The thing that I remember is that JVP teams were always known to be more prepared than the competition when there was more time to prepare. Think bowl records.
Every time we have a bye week or extra time for a bowl game I am more concerned under Franklin that the team will not put in the effort with the time. I would guess that Franklin focuses on recruiting during those blocks of time rather than on preparing his team to play. I am usually disappointed by our inability to show something new (beyond gimmick plays) that are designed to exploit something about the opponent.
Do you think Franklin would have been able to sucker Jimmy Johnson and Vinny Testeverde into throwing 5 interceptions? Would a Franklin team have his defense positioned to make those plays? I would be surprised.
Saban kept harping this morning that the most important selection criteria should be whether or not a team has beaten a Top 25 opponent. That shows the "quality win" bias rather than the "bad loss" bias, which occurs when a team takes a week off. Unfortunately, the teams we played that are normally in the Top 25 have had a down year, or simply gave up. Giving up after getting eliminated will be a problem going forward. The minor bowls are worth even less as the best players decline to play.
Preparation is one of the key ways that I compare coaches. Do they actually coach? You can see "coaching" during games too. Do the clock management and play calls make sense?
To be fair, in today's world "coaching" is in my opinion more difficult, because overall I believe the players are less mature. It is harder for coaches to assemble the individuals into a functional team. I now see a lot of show-boating prima donnas, things we never saw 40 years ago. Those types of players come with the baggage of their childhood, which I would guess is often dysfunctional. Sure, we had bad apples back in the day, even a killer and rapists, but we did not see the "look at me" types of behavior on the field of play. Today's kids openly display their lack of self esteem. I believe it is a lack of having good fathers.
In today's world when a coach can put together a team that plays above their physical gifts he becomes worth some money. I'm not seeing that at Penn State right now, so I'm not seeing how we justify the contract given to James Franklin. He might as well be the recruiting coordinator.
