Big10, SEC, ACC, Big12 & PAC12 football is not only business, it is big business. All Board of Directors try to balance qualitative analysis with quantitative in their assessment of leaders.
Let us examine some back of the envelope quantitative comparisons versus CJFs “equals” - Chryst, Kelly & Harbaugh
All the comparisons to Joe Paterno or other legendary coaches do not “Easily” apply anymore due to the extraordinarily elevated coaches compensation and tv revenues, not to mention season ticket price inflation.
Assuming the University leaders truly want to win a Big10 title ( and I am not positive they really do given how much O$U has upped the ante ) and also assuming there had been no Sandusky sanctions, Coach Franklin would have been on the hot seat after the Citrus Bowl loss today Kentucky with an extremely short leash and rightfully so. Simply because of his compensation.
Other than Prof Urban Meyer & Harbaugh at Michigan, has any other Big10 Coach been compensated to the level of CJF.
Wisconsin’s Paul Chryst is a somewhat fair comparison, as is Harbaugh and Kelly at ND to some extent. All 3 schools still have academic criteria that impacts recruiting and committed hours while in college. O$U is not a fair comparison due to their various “practices”.
So how does Franklin stack up fwhat we are paying him?
Let’s give Coach Franklin HUGE KUDOS for the first 4 years - 2014,’13,’15 &’16 was missionary work that deserves college hall of fame accolades. He was probably one of the few coaches with enough innate personal positive energy to overcome the sanctions devastating and lasting effects.
THIS CANNOT BE HIGHLIGHTED ENOUGH !
How about in 2017-2020 ?
Given the tradition, stadium, resources and fan base that PSU provides to its head coach, ( tradition, stadium and fan base are top 7-ish in the country, training facilities are not even top 20 ) CJF has underachieved, versus Paul Chryst, marginally underachieved versus Kelly at ND and has been better than Harbaugh.
Chryst is a classic football guy. Played QB at Wisconsin, an assistant coach in the CFL & NFL, OC at a couple of programs and then HC at Pitt and now Wisco. Salary is $4M a year.
Is a grounded, basic guy who plays grounded, basic football.
BUT he is in the Big10 West. Does not really yet live with beat O$U & Michigan expectations, nor does he face them every year.
However, he has a very consistent approach to coaching, developing NFL OL men and recently is quietly ( or not so quietly) recruiting at a much higher level.
His win loss record over the past 4 years has been excellent- very similar to CJF’s: Chryst is 28-10 versus 31-9, has won 3/4 Bowl games with the only loss being last year where he lost 13-11 in the Rose Bowl
Very similar to Franklin in that his teams success has gone up and down with his QBs - until Mertz, has not been able to attract a highly ranked QB recruit. QB recruiting has been Franklin’s greatest weakness. Same for Chryst, however Mertz looked damn good in the one game he played before his foot injury.
The biggest difference with Chryst is that he continues to build momentum and has never lost a team ( which Franklin MAY have lost - the next 2 games will tell a great deal)
Kelly at ND - sit down for this one.
Kelly makes just under $1.9M a year - that is not a misprint.
Kelly has had a few recent good years and a bunch of really bad years, since he took over in 2010.
But at $1.86M of annual compensation, (which is after 10 years folks) you can forgive a few stinker years here and there.
Coached at prestigious football colleges like Grand Valley State for 12 years, then 3 years at Central Michigan, then 4 at Cincinnati, and now 10 at Notre Dame.
Another proponent of building the team around the OL. Basic football with a slightly better QB than most top 20 teams but has yet to hit paydirt with a really stud QB.
But at $1.86M.....wow...now I understand why Prof Urb says ND is his dream job....it is only a dream at $1.86M
On a same tenure basis, CJF has made just over $26M more than Kelly has.
For what Franklin did after the sanctions I feel that $26M was a good investment.
Kelly also benefits from NOT being in a conference but still has huge tv revenue. And to a top recruit attending a Catholic High School, ND is it. Makes recruiting easy if the kid has any academic credentials whatsoever as ND has lowered the admissions bar over the past decade.
