No, he will not be leaving Penn State for Miami
On Sunday the University of Miami fired Al Golden as head coach. Golden, a former Penn State player under Joe Paterno and former head coach at Temple, was let go a day after Miami was blasted at home by Clemson, 58-0. The inevitable end to the Golden Era at Miami was destined to come soon, and the loss to Clemson appeared to be the suitable time to make it reality. With the Miami job now open, everybody seems to be rushing to put together their lists about potential candidates for the job. Penn State head coach James Franklin had his name mentioned in a story by Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com.
“You keep hearing rumblings that Franklin would be interested,” Dodd suggests in his story on possible candidates for Miami. “Franklin has no ties to Miami but probably would have a better chance to win in the ACC Coastal rather than an increasingly brutal Big Ten East.”
First off, where are the rumblings Franklin would be interested in the job at Miami? That sounds like something straight out of the Real PennLive Twitter feed to me. Franklin’s name has come up in his short time at Penn State with a couple of minor coaching rumor mill discussions, but never has it been a serious conversation worth having, and that continues to be the case right now.
Forget the whole “Pennsylvania boy” roots story Franklin has referenced time and time again. Coaches say things to make their fans happy, so anything a coach like Franklin says should always be taken with that in mind. However, you do not have to be a homer to understand that the idea of leaving Penn State for Miami makes little sense in this situation. Maybe if Franklin had been a Miami native, played for Miami and previously coached at Miami, we would have a discussion. That is not the case, and there are many more reasons why Penn State is the better job than Miami.
First, the facilities are already better at Penn State than at Miami, and they are about to get even better. Both schools lag in comparison to top college football programs in terms of training facilities, but Penn State is well ahead of Miami in terms of stadiums. To put it bluntly, Penn State has one and Miami allowed their former home to be torn down to make way for this…
http://gty.im/485755099
Miami has been facing attendance woes since the old Orange Bowl stadium was bulldozed and the Hurricanes moved their home games to the home of the Miami Dolphins. Unless Florida State or Florida was the opponent, attendance was lacking for Hurricanes home games. Maybe that will change in the future, but Penn State has a clear leg up in the game in this department.
Penn State also has more money to work with, even considering the financial burden that came with the Jerry Sandusky scandal fallout. Big Ten revenue shares are more lucrative than Miami gets from the unbalanced ACC revenue distribution. That leads to Penn State being able to invest more in the program’s stability and growth, which will be evident in the upcoming facility renovations. It also allows Penn State to better fund a coaching staff. Golden was making about $2.5 million at Miami, while Franklin is getting paid $4.4 million at Penn State. Miami cannot afford to increase its coaching salary that much, and we have not even compared the coaching salaries between Penn State and Miami. Penn State has historically underpaid assistant coaches but that game appears to have changed since Franklin’s arrival. It had to with the direction programs like Ohio State and Michigan are heading. Penn State can afford it. Miami cannot.
The Miami job is a good one and the Hurricanes can get back to its winning ways with the right hire. Franklin will not be that guy, so Penn State fans should rest easy anytime someone tries connecting him to the job.
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