Did James Franklin accuse Urban Meyer of negative recruiting?

... Sanduky allegations open door for other schools

When a college football coach met with the parents of a player he was recruiting a few decades ago, he may have said this:

"Look Mrs. Smith, when your son comes here to play football, you are going to be in a great academic environment. Not only are we going to be one of the top football schools in the country, your son will earn his degree. Eighty two percent of our players will graduate in five years.

"Eighty two percent. That is third in the country behind Notre Dame and Stanford.

"Your son has some other choices. You go to that other school in the Western part of the state, sure, you will have a chance at having a good team. Do you know how many of their players actually graduate? Maybe 30 percent? High as 40 at times?

"What I am saying is that you will be in a great atmosphere here, I call it the Grand Experiment where we allow players to be great on the field and off the field. We want him to become a successful young man who can go out and excel in the world."

Negative recruiting there for Joe Paterno? Absolutely not. He was proud of the academic accomplishments and was right to use that in recruiting.

What about the statement about the other team's graduation rate?

Fair game? Of course. You want to make yourself look better, and if you provide a list of all the schools and their rates, that is fair.

Where is the line with negative recruiting?

Often, it is fuzzy.

James Franklin's allegations

Penn State third-year Coach James Franklin has accused some schools of using negative recruiting against the Nittany Lions.

In fact, some of the Ohio media are saying that Franklin is accusing Urban Meyer of using that this summer. Franklin denies that, but Meyer was not happy to be asked about it at the Big Ten Media Day. " 'Absolutely not'," Meyer sternly responded" according to Cleveland.com. " 'That's the first time I've heard of that. I'll address that with Coach Franklin if that is an issue. That's a pretty strong allegation that I have not heard yet. That has not been presented to me until this moment. ... We have a great deal of respect for every school in our conference'."

Good answer.

Examples

So, what if Meyer or his staff says, "Look, they (Penn State) have had only one Heisman Trophy winner in their history, and that was eons ago. We have seven already, and our guys are up there in the running every year."

Problem, of course not.

How about this: "We are always in the running for the national title. With those guys in Pa., you never know if you are going to be eligible to play a bowl game."

That intimation is a little closer to the line since the sanctions have been lifted. What the recruiter is alleging is that they may receive sanctions again.

Legal release this summer

However, after the new allegations that were made against Paterno and other coaches at Penn State in the release of legal documents this summer, Franklin immediately became concerned that his recruits and players have been approached to leave because of the threat of more sanctions..

What if another coach says this? "The one thing that you will always know, Mrs. Smith, is that your son will always be safe with us. We don't have a reputation like those charges that have come out about coaches abusing kids in another school."

Again, the coach extending that line a bit. It is not alleging that something will occur, but uses the history against a school.

Reading Eagle interview

That means that the line has been moved. Here is what Franklin told the Reading Eagle about the calls that his players had received after the Paterno charges were released by the courts earlier this summer.

"I spend all Friday and Saturday on the phone talking to all of our players because other schools are contacting them and telling them the NCAA is going to get involved again and impose more sanctions," Franklin said.

So, does calling recruits and current players after the additional information was released, telling them that Penn State may be placed on probation or will not have any bowls games in the future -- is that negative?

Yes, that will have crossed the line. The problem is, where is that line?

Franklin said that he was not including Michigan, Michigan, and Ohio State, their three primary opponents, in that statement.

That is what led to the question to Meyer about Ohio State's involvement.
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Penn State had right to boast

Joe Paterno justifiably bragged about his outstanding graduation rates. Point out that they were third in the country while others were not as high is not necessarily negative if it is true.

They used that in a positive way for years.

Better left unsaid

Franklin would have been better to ignore placing that charge in the media. It only compounds the problems for him as an important season arrives shortly.

Were those schools wrong to have called present players and recruits to point that out about the Paterno allegations.

Yes, but again, does the NCAA even have a rule about where that line is?

Franklin would have been best to handle it in-house with his A.D. contacting the other schools.

Franklin and Barbour

That brings up the A.D. since this one, Sandy Barbour, who has had her own problems with football programs before, did not hire Franklin. Is Franklin feeling the heat since she will be evaluating him?

Finally, how in the hell can Sandy Barbour evaluate any football coach for a few reasons: 1. She has not played or coached the sport; 2. She has never before evaluated football coaches until her stint at Cal, with disastrous results that resulted in her removal from the A.D. job [URL below].

Unfortunately, that is not the end of this story.

Reading Eagle interview of James Franklin

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

Cleveland.com on Urban Meyer and allegations

https://www.cleveland.com/osu/index.ssf/2016/07/james_franklin_urban_meyer_and.html

How does Sandy Barbour still have her job?

http://www.mercurynews.com/sports/ci_24430062/how-does-cal-athletic-director-sandy-barbour-still