Kelly had some awful win / loss years - he was 4-8 in 2016 folks - 4-8 !!!!! Imagine what the posting would be like if Franklin had been 4-8 a few years ago....yes we do as that appears to be the trajectory fir this year.
I’m going to give CJF the slightest nod on performance but damn $6M versus $1.86M?? Franklin better turn this team around and fast if Kelly is the basis of comparison. Or give back $26M if he wants Kelly like job security.
Harbaugh - hmmm - I still wonder if CJF and Harbaugh have the same agent....
Harbaugh makes Franklin look good.
27-12 record since 2017 - CJF wins here
$7.5M a year - CJF wins here
0-3 in bowl games since 2017 CJF is 2-1 - Franklin wins again
Has out recruited Franklin though not by much until last few years - CJFs recruiting really has dropped off versus coaches making his compensation
So in summary:
Chryst $4M has significantly outperformed Franklin
Kelly $1.8 has but only because he is bizarrely inexpensive
Harbaugh $7.5M has underperformed vs CJF
If Franklin does not turn it around and fast this year, any Board would:
instruct the AD to work a deal with another AD and hope that he gracefully leaves with very little financial pain
or
give him next year to lower the buyout cost if he will not leave gracefully which will allow the Board to figure out how to raise booster money to financially soften the blow and to publicly denounce Franklin as overpaid, underperforming and soon to be gone so that the PSU fan base recognizes it is only going to be another year until a “new and better coach” arrives. If Franklin somehow has a miracle turnaround next year, then you give him another year. But he will be on a year to year basis for a while.
At $6M a year this is big business and that is how big business operates.
If Franklin was a $4M a year guy I do believe he would receive at lest a couple of years before the heat would be on him from the Board, but at $6M, he deserves intense pressure and scrutiny to preform every single year.
Franklin’s agent negotiated hard for CJF’s new contract. He took his sweet time signing it if you recall. His agent played hard ball to have CJF compensated as a top 10 coach.
Now it is the BOTs turn to play hard ball, if they do desire. If season ticket sales and revenue drop, they will act - it is their job to do so. If season tickets sales do not decrease after this year, Franklin will probably be fine for another year but will be under close scrutiny.
“it’s just business”.
Let us examine some back of the envelope quantitative comparisons versus CJFs “equals” - Chryst, Kelly & Harbaugh
All the comparisons to Joe Paterno or other legendary coaches do not “Easily” apply anymore due to the extraordinarily elevated coaches compensation and tv revenues, not to mention season ticket price inflation.
Assuming the University leaders truly want to win a Big10 title ( and I am not positive they really do given how much O$U has upped the ante ) and also assuming there had been no Sandusky sanctions, Coach Franklin would have been on the hot seat after the Citrus Bowl loss today Kentucky with an extremely short leash and rightfully so. Simply because of his compensation.
Other than Prof Urban Meyer & Harbaugh at Michigan, has any other Big10 Coach been compensated to the level of CJF.
Wisconsin’s Paul Chryst is a somewhat fair comparison, as is Harbaugh and Kelly at ND to some extent. All 3 schools still have academic criteria that impacts recruiting and committed hours while in college. O$U is not a fair comparison due to their various “practices”.
So how does Franklin stack up fwhat we are paying him?
Let’s give Coach Franklin HUGE KUDOS for the first 4 years - 2014,’13,’15 &’16 was missionary work that deserves college hall of fame accolades. He was probably one of the few coaches with enough innate personal positive energy to overcome the sanctions devastating and lasting effects.
THIS CANNOT BE HIGHLIGHTED ENOUGH !
How about in 2017-2020 ?
Given the tradition, stadium, resources and fan base that PSU provides to its head coach, ( tradition, stadium and fan base are top 7-ish in the country, training facilities are not even top 20 ) CJF has underachieved, versus Paul Chryst, marginally underachieved versus Kelly at ND and has been better than Harbaugh.
Chryst is a classic football guy. Played QB at Wisconsin, an assistant coach in the CFL & NFL, OC at a couple of programs and then HC at Pitt and now Wisco. Salary is $4M a year.
Is a grounded, basic guy who plays grounded, basic football.
