Blue White Illustrated

February 2014

Penn State Sports Magazine

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JUDGMENT CALL GREAT EXPECTATIONS Franklin's arrival brings hope of resurgence ames Franklin could coach in Beaver Stadium for the next couple of decades and still not preside over a more delightful scene than the one that followed his introduction. After spending nearly an hour at the dais, Penn State's new head football coach was escorted onto the field for yet another photo op. Franklin entered handin-hand with his two young daughters, and when they spied the victory bell just outside the tunnel, they headed straight for it, then took turns tugging on the cord with abandon. There's something about the unbridled joy on a child's face that melts away all your defenses, turns hardened cynicism to mush. Even if some of Franklin's bravado didn't entirely work on you during his presser – maybe you suspect that there won't, in fact, be 107,000 fans on hand when UMass comes to town in September or that the people of Pennsylvania, who can't even agree on what the official state cookie should be, will rise up as one in support of the Nittany Lions – you walked out of the stadium on Jan. 11 feeling pretty good. Truth be told, there were probably a few grown- J ups who felt like ringing the victory bell off its moorings when they learned that Bill O'Brien's successor was going to be the guy who turned Vanderbilt – Vanderbilt! – into POINTING UP a consistent winner. Maybe TVs in the Allmore than a few. Franklin did as much as Sports Museum he could at his introduction aired Franklin's to rekindle enthusiasm for introductory a program that seemed to presser on Jan. be slipping back into chaos following O'Brien's abrupt 11. After it departure. He said all the ended, PSU's new things that Penn Staters coach led his wanted to hear, talking at daughters into length about his desire to stay at the university for a Beaver Stadium good long while ("This is to have their my dream job"), about his pictures taken. determination to out-recruit his rivals ("We're going to dominate this state"), about his willingness to do whatever it takes to get the entire community behind him ("If people ask us to blow up balloons in their kid's birthday party, we'll do that"). Does the road to the national championship go through Tim Owen

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