Franklin presser

[WaffleShopper]

2 former players, brought into the program, and the university, by Franklin are charged with rape and people actually think reporters won’t ask Franklin about it. It’s not the smallest amount reasonable to think that this would not come up. That PSU didn’t have a better response is negligence. You may not like the reporters or that they asked about it. That’s fine. But to not be prepared for probably the most obvious question asked all year is an indicator of total PR incompetence. As for Franklin, when you make $7m per year, you should be prepared for the question, even if the response is to refer to the university statement. That is all he needed to say. Not too hard.

I don't understand how people can't see that the university and Franklin WERE prepared. They spent time preparing a statement and then they gave that statement. Three times. There is nothing more to say. Franklin was told not to say a word about it. It would have been the height of stupidity to say anything more than what was in that statement. University lawyers would have been f*n pissed if someone did. I know nothing about law but I know you don't start winging it on questions about a legal matter when you were specifically told to shut your mouth and not say a word.

The walk away by Franklin wasn't a great look, but I'm sure he was pissed he had to put up with more media BS when they knew he couldn't talk about it. They knew they weren't getting anything so their best bet was writing about his "non-answer". He knew that was going to be their angle and he couldn't do anything about it except be a dick and he has never done that. I give him a hard time when he deserves it, but he's held it together and been cordial for a long damn time even though some of those reporters are complete pieces of shit.

 

[ram2020]

Stewart Mandel
"A master class in how NOT to handle a negative story, by Franklin and Penn St's PR folks.
Try to dictate what reporters can ask? Check.
Performative walk off in a huff? Check.
Create far more viral attention than if he'd just said "I can't comment on that." Check."

Even Jason Whitlock did a 10 minute segment on it today. The story should have been a "nothing burger," penn states handling of it ensured it was not.

 

[LandoComando]

Dude, he got blasted, and rightfully so. It was a total setup, and no one is getting fired. All reporters were notified, they would not be taking questions. Period. Franklin owes no one anything. It's a legal matter, the kids haven't been on the team for months. They never played for Penn State.

It's not a set up--you can't tell reporters want they can ask about--period.
Franklin can't walk away from the podium. That's not on him. That's what he was told to do but someone needs fired for that.
As everyone is saying nationally, you can't handle a non-story worse than we did because now it's being discussed. All he had to say was "Please refer to the statement" and all is good--but he walked away. A leader can NEVER walk away or it becomes a story. That's on our PR/MR staff--not Franklin but Franklin will take heat for it as we've seen.
It doesn't matter that they never played at Penn State--they were recruited and enrolled here--this is tied to Penn State. Like it would be at Michigan or Ohio State or Georgia or anywhere else. The difference is they wouldn't have made a nonstory a story. No one does that better than us.

 

[LandoComando]

Franklin better get used to questions because now the nationally media will be asking him nonstop leading up to Ohio State--all week. By everyone because of this screw up.

 

[GregInPitt]

You claiming she's a moron for asking a legit question is emotion based and lacks logic
How is it childish to ask how early the knew about it? Franklin says "Please refer to the statement" and they move on but we handled it poorly
You're trying to blame her for this when if she didn't ask someone else would have. The next reporter, no matter who they called on, was going to do it.
We handled it poorly as a program. Someone needs to be fired for that.

It's not a "legit question" after PSU says it won't answer questions about the subject. How could anyone believe that it was.

No, no one asks questions that a minute before that they were told wouldn't be entertained for answers during that PC.

Yep, the person that wasn't smart enough to move on after knowing that no questions regarding legal issues is a candidate for being fired. i.e. if she had any legit accountability with her employer.

 

[LandoComando]

It's not a "legit question" after PSU says it won't answer questions about the subject. How could anyone believe that it was.

No, no one asks questions that a minute before that they were told wouldn't be entertained for answers during that PC.

Yep, the person that wasn't smart enough to move on after knowing that no questions regarding legal issues is a candidate for being fired. i.e. if she had any legit accountability with her employer.

It is a legitimate question--see all the tweets I shared. The media doesn't have to honor that request. It's actually an absurd request to make. They're only going to be asked about it more moving forward now.

They do all the time.

Again, you're wrong. She's probably being praised for it and encouraged to ask again at the next press conference.

You do realize next week every national reporter is going to ask because of how poorly we handled this?

You do at least now admit we handled it poorly even if it was someone else's fault or being stupid and asking, right?

 

[Obliviax]

But he didn’t. He hid in the corner like a coward. Admit the obvious. Now I know what a cult looks and acts like. Jim
Jones and Charles Manson would be proud of you. Just drink the cool-aid.

In the real world, healthy organizations admit they are wrong, seek to improve and move on. In the US government and Penn State football, highly paid individuals can’t admit the obvious, evade and make the situation worse.

