James Franklin has once again lived up to his not so gallant reputation. He choked! Still unable to attain success in beating one of the “Big Boys”, his team again fell to the Ohio State Buckeyes. It is a blessing that Michigan is not on the schedule again this season.

This so called “Championship” team was so overplayed that it was painful to watch. Play calling was pathetic; “first and goal on the five-yard line” and what was called; run up the middle three times and fail, then an over thrown pass. Not only that, very little of the highly talented players on the team were utilized to their utmost ability, thus guaranteeing a loss.

Year after year his team starts out on fire for five to six games and then hits the “Big Boy” brick wall, then goes down hill from there, finishing the season losing games that should be won. His failures to be successful in these games are predictable and unfortunately expected by the fans. If this man was coaching any other NCAA team, it would be an absolute certainty that he would have been fired a long time ago. Penn State deserves more than this coach can provide.

Admittedly, Franklin is a great recruiter, able to year in and year out recruit highly talented players, but when it comes time to call successful plays to utilize these talents he consistently falls short. He would be a great car salesman or politician with his creative “gift of gab”, but coach, not so. On top of that, he tends to hire failed and fired coaches and the end results clearly show why these hires were a major mistake. Instead of picking “losers” as coaches, wouldn’t it be more sensible to seek successful coaches by recruiting them with attractive salary offers. Perhaps some of the millions of dollars “wasted” by paying Franklin such a huge salary could be deducted and offered to talented and successful coaches to call plays that will win the big games. Surely the hierarchy has to see the situation, but fails to take appropriate management action.

Penn State fans, this one in particular, are frustrated, disappointed, and disgusted at the lack of success by him and his inept assistants in providing the necessary leadership and coaching skills to accomplish a win over these “Big Boy” teams. Time for a coaching change at PSU! Let’s see if the powers that be have the courage to act. My bet is they don’t and the pain and disappointment will endure unnecessarily!

MEL BENJAMIN

Watsontown

Submitted by Virtual Newsroom