The moment…has finally arrived.
To some, that moment could be the beginning of a new football season at Virginia Tech Saturday night after 8 months in a barren football-deprived desert, but that’s not really what I’m talking about.
It’s the moment that I believe James Franklin has been thinking about nonstop since that second Sunday in October 228 days ago when the powers that be at Penn State told him his services were no longer needed. 