I am convinced it’s rooted in cultural and racial bias. My Dad really didn’t like Franklin. His arguments never really made sense. They were all about how Franklin’s players did this or that. American culture has changed. The people who cannot accept that or find that objectionable try to pretend that a coach could make his players conform to bygone standards.
Where I think racial bias applies is when I think of guys like Bob Knigbt or Mike Krzyzewski. Knight was a horse’s ass. There was nothing to be admired in his “old school” approach. He was a bully. I sat at a Duke/Temple game and listened to Coach K curse constantly. One F bomb after another. In mostly every other way Coach K was a great coach. People aren’t perfect.
I have expressed this here before, but I have had some dealings with Nick Saban. Complete dick. Franklin treats people the right way. His kids graduate and, with very few exceptions, are good people. White coaches are held to a different standard by a lot of the older guys who are critical of Franklin.
Are you suggesting that intolerance to a decline in standards of behavior, including coaching performance, is somehow about cultural and racial bias?
I could easily show that we live in a society that is far more tolerant of racial under-performance than it is of having higher standards for blacks. For one we could start with a critical look at Franklin's contract.
I don't like tats, long hair, braids, beards, street-speak, taunting, side-shows, and so on. But that is not racial bias unless you can say that only one race exhibits those characteristics. It is more likely that these correlate with deficiencies in personal development. Appearance becomes a way to make statements that are otherwise difficult to exhibit through a long period of good standards in conduct. Immaturity and low self esteem -- caused by a lack of discipline and encouragement during child development -- then manifest themselves in the taunting, celebrations, and side-shows. Does this new "cultural norm" mean that we should accept it? I hope not.
I don't follow basketball, so I don't know anything about Coach K other than knowing that he had a great record. As for Knight, even I had enough exposure to know that his antics were embarrassing. If I had been his AD he would have been reprimanded, if not fired.
I also don't know Saban personally but I would distinguish his insights on the mental part of the game. To sum up, he has said to "play with emotion, but do not get emotional." He has stressed preparation. These are things I have never seen stressed by Franklin. Saban had a record to show that what he was saying is probably not only true, but important.
In Franklin most of the time post-game we see a coach staring at his cheat sheet for stat comparisons, or citing "analytics" without accounting for the strengths/weaknesses of the teams on the field. Anyone can do that. It has been these things, the tolerance of behaviors, the lack of preparation when given extra time, the apparent lack of depth in his thinking, that have guided perceptions. It isn't skin color, though that becomes an easy deflection by those who want reduced standards.
Most of us were upset by Joe Paterno's refusal to retire. We were even more upset by the nepotism. I did not care for Joe Moorhead. Decent OC but not HC material at this level. Last I checked, those guys were not black.
Standards of conduct are standards of conduct. Using race to deflect criticism will lead to more of what we have seen -- a degradation of standards in our society. In short, we need to be color-blind in everything. It is the only way.
We shall see in the next few weeks whether the Franklin-approach works. I am hoping to be proven wrong. With success I would celebrate like any other PSU fan/alum. But the history, the statistics, suggest we should not have high expectations. We should expect to be rather challenged in the Fiesta Bowl, lose the semi-final game, then rinse and repeat next year. Meanwhile we will watch celebrations after each play as if some sort of championship had been achieved. We will celebrate 2nd or 3rd place. Other teams will have done worse.