It’s a bit ironic that a school notorious for negative recruiting towards Notre Dame and others has now publicly accused the Irish and some Big Ten schools of going too far.
The Penn State Nittany Lions probably thought they were getting one heck of a recruiter when they hired James Franklin from Vanderbilt. After all, the Vanderbilt Commodores were a perrenial doormat in the SEC, and Franklin helped turn the program around- largely in part to his recruiting prowess.
After another tough year, Franklin can’t keep his mouth shut and stop whining about losing some of these recruiting battles to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, Michigan Wolverines, Michigan State Spartans, and the Ohio State Buckeyes. At the Big Ten Media days, Franklin was asked about an interview with Reading Eagle in which he lists those schools while mentioning the negative recruiting towards Penn State and the whole Sandusky thing. He stated that he wasn’t saying that it was those schools, but some super secret school that he didn’t mention.
Riiiiigggghhht.
Ohio State Buckeye head coach Urban Meyer (known to Irish fans as THE negative recruiter) called Franklin out on all of it and Franklin squirmed and said it was all made up. You know, because people make up stories about whiners whining all the time. BREAKING NEWS… here is a whiner whining.
Like I said, the irony is pretty grand, and maybe the fact that Notre Dame is pulling serious weight (good recruits) out of Pennsylvania again is driving Franklin and his bosses nuts. Media days are always good for a laugh or two, and we just found one from a complete joke of a coach.