No he didn’t. He did what the university (and his boss) said they would do

 

[LandoComando]

No he didn’t. He did what the university (and his boss) said they would do

And it's not his fault but he's going to take the heat for it. That comes with being a HC at Penn State. Fair or not,and it's not, he's being absolutely destroyed nationally for this.

 

[Nostraduzzi]

Franklin better get used to questions because now the nationally media will be asking him nonstop leading up to Ohio State--all week. By everyone because of this screw up.

Hey, whatdya think about the BIG game with Wisconsin this Saturday. Holy, Toledo! I think it’s gonna be a barn burner.

 

[LandoComando]

Hey, whatdya think about the BIG game with Wisconsin this Saturday. Holy, Toledo! I think it’s gonna be a barn burner.

Even if we had a real BIG game this week and were playing OSU he'd have gotten this question. Wait until next week if you think they asked too many questions today

 

[Nostraduzzi]

And it's not his fault but he's going to take the heat for it. That comes with being a HC at Penn State. Fair or not,and it's not, he's being absolutely destroyed nationally for this.

Even if we had a real BIG game this week and were playing OSU he'd have gotten this question. Wait until next week if you think they asked too many questions today

Maybe ESPN can create a new channel for reporters that just want to focus on everything but sports. You could tune in to that while wasting your days posting here.

 

[LandoComando]

Maybe ESPN can create a new channel for reporters that just want to focus on everything but sports. You could tune in to that while wasting your days posting here.

This is about sports...even if you wish it wasn't.

 

[Nostraduzzi]

This is about sports...even if you wish it wasn't.

Wrong again. Hope you can get focused on the big game with Wisconsin.

 

[LandoComando]

Wrong again. Hope you can get focused on the big game with Wisconsin.

It's not a big game...its a game we should win easy that doesn't need either of us to focus. We play our C- game we win.
And I'm not wrong. Watch all the attention next week simply because of a bad PR decision. You'll be crying then too about the media doing their job.

 

[Nostraduzzi]

It's not a big game...its a game we should win easy that doesn't need either of us to focus. We play our C- game we win.
And I'm not wrong. Watch all the attention next week simply because of a bad PR decision. You'll be crying then too about the media doing their job.

Good night. See you Saturday during the titanic matchup with the Badgers.

 

[Lion84]

It's not a big game...its a game we should win easy that doesn't need either of us to focus. We play our C- game we win.
And I'm not wrong. Watch all the attention next week simply because of a bad PR decision. You'll be crying then too about the media doing their job.

It is a big game and no this wasn’t about sports its about an alleged crime committed by 2 PSU students and if it was at Millersville no one would report on it at ESPN. They have been kicked off the team and booted from school. What more should be done.

 

[LandoComando]

It is a big game and no this wasn’t about sports its about an alleged crime committed by 2 PSU students and if it was at Millersville no one would report on it at ESPN. They have been kicked off the team and booted from school. What more should be done.

By two Penn State students on campus due to a football scholarship. FOOTBALL. Penn State issued a statement for a reason. Stop pretending otherwise

 

[Hotshoe]

It's not a set up--you can't tell reporters want they can ask about--period.
Franklin can't walk away from the podium. That's not on him. That's what he was told to do but someone needs fired for that.
As everyone is saying nationally, you can't handle a non-story worse than we did because now it's being discussed. All he had to say was "Please refer to the statement" and all is good--but he walked away. A leader can NEVER walk away or it becomes a story. That's on our PR/MR staff--not Franklin but Franklin will take heat for it as we've seen.
It doesn't matter that they never played at Penn State--they were recruited and enrolled here--this is tied to Penn State. Like it would be at Michigan or Ohio State or Georgia or anywhere else. The difference is they wouldn't have made a nonstory a story. No one does that better than us.

Really? Press Secretaries do it on a daily basis. You love drama, and you're making more drama about this than anyone.

 

[Jerry]

The dogs bark. The caravan moves on. And the caravan moves faster and faster these days.

It was a tactical error not to have the coach give the canned answer to the inevitable question. It gave a handful of reporters' and commentators their daily reason to wax indignant. I mean, they get paid for waxing indignant after all and are happy to grasp at any chance to do so.

But this is thin gruel. The story, such as it is, had a half-life of, oh, 6 hours...meaning that every 6 hours the indignation level drops by half. In 24 hours, it's gone as the carnival barkers have long since proceeded to their next indignation. In 48 hours, everyone's like, what press conference...did Franklin have a press conference?

Wisconsin...Wisconsin...Wisconsin.

 

[Fayette_LION]

How did your plan workout for joe?

I personally think this is exactly what the issue was about. Who is the responsible party for PSU. They do not want a football coach to be the responsible party even though at major universities, the coach answers the questions. PSU wanted total control but made a major snafu in handling it. Don't they trust the coach to say "No comment"

 

[CJFisJoePaII]

Wrong again. Hope you can get focused on the big game with Wisconsin.

