James Franklin is a good head coach. He took Penn State from the darkest time of its history as a program, with a little help from Bill O’Brien first, and dragged into back into national prominence and a Big Ten Title.
He’s an excellent recruiter who routinely assembles and develops some of the most talented rosters in the country and does an excellent job getting the boosters and ancillary pieces of a program all rowing in the same direction, an underrated part of the job. All of those skills would translate perfectly to a jump back into the SEC, where Franklin began his career as a head coach, leading the Vanderbilt Commodores.
However, Franklin has one major deficiency, and I bet you can guess what that is.
Franklin finished his 11-plus-year tenure in Happy Valley with a 4-21 record against AP Top 10 opponents and a 1-18 mark against top-10-ranked Big Ten opponents. That’s problematic when Ohio State, Michigan, and now Oregon are standing in your way for conference titles, but it might pale in comparison to the challenges he could face as the next head coach of Auburn.
James Franklin’s big-game woes would be even more pronounced at Auburn
LSU and Florida, the top two SEC head coaching jobs available on this year’s coaching carousel, won’t be interested in a retread like Franklin. Both will be big-game hunting for Lane Kiffin or Kenny Dillingham. Auburn, though, as the third-best SEC job and fourth-best on the market, behind Penn State, could consider a guy like Franklin to steady a program that has been navigating choppy seas since it moved on from Gus Malzahn.
However, unlike the start to his tenure at Penn State, Franklin would arrive with baggage. It took nearly 12 years for Franklin to amass the type of big-game record that creates an unshakeable narrative. Wherever the 53-year-old lands next, Auburn, Virginia Tech, or somewhere else, that narrative will show up with him.
In Blacksburg, it may not get tested for years, and the expectations have sunk so low that being in a big game would be enough. At Auburn, despite the overwhelming dysfunction of the last few years, the expectation is still a national championship, and those big games are built into the schedule every year.
Even in a bloated 16-team SEC, you’re still bound to play at least one top 10 team every year. Auburn, though, will almost always face more. That’s because the SEC has given each team three recurring opponents on its schedule going forward, and no program got a tougher draw than Auburn. The Tigers landed Vanderbilt, Alabama, and Georgia.
The last thing Franklin needs at his next stop is annual dates with Kalen DeBoer and Kirby Smart.