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I’ve Got a Theory on Why the Penn State PR Guy Twice Stepped in for James Franklin
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This video is making the rounds. It’s Wednesday’s media availability with James Franklin ahead of the Wisconsin game, where he was asked about the rape allegations against two former players and twice walked away from the podium to let a PR person step in:
James Franklin refused to comment on rape charges against former players. My story, with video (from @JacksonRanger1) of when Franklin was asked:https://t.co/9pbLokyZag pic.twitter.com/JUMZWhMbOR
— Jon Sauber (@JonSauber) October 24, 2024
The players were removed from the team over the summer and arraigned on Wednesday.
It’s interesting to go through these video clips and read the comments. A lot of people are annoyed with the media for asking the follow-up question after PR guy said they weren’t going to comment on the matter. On the other side, there are a ton of people who think it’s a bad look for Franklin to walk away.
I’m somewhere in the middle. Yes, if the PR guy says they’re not going to talk about it, they’re not going to talk about it. So you do the Howard Eskin thing, where you ask the “tough question” because you’re obligated, but get no answer in return. You check the box and say, “well I did my job,” even though, at the end of the day, we didn’t get anything from Franklin or anything new from the PR staff.
Regardless, it looks really stupid for Franklin to walk off like that. The better way is to have him deliver the “I can’t talk about it” message, vs. having some PR flak* come up there to scold the assembled scribes. It makes it look like he’s running away, even though he’s really not. He’s been told beforehand not to talk about it. They probably should have just had him give a canned statement himself, like “We take these matters seriously and there’s a legal process playing out here, blah blah fuckin’ blah, we provided a statement on Tuesday and will respect the process at this time. Thanks for understanding.” Isn’t that the better way to handle it? Let the coach answer it that way.
Now to my theory:
Franklin was embroiled in a 2013 rape scandal at Vanderbilt. I don’t recall that story penetrating the Philadelphia news cycle, but it was pretty high profile back then and involved all sorts of accusations, like Franklin contacting the accuser after the incident and lying about seeing video of it. Ultimately, three of the players were convicted and went to jail, while the fourth took a plea deal.
The point is that it was sloppy and the handling was of the situation was highly-questionable. You combine that with the Jerry Sandusky and Joe Paterno stuff of yesteryear, and you’d think to yourself that Penn State is probably SUPER-WARY of coachers and players speaking on something this serious. Otherwise, you could put Franklin up there to give the generic “no comment,” but maybe they are being extra cautious here. That’s my theory. I can’t prove it, but my spider sense is tingling.
You can’t trust James Franklin in front of a microphone anyway. What’s he gonna do next, drag the Philadelphia Eagles into a tampering investigation? Heyo!
*no offense to PR flaks. there are good flaks and bad flaks
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com