Many interesting parallels between these two great coaches' careers.

Both hired in early January of 2014. Both expected to rebuild CFB super powers. Both experiencing struggles in the process, even to the point of having semi-warm seats heading into 2016. Both have depleted rosters--Penn State's because of sanctions and Texas's due to the their coaching change and Strong running many players off. Both have been recruiting very well since arriving (top 10 class in 2015 and 2016 for Strong, top 15 class in 2015 and 2016 for Franklin). Strong may not have had the "sanctions" ball and chain but he did lose 9 players before the 2014 season and another 5+ before the 2015 season. The Texas roster is nearly as depleted in 2016 as the Penn State roster. Both team are still restocking talent and depth.

Key differences...Strong has higher expectations on him than Franklin. Without the "sanctions" handicap, Strong is expected to rebuild more quickly. Strong was slightly below Franklin in 2015, mainly because of a tougher schedule than PSU. The 2016 schedule discrepancy wasn't as large though, and Strong's team performed significantly worse than Franklin's.

Strong does not have the same kind of recruiting competition right now that PSU does. For the amount of recruits that the state of Texas has, no one in the Big 12 even sniffed the top 15 this year in recruiting. It might be comparable to put PA/OH/MI/IN together...or PA/MD/NJ/VA together...if you are trying to compare recruiting regions. The Big Ten--on the other hand--had four teams in the same region scoring top 15 classes, with two of them scoring top 5 classes (UM and OSU). Notre Dame is another regional power in these parts. And the stigma of PSU's scandal is something that Texas--even with its administrative chaos--doesn't have to battle.

It should be interesting to see how these two coaches fare in 2016. Both must field better teams...but how MUCH better is the big question? And if they don't improve, and if Texas/PSU fire them, it will be interesting to see how long the rebuilding process takes from the fallout.

(02-05-2016 06:58 AM)allthatyoucantleavebehind Wrote:  Strong does not have the same kind of recruiting competition right now that PSU does. For the amount of recruits that the state of Texas has, no one in the Big 12 even sniffed the top 15 this year in recruiting. It might be comparable to put PA/OH/MI/IN together...or PA/MD/NJ/VA together...if you are trying to compare recruiting regions. The Big Ten--on the other hand--had four teams in the same region scoring top 15 classes, with two of them scoring top 5 classes (UM and OSU). Notre Dame is another regional power in these parts. And the stigma of PSU's scandal is something that Texas--even with its administrative chaos--doesn't have to battle.

I don't disagree with much of your post if you had left this paragraph out. Texas had a much tougher battle in 2016 for recruits and it's not close. Franklin picked up a few nice pieces in this cycle, but Strong closed unbelievably well against not only Big 12 schools like Baylor, TCU and Oklahoma, but also beat out LSU, Ole Miss, Texas A&M and Houston for highly sought players. The competition for players inside of Texas rivals the battles in California and Florida. Again, Franklin did some good things in this recruiting cycle, but what Texas did down the stretch was one of the big stories in recruiting in 2016.

Strong can recruit, and the D has been good, but the offense has been abysmal.....

if Texas doesn't get the offense going, they'll struggle again this season, and I think you'll see Strong out

If you think Texas had it harder in state than PSU does in its region (again, all of Texas is comparable with PA/OH/MI/IN), let me try to give you an apt comparison.

If LSU had won a national title in 2014 (as OSU did) and Oklahoma just hired a successful NFL coach in 2015 (as Michigan did with the Harbaugh hire), then you could say that Texas had real competition in the state. As it is, no one is tearing it up in Texas (Baylor and TAMU, for all the hype, dropped off this season). And Texas--with the huge brand and the positive ending to the abysmal season and the promise of early PT--capitalized this year.

(02-05-2016 12:40 PM)allthatyoucantleavebehind Wrote:  If you think Texas had it harder in state than PSU does in its region (again, all of Texas is comparable with PA/OH/MI/IN), let me try to give you an apt comparison.

If LSU had won a national title in 2014 (as OSU did) and Oklahoma just hired a successful NFL coach in 2015 (as Michigan did with the Harbaugh hire), then you could say that Texas had real competition in the state. As it is, no one is tearing it up in Texas (Baylor and TAMU, for all the hype, dropped off this season). And Texas--with the huge brand and the positive ending to the abysmal season and the promise of early PT--capitalized this year.

No one is tearing it up in Texas? TCU is 23-3 the last two years. The only schools in the country with better records over that time frame are OSU and Alabama.

Penn State was not that harmed by sanctions by the time Two Faced Franklin.

Strong is the better coach. Franklin got lucky at home against one of the worse Army teams in our history.

I think Franklin is a jerk. Strong is a good guy.

Haven't really seen anything that tells me Franklin is an outstanding coach. He had a good year a Vanderbilt.

Remains to be seen with Strong too, although he had a top 10 year with Louisville. He's at least shown he can coach a 10 win team. Can he do it consistently and at Texas?

Franklin is a clown who says stupid, un-thought-out things at an alarmingly regular pace.

I disagree with the other poster who thinks Franklin is a jerk. One can be a good guy (at his roots, I don't think Franklin is bad or evil), but also be a clown who says dumb stuff. I certainly don't think Franklin is good enough to compete at elite levels.

Strong has the better future, IMO.

(02-05-2016 12:40 PM)allthatyoucantleavebehind Wrote:  If you think Texas had it harder in state than PSU does in its region (again, all of Texas is comparable with PA/OH/MI/IN), let me try to give you an apt comparison.

