Rudel: This one's on Franklin

... SB: Who is Penn State to complain?

The fallout continues on James Franklin's "miscommunication" that resulted in a Big Ten Media Day frenzy that was not about the 2016 Penn State football team.

As I noted earlier, Franklin attempted to complain about "negative recruiting" that some schools have allegedly used against Penn State after the release of damaging information about the Sandusky fiasco earlier this summer.

Rudel analysis

Long-time Penn State football guru Neil Rudel of the Altoona Mirror tweeted a blog post to say that Franklin has done some good things in his two years. He even said that some of the coaching issues from the past may be better analyzed with some better personnel this year.

Rudel was critical, however, over Franklin's handling of the entire negative recruiting fiasco. He said that the actions of Franklin and Athletic Director Sandy Barbour did not work and may have hurt them in the long run. "… while they may have raised awareness in the Big Ten offices, the bottom line on this one is Franklin tripped over himself, it backfired, and now he’s in damage-control mode," Rudel wrote in a blog post on Thursday.

Reading Eagle interview

This started with an interview that Franklin gave to Reading Eagle reporter Rich Scarcella in late June in which Franklin mentioned four teams in conjunction with the negative recruiting that he alleged occurred.

"The people we're competing with - Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State, Notre Dame - this is just not something they have to deal with. Although we want to move on, those other schools are not letting us move on. I think in so many areas we can be really, really healthy in 2018. We can be in a really good position to have the type of program everybody wants us to have. The thing that we don't know is when is everything going to be resolved," he said to Scarcella.

Misquoted? Not really

Franklin later claimed that he was misquoted on that, but he indicated that four schools were involved. Rudel called him out on that since by saying that this was taken out of context, that he is impugning the integrity of a top PSU beat reporter.

Rudel said that Ohio State Coach Urban Meyer was upset about the allegation, and wrote that "Meyer dismissed the issue, and accused the writer, Rich Scarcella, of 'creating' what he called a 'non-story'."

Rudel stuck up for Scarcella. "Scarcella may be the most respected member of the Penn State beat … He didn’t make anything up. Read the interview at readingeagle.com. Scarcella printed what was said. End of story," Rudel wrote.

Notre Dame also upset

A blogger who covers Notre Dame wrote this about the whole Penn State/negative recruiting imbroglio. "It's a bit ironic that a school notorious for negative recruiting towards Notre Dame and others has now publicly accused the Irish and some Big Ten schools of going too far," Joshua Vowles of SB Nation wrote, an obvious reference to the Joe Paterno days.

"After another tough year, Franklin can't keep his mouth shut and stop whining about losing some of these recruiting battles to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Michigan Wolverines, Michigan State, and the Ohio State Buckeyes."

Vowles then said that when Meyer confronted Franklin about it, "Franklin squirmed and said it was all made up … here is a whiner whining."

In essence, Franklin botched this and as Rudel said, those teams need no excuses to get up to play Penn State.

Conclusion

Time that James Franklin should have spent talking about his upcoming season has now been wasted, and he has lost some credibility.

Franklin is right to be upset about the Sandusky issue, something that he cannot control. He has to realize, however, that this Sandusky fallout is going to take a generation or two to subside.

He has to just deal with it.

[URL Below]

Reading Eagle Interview

http://www.readingeagle.com/sports/article/franklin-full-of-optimism-for-penn-state-football

Notre Dame blog

http://www.onefootdown.com/2016/7/27/12299354/james-franklin-accuses-notre-dame-of-negative-recruiting

Neil Rudel Twitter: @neilrudel

Hugh Conrad

Twitter: @hughbradyconrad

Previous post on Franklin: 
http://hce1947.blogspot.com/2016/07/was-joe-paterno-ever-guilty-of-negative.html

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