the way we would want them communicated? If they're not communicated the right way, and it becomes problematic in the future, we're dealing with the [fallout], but we're not the ones who had the conver- sation. So, there's a lot of that discon- nected stuff that we're going to hope- fully be able to streamline and get more alignment with. I think what you're going to see is people hiring GMs or contract nego- tiators. And then where is that housed? Is that housed in football? Or are the contract negotiations housed in com- pliance so that you don't have the head coach having these conversations, and if someone's unhappy, there's still some- what of a disconnect? I think there are still [more] questions than answers. BWI: With the Big Ten and the Col- lege Football Playoff both expanding at the same time, does that change any- thing fundamentally about the way that you approach a football season? FRANKLIN: For every conference in the country, you've got the possibility of 17 games. That's the first thing that has got to be different. If you haven't been a team that's played a lot of guys from a depth perspective, you're probably go- ing to have to significantly change that philosophy. That's not an issue for us; we've always tried to play a lot of guys. We will probably do that even more now. But then on top of that, in the SEC, almost all of their games are essentially drivable — not saying they will drive, but they're drivable — and then ours aren't. There's a wear-and-tear aspect to that. We're allowed to play one game on the West Coast every three years at 8 p.m. With us being in State College, Pennsylvania, that means we probably won't get back till 10 o'clock [the fol- lowing morning]. We're one of the most northeastern schools, even more so than Rutgers. They're more northeastern than us, but they have a [major] airport. And it's not just that game; it's how that impacts the next game from a coach's preparation standpoint, and from a player recovery standpoint. Your practice schedule is probably going to change. If you don't get back till 10 o'clock on Sunday, that probably be- comes your off day, and Monday be- comes your workday, which is different from how we normally operate. BWI: Does playoff expansion change the mentality of one loss ending the season? FRANKLIN: Yes. And you could even make the argument now that maybe two losses don't end the season. … I know there have been a lot of conversations about how many teams the SEC and the Big Ten will get in. Well, if we're go- ing to play these types of schedules, a two- or three-loss Big Ten or SEC team should be rewarded for playing this type of schedule. You can't have it both ways. BWI: I think it's much more possible than people realize for five or more Big Ten teams to finish 10-2 or better. FRANKLIN: Yep. The other interest- ing thing everybody is talking about is Notre Dame not getting a bye. They do, because they don't have a conference championship game. That's their bye. The other thing that I think both the SEC and Big Ten are trying to protect is, in the old days, the loser of the confer- ence championship game was out. And now, that should not be the case. The winner and the loser should still be in from the SEC and the Big Ten. ■ Franklin Moving Up PSU's Career Victories Chart When it comes to Penn State's career victories list, current and future coaches are playing for second place. It is very, very unlikely that anyone will ever catch Joe Paterno, whose 409 career wins are the most of any coach in major-college football history. Still, with five double-digit-win seasons to his credit, James Franklin is moving up. Heading into his 11th campaign, Franklin is in fourth place with 88 wins during his tenure in State College. He is on pace to overtake Bob Higgins and move into third place at some point this fall. Higgins compiled a 91-57-11 record from 1930-48. Here's a look at the 10 winningest coaches in Penn State history. Coach Years PSU Record Pct. Career Record Pct. Joe Paterno 1966-2011 409-136-3 .749 Same .749 Rip Engle 1950-65 104-48-4 .679 132-68-8 .654 Bob Higgins 1930-48 91-57-11 .607 123-83-16 .590 James Franklin 2014-present 88-39-0 .693 112-54-0 .674 Hugo Bezdek 1918-29 65-30-11 .665 127-58-16 .672 Tom Fennell 1904-08 33-17-1 .657 42-18-2 .694 Bill Hollenback 1909, 1911-14 28-9-4 .732 46-19-8 .685 Dick Harlow 1915-17 20-8-0 .714 149-69-17 .670 George Hoskins 1892-95 17-4-4 .760 59-48-9 .547 Pop Golden 1900-02 16-12-1 .569 Same .569