USA Today reports on the growing controversy surrounding James Franklin, the successful Vanderbilt University football coach who was hired last week by Penn State to head their program.
Vanderbilt’s recruiting class has been devastated by Franklin’s departure, and it appears Franklin himself has played an active role in luring players away from Vandy to Penn State:
On Saturday morning, Vanderbilt had 20 commitments and a 2014 football recruiting class that was ranked in the top 25 in the country.
By Sunday night, a day after coach James Franklin left for Penn State, the Commodores had what one recruiting site called three solid commitments.
It’s not uncommon for schools to lose recruits when a coach leaves, but what’s happening to Vanderbilt 23 days before signing day is not normal.
Two Vanderbilt commitments now say they are going to Penn State, and Franklin has offered scholarships to at least six others.
“I’ve never seen it in this volume, quite this fast, of someone trying to pillage their own commitment class for their new job,” said Jesse Johnson of Rivals recruiting site VandySports.com.
“Normally, you’re going to have staffs take some kids. But I don’t think I’ve seen many cases where it seems like the entire class is trying to be taken to the next job.”
“Basically, they’re left with three guys that I would consider really firm commitments,” said Chris Smith of Vanderbilt.247Sports.com. “A lot of them have mixed emotions. All the recruits, they all love Franklin, they all seemed to want to come to Vanderbilt because of Franklin.
“In the end, depending on how the new coaching staff is, they may be able to pull some of these guys back into the class. But it’s going to be open season for Vanderbilt recruiting the next three weeks.”
…It was less than two years ago that Franklin stood before a signing-day crowd supporters at Vanderbilt’s Student Life Center and said players who decommitted from his program were not “men of honor” and “men of integrity.”
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