Yep, this is a really big game this weekend against Wisconsin. Huge game. Just a really big game.

 

[Obliviax]

I personally think this is exactly what the issue was about. Who is the responsible party for PSU. They do not want a football coach to be the responsible party even though at major universities, the coach answers the questions. PSU wanted total control but made a major snafu in handling it. Don't they trust the coach to say "No comment"

Well, there is no "responsible party" at PSU. Two adult males are accused of awful crimes. There is an alleged victim and two alleged perps. All of them have legal rights. PSU needs to let the process play out.

What people don't understand about law today is that you don't need a legit claim. This is especially true in cases where one party is a public figure and the reputation of the claim will cause irreparable harm. The woman, I am almost 100% certain, will make some kind of claim that PSU didn't protect her. That claim will never go to court and be settled but an sloppy statement by the coach could add to her claim. So if CJF said "man, we feel horrible for her" that would be used as evidence that they know they were capable and should be held in a civil penalty. Or if PSU said "we are aware of the situation and decided it warranted the men's dismissal" and for whatever reason they win their case, they'll sue PSU for defamation. And they'll win a substantial out-of-court settlement.

One of my best friends, the founder of the company I worked for, had an Xmas party with the senior leadership team. A woman got drunk and in some edgy conversations that included five people, she grabbed his hand and placed it on her breast. She was telling him she had the nicest breasts in the room. Two months later, she sued. His lawyer advised that she would lose in court because several people witnessed it, including me. But she would say he bought the drinks and purposely got her drunk so she'd be vulnerable. That would extend the case and damage his reputation. So he settled out of court for a low six-figure sum with an NDA. Three months later she made the claim that employees were pirating software and her lawyer tried to get an analysis done of every single employee's software to audit if it was licensed or pirated. At this point, the company realized that they had to fight lest have several more of these experiences. The company spent ~ $300k and two years to fight that lawsuit. That is just the hard numbers. They lost a ton more in soft dollars as various employees spent a lot of time working on it. A year later, a woman sued because she was not hired for a position claiming this was done because she was Asian. The company, based in LA, brought the lawyer in and gave him a tour. Not only was the owner Asian, but over 50% of the employees were Asian as well. LOL.

 

[GregInPitt]

It is a legitimate question--see all the tweets I shared. The media doesn't have to honor that request. It's actually an absurd request to make. They're only going to be asked about it more moving forward now.

They do all the time.

Again, you're wrong. She's probably being praised for it and encouraged to ask again at the next press conference.

You do realize next week every national reporter is going to ask because of how poorly we handled this?

You do at least now admit we handled it poorly even if it was someone else's fault or being stupid and asking, right?

No one had to honor the request, but only those that want to burn their relationship with PSU athletics would be stupid enough to go forward after being told no questions about legal issues would be entertained. And the only thing that got her was to be looked at as a moron.

Again, you're wrong. She'll be looked at as being someone stupid enough to not follow instructions.

You do realize that PSU will continue to point reporters to their statement the same way they did on Wednesday?

I do realize that PSU issued a statement and and that the only one's "handling it poorly" were those that asked questions about legal issues directly after being told those questions would not be entertained. Poorly as in looking like a moron.

 

[Obliviax]

No one had to honor the request, but only those that want to burn their relationship with PSU athletics would be stupid enough to go forward after being told no questions about legal issues would be entertained. And the only thing that got her was to be looked at as a moron.

Again, you're wrong. She'll be looked at as being someone stupid enough to not follow instructions.

You do realize that PSU will continue to point reporters to their statement the same way they did on Wednesday?

I do realize that PSU issued a statement and and that the only one's "handling it poorly" were those that asked questions about legal issues directly after being told those questions would not be entertained. Poorly as in looking like a moron.

She works for The Athletic. This is owned by the NYT. Nuff said.

 

[lazydave841]

The headlines were going to be the same regardless of whether Franklin said the words "no comment", whether he made a statement about the victims without discussing the players, or whether he side steps the microphone and let's the assistant whatever his job is guy read the statement for the 2nd time.

Headlines: "Franklin refuses to comment."

First sentence of the story: "Franklin declines to answer."

"Refuses" paints Franklin worse than "declines". It's intent is to get clicks as if something went on.

 

[Hotshoe]

No one had to honor the request, but only those that want to burn their relationship with PSU athletics would be stupid enough to go forward after being told no questions about legal issues would be entertained. And the only thing that got her was to be looked at as a moron.

Again, you're wrong. She'll be looked at as being someone stupid enough to not follow instructions.

You do realize that PSU will continue to point reporters to their statement the same way they did on Wednesday?

I do realize that PSU issued a statement and and that the only one's "handling it poorly" were those that asked questions about legal issues directly after being told those questions would not be entertained. Poorly as in looking like a moron.