BUT he is in the Big10 West. Does not really yet live with beat O$U & Michigan expectations, nor does he face them every year.
However, he has a very consistent approach to coaching, developing NFL OL men and recently is quietly ( or not so quietly) recruiting at a much higher level.
His win loss record over the past 4 years has been excellent- very similar to CJF’s: Chryst is 28-10 versus 31-9, has won 3/4 Bowl games with the only loss being last year where he lost 13-11 in the Rose Bowl
Very similar to Franklin in that his teams success has gone up and down with his QBs - until Mertz, has not been able to attract a highly ranked QB recruit. QB recruiting has been Franklin’s greatest weakness. Same for Chryst, however Mertz looked damn good in the one game he played before his foot injury.
The biggest difference with Chryst is that he continues to build momentum and has never lost a team ( which Franklin MAY have lost - the next 2 games will tell a great deal)
Kelly at ND - sit down for this one.
Kelly makes just under $1.9M a year - that is not a misprint.
Kelly has had a few recent good years and a bunch of really bad years, since he took over in 2010.
But at $1.86M of annual compensation, (which is after 10 years folks) you can forgive a few stinker years here and there.
Coached at prestigious football colleges like Grand Valley State for 12 years, then 3 years at Central Michigan, then 4 at Cincinnati, and now 10 at Notre Dame.
Another proponent of building the team around the OL. Basic football with a slightly better QB than most top 20 teams but has yet to hit paydirt with a really stud QB.
But at $1.86M.....wow...now I understand why Prof Urb says ND is his dream job....it is only a dream at $1.86M
On a same tenure basis, CJF has made just over $26M more than Kelly has.
For what Franklin did after the sanctions I feel that $26M was a good investment.
Kelly also benefits from NOT being in a conference but still has huge tv revenue. And to a top recruit attending a Catholic High School, ND is it. Makes recruiting easy if the kid has any academic credentials whatsoever as ND has lowered the admissions bar over the past decade.
Kelly had some awful win / loss years - he was 4-8 in 2016 folks - 4-8 !!!!! Imagine what the posting would be like if Franklin had been 4-8 a few years ago....yes we do as that appears to be the trajectory fir this year.
I’m going to give CJF the slightest nod on performance but damn $6M versus $1.86M?? Franklin better turn this team around and fast if Kelly is the basis of comparison. Or give back $26M if he wants Kelly like job security.
Harbaugh - hmmm - I still wonder if CJF and Harbaugh have the same agent....
Harbaugh makes Franklin look good.
27-12 record since 2017 - CJF wins here
$7.5M a year - CJF wins here
0-3 in bowl games since 2017 CJF is 2-1 - Franklin wins again
Has out recruited Franklin though not by much until last few years - CJFs recruiting really has dropped off versus coaches making his compensation
So in summary:
Chryst $4M has significantly outperformed Franklin
Kelly $1.8 has but only because he is bizarrely inexpensive
Harbaugh $7.5M has underperformed vs CJF
If Franklin does not turn it around and fast this year, any Board would:
instruct the AD to work a deal with another AD and hope that he gracefully leaves with very little financial pain
or
give him next year to lower the buyout cost if he will not leave gracefully which will allow the Board to figure out how to raise booster money to financially soften the blow and to publicly denounce Franklin as overpaid, underperforming and soon to be gone so that the PSU fan base recognizes it is only going to be another year until a “new and better coach” arrives. If Franklin somehow has a miracle turnaround next year, then you give him another year. But he will be on a year to year basis for a while.
At $6M a year this is big business and that is how big business operates.
If Franklin was a $4M a year guy I do believe he would receive at lest a couple of years before the heat would be on him from the Board, but at $6M, he deserves intense pressure and scrutiny to preform every single year.
Franklin’s agent negotiated hard for CJF’s new contract. He took his sweet time signing it if you recall. His agent played hard ball to have CJF compensated as a top 10 coach.
Now it is the BOTs turn to play hard ball, if they do desire. If season ticket sales and revenue drop, they will act - it is their job to do so. If season tickets sales do not decrease after this year, Franklin will probably be fine for another year but will be under close scrutiny.
“it’s just business”.
