James Franklin makes a bad situation worse by dodging tough questions at Wednesday practice

There’s nothing that college athletic departments do more consistently than amplifying a negative story by wildly mishandling the situation. On Wednesday, James Franklin put on a masterclass of media mismanagement when asked about two former Penn State football players who are facing felony rape charges. 

Both Jameial Lyons and Kaveion Keys were accused of rape back in July and were dismissed from the team in August after being placed on interim suspension. It was a horrible situation that Franklin and the program handled swiftly and punished harshly. However, on Wednesday, Franklin dodged questions from the media about the topic, literally. 

When Franklin was asked about the charges twice to begin his press conference, he physically walked away from the microphone and allowed a university spokesperson to read a prepared statement, saying “Regarding the two former Penn State football players, we released a statement yesterday and our program and athletics department will have no further comment.”

The reaction on social media has been mixed, with journalists ripping Franklin’s childish behavior and Penn State fans attacking the media for questioning the head coach after the university announced it would have no further comment, or in other words, doing their jobs. 

It was not in Franklin’s best interest to comment on a legal matter with an open investigation, but the story was amplified by his antics which does a disservice to everyone involved in the sensitive situation. It would have been just as easy for Franklin to say “We released a statement yesterday and our program and athletic department will have no further comment,” and then I and others would not have to write this story because again, the program dismissed the players and appeared to have handled the situation properly. 

This is not the first time that Franklin has gotten into hot water for his handling rape allegations against his players. While still at Vanderbilt, it was alleged that Franklin contacted his player’s accuser. 

These matters require an extreme level of care and maturity in their handling with the media, especially at Penn State, and in this instance, Franklin missed the mark badly.