Not only were they told, they were told twice. This is already going away. A big nothing burger created by two clowns for clicks.

 

[LandoComando]

Really? Press Secretaries do it on a daily basis. You love drama, and you're making more drama about this than anyone.

Press secretaries respond saying they're not answering it but they're still asked. You're all the ones trying to create a conspiracy about the reporters for doing their job. See the national response

 

[Obliviax]

The headlines were going to be the same regardless of whether Franklin said the words "no comment", whether he made a statement about the victims without discussing the players, or whether he side steps the microphone and let's the assistant whatever his job is guy read the statement for the 2nd time.

Headlines: "Franklin refuses to comment."

First sentence of the story: "Franklin declines to answer."

"Refuses" paints Franklin worse than "declines". It's intent is to get clicks as if something went on.

Remember, Joe (without the advice of council) muttered on his doorstep "with the benefit of hindsight, i wish I had done more." On its face, who can argue with that? The media made it sound like he plead guilty to covering up for JS. That is why you say nothing.

 

[Lion84]

By two Penn State students on campus due to a football scholarship. FOOTBALL. Penn State issued a statement for a reason. Stop pretending otherwise

No sh&t pal but being on the football team doesn’t change the fact it was a crime committed by 2 students allegedly.

 

[LandoComando]

No one had to honor the request, but only those that want to burn their relationship with PSU athletics would be stupid enough to go forward after being told no questions about legal issues would be entertained. And the only thing that got her was to be looked at as a moron.

Again, you're wrong. She'll be looked at as being someone stupid enough to not follow instructions.

You do realize that PSU will continue to point reporters to their statement the same way they did on Wednesday?

I do realize that PSU issued a statement and and that the only one's "handling it poorly" were those that asked questions about legal issues directly after being told those questions would not be entertained. Poorly as in looking like a moron.

Explain why the national view mirrors what I said it would be? Nothing you said here is accurate. It's what you want to be true

 

[Hotshoe]

Press secretaries respond saying they're not answering it but they're still asked. You're all the ones trying to create a conspiracy about the reporters for doing their job. See the national response

The national response? Lmao. It's almost gone. Give it up. No one is getting fired, nor should they. You just can never let anything go.

 

[LandoComando]

No sh&t pal but being on the football team doesn’t change the fact it was a crime committed by 2 students allegedly.

It does. It changes everything because they're high profile students. Same if this happened at any FBS program.

 

[LandoComando]

The national response? Lmao. It's almost gone. Give it up. No one is getting fired, nor should they. You just can never let anything go.

It was talked about for 20minutes on ESPN this morning about how Franklin handled it poorly. Game Day will discuss it. And it will carry over to next week simply because of a bad PR move on what should have been a nonstory. See all the tweets. I didn't make them up. They're real and Rapport in particular is livid. He's not someone you want pushing a story.

 

[Hotshoe]

It was talked about for 20minutes on ESPN this morning about how Franklin handled it poorly. Game Day will discuss it. And it will carry over to next week simply because of a bad PR move on what should have been a nonstory. See all the tweets. I didn't make them up. They're real and Rapport in particular is livid. He's not someone you want pushing a story.

Oh boy. A single day segment, and poof, it's gone. Drama much? Oh yeah, tough ole Ian will single handedly take down Penn State. Good grief. They'll be on to bigger sh&t by noon today.

 

[royboy]

This is about sports...even if you wish it wasn't.

As usual, most threads turn out to be about you, or your endless posts with the same information.

 

[Jerry]

The national response? Lmao. It's almost gone. Give it up. No one is getting fired, nor should they. You just can never let anything go.

Shoe, you're talking to Lando here. He'll argue about it for the sake of arguing for 20 pages...or until Christmas...whichever comes first.

 

[AvgUser]

Press secretaries respond saying they're not answering it but they're still asked. You're all the ones trying to create a conspiracy about the reporters for doing their job. See the national response

The national response was that Minnesota was NOT offsides, too

 

[LandoComando]

Oh boy. A single day segment, and poof, it's gone. Drama much? Oh yeah, tough ole Ian will single handedly take down Penn State. Good grief. They'll be on to bigger sh&t by noon today.

Take down Penn State? What are you talking about?
We handled this poorly and will take heat for it--and already have
Who said anything about "taking down Penn State"
Get over Paterno and what happened there--this is a different issue

 

[LandoComando]

As usual, most threads turn out to be about you, or your endless posts with the same information.

They only turn out to be about me when other people attack me instead of the issue at hand. Simple concept one would think

 

[GSPMax]

Shoe, you're talking to Lando here. He'll argue about it for the sake of arguing for 20 pages...or until Christmas...whichever comes first.

Or 20,000 posts. Can he/she get it done within 3 years? Magic 8 ball says yes.