PCAR Vice President of Public Relations Kristen Houser said in an interview with PennLive that the June 2013 incident, in which four Vanderbilt players are alleged to have raped a Vanderbilt student while she was unconscious in a dorm, should not be held against Franklin. While the players were immediately kicked off the team, a Buzzfeed article from September, which cites an anonymous source, alleges that Franklin instructed a player to delete footage of the incident from his phone — a claim Franklin denies.
Penn State was able to erase an early 2-0 deficit, but couldn't hold off the no. 1 Minnesota Gophers after Ben Marshall scored with four minutes left to give the Gophers the 3-2 victory in the first Big Ten game at Pegula. Penn State is now 4-11-1 on the year.
James Franklin will reportedly bring a bevy of people from his staff at Vanderbilt to Happy Valley: defensive coordinator/safeties Bob Shoop, chief-of-staff Jemal Griffin, assistant coach/co-defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Brent Pry, director of performance enhancement Dwight Galt, offensive recruiting coordinator/wide receivers coach Josh Gattis, and special teams coordinator/tight ends coach Charles Bankins.
It was 22 days since Penn State's last deal meet, but it was clear the team didn't miss a beat. The Nittany Lion wrestlers defeated Purdue 34-3 in Rec Hall Sunday afternoon, dropping only one bout to the Boilermakers. David Taylor added his 47th career pin, and four Nittany Lions had major decisions.
It's been less than 24 hours, and James Franklin has already started working his recruiting magic, as two members of the class of 2014 previously committed to Vanderbilt have followed the Nittany Lions' new head coach to Happy Valley.
James Franklin said this afternoon that he hopes to be the head coach of the Penn State football team for a long time. If that's the case, it looks like he will earn quite a lot of money along the way according to a Proposed Financial Term Sheet released by GoPSUSports.com today.