If LSU had won a national title in 2014 (as OSU did) and Oklahoma just hired a successful NFL coach in 2015 (as Michigan did with the Harbaugh hire), then you could say that Texas had real competition in the state. As it is, no one is tearing it up in Texas (Baylor and TAMU, for all the hype, dropped off this season). And Texas--with the huge brand and the positive ending to the abysmal season and the promise of early PT--capitalized this year.

I know you are having trouble with this, but let me break it down for you. Ohio State didn't factor significantly in recruiting inside PA in this cycle, signing no one from the Keystone State. Michigan only signed one PA recruit, a 3-star safety with a composite ranking of 381. Certainly Harbaugh got some guys out of New Jersey, which would be considered part of the area Penn State recruits, but I know that in most of those cases, Penn State wasn't the school Michigan was battling for the recruit. I could go into more detail if you like.

As far as Texas goes, all one has to do it look at the top players in the state. Ole Miss got two of the top 10 guys, including the nation's top tackle and either the #1 or 2 safety in the country depending on the service. The Rebels signed five Texans in all. You say Big 12 schools didn't sniff #15 in the rankings -- for the record Penn State was 19th in the composite -- but Baylor was 17, Oklahoma was 20 and TCU was 23. The truth is that everyone recruits Texas, at least those who expect to play for titles. LSU has always been a factor for top players in the state and Alabama, Ole Miss and Florida are being felt there, as well as the natural ones like Arkansas and A&M.

(02-05-2016 06:58 AM)allthatyoucantleavebehind Wrote:  Many interesting parallels between these two great coaches' careers.

Both hired in early January of 2014. Both expected to rebuild CFB super powers. Both experiencing struggles in the process, even to the point of having semi-warm seats heading into 2016. Both have depleted rosters--Penn State's because of sanctions and Texas's due to the their coaching change and Strong running many players off. Both have been recruiting very well since arriving (top 10 class in 2015 and 2016 for Strong, top 15 class in 2015 and 2016 for Franklin). Strong may not have had the "sanctions" ball and chain but he did lose 9 players before the 2014 season and another 5+ before the 2015 season. The Texas roster is nearly as depleted in 2016 as the Penn State roster. Both team are still restocking talent and depth.

Key differences...Strong has higher expectations on him than Franklin. Without the "sanctions" handicap, Strong is expected to rebuild more quickly. Strong was slightly below Franklin in 2015, mainly because of a tougher schedule than PSU. The 2016 schedule discrepancy wasn't as large though, and Strong's team performed significantly worse than Franklin's.

Strong does not have the same kind of recruiting competition right now that PSU does. For the amount of recruits that the state of Texas has, no one in the Big 12 even sniffed the top 15 this year in recruiting. It might be comparable to put PA/OH/MI/IN together...or PA/MD/NJ/VA together...if you are trying to compare recruiting regions. The Big Ten--on the other hand--had four teams in the same region scoring top 15 classes, with two of them scoring top 5 classes (UM and OSU). Notre Dame is another regional power in these parts. And the stigma of PSU's scandal is something that Texas--even with its administrative chaos--doesn't have to battle.

It should be interesting to see how these two coaches fare in 2016. Both must field better teams...but how MUCH better is the big question? And if they don't improve, and if Texas/PSU fire them, it will be interesting to see how long the rebuilding process takes from the fallout.

Great coaches?

Neither...

I like Franklin on any day but gameday. From what I've seen from him, he has a presence of positivity about him and the way he interacts with the players and coaches. I think that makes the players want to play hard for him which is important. What he lacks is a real strategic mind which is why he needs great coordinators.

The jury's still out on whether he's Penn State's long-term solution or if he won't be around much longer but I like what he's doing even though it isn't going at a fast pace. I will say that the upcoming year better show some real promise but that may be hard with an inexperienced QB.

Interesting question. As an Rutgers alumnus, I have seen both coaches on the field and observed their recruiting efforts. From my perch in NJ, it seems that both can recruit but Strong comes off more as a father figure and Franklin seems to be more of a salesman. On the field, I think Strong is better than Franklin because Strong has won games at Texas where he shouldn't have and Franklin hasn't yet at Penn State. The facilities are more or less equal, but since Texas has a new AD and Penn State is still stuck with Barbour, I'd give the edge to Strong.

Charlie Strong without question.

What RutgersMike said...

(02-05-2016 09:24 PM)RutgersMike Wrote:  Interesting question. As an Rutgers alumnus, I have seen both coaches on the field and observed their recruiting efforts. From my perch in NJ, it seems that both can recruit but Strong comes off more as a father figure and Franklin seems to be more of a salesman. On the field, I think Strong is better than Franklin because Strong has won games at Texas where he shouldn't have and Franklin hasn't yet at Penn State. The facilities are more or less equal, but since Texas has a new AD and Penn State is still stuck with Barbour, I'd give the edge to Strong.

Texas and Penn State are not equals facilities wise. I've toured both

Who has the edge?

(02-05-2016 09:36 PM)RutgersMike Wrote:  Who has the edge?

I'd say Texas and since Charlie got a top 10 class he's the talk of the town now.

(02-05-2016 09:26 PM)TexanMark Wrote:  What RutgersMike said...

(02-05-2016 09:41 PM)Pony94 Wrote:  

(02-05-2016 09:36 PM)RutgersMike Wrote:  Who has the edge?

I'd say Texas and since Charlie got a top 10 class he's the talk of the town now.

I meant in facilities. Sorry for the vague question.

Ok Texas