New Vandy coach believes he can turn program around
Most view the head coaching position at Vanderbilt, the perennial doormat of the Southeastern Conference in football, as a dead end job.
James Franklin is not one of those people. That's why the former Maryland offensive coordinator is now in Nashville and preparing to start his first season at the helm for the Commodores.
"To me, it's an opportunity. It's a challenge," said Franklin last week on an SEC teleconference. "It's like anything else in life. It's how you look at it; it's how you perceive the situation."
Vandy isn't far removed from one of the greatest seasons in school history — a 7-6 campaign in 2008, which culminated with a 16-14 win over Boston College in the Music City Bowl, the school's first postseason appearance since 1982 and the first bowl win since the 1955 Gator Bowl.
However, the 'Dores followed 2008 up by going winless in the SEC in 2009. Then, the sudden retirement of Bobby Johnson prior to the 2010 season put the program in a state of flux. VU finished 2-10 overall and 1-7 in the conference under interim coach and Pageland, S.C., native Robbie Caldwell, whose contract was not renewed after the season.
Vanderbilt thought it had an agreement with Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn to become the new head coach, but Malzahn took more money to stay at Auburn. The job then fell to Franklin, who seized it along with the tremendous challenges that come with it.
"The way myself, my staff and this program looks at it, is we have a chance to do something really special and be a part of turning a football program around and turning a university's football history around," Franklin said. "This year is going to be our first year to kind of take that first step in that direction."
With a lack of depth at almost every position and a challenging schedule, chances are that first step will not be accompanied by many wins. However, Franklin, the self-titled "CEO of Vanderbilt football," said that doesn't worry him.
"I'm not really a results-oriented guy. I'm a process-oriented guy," Franklin said. "So what we focus on here at Vanderbilt is we wake up every single morning and we attack the day and we just try to be the best we possibly can be academically, athletically, socially, spiritually — the whole package. I feel like if you do that, the rest will take care of itself."
Gators looking for leaders: The Florida program is in a state of transition, and it is trying to develop leaders to help get it through that period.
"I still think that's something we're sort of trying to identify," said first-year coach Will Muschamp. "We've got a good plan this summer with [strength coach] Mickey [Marotti] in the weight room to really work on developing leadership."
Muschamp was adamant UF must do all it can to create leaders, referencing what the United State Army does in building leaders at West Point. Muschamp said his program won't operate like the Army, but it must function toward the same basic goal.
"You can't sit here and say, 'We don't have leadership,'" Muschamp said. "It's our job to develop it."
One such leader for Florida might be much-maligned senior quarterback John Brantley. Muschamp said Brantley's performance in spring practice was solid.
"We put a lot on the quarterback in our system," Muschamp said. "[We're] really pleased with his poise, his leadership, his habits off the field and studying what we need to do to be successful."
Dooley pulls no punches: As has been his style since becoming the head coach at Tennessee, Derek Dooley brought brutal honesty to his assessment of the Volunteers coming out of spring practice.
"We certainly have a long way to go," said Dooley, who added he did see some improvement during the spring. "There's nobody really who has demonstrated an ability to compete for championship football week in and week out."
The overwhelming majority of Tennessee's roster this season will be comprised of freshmen and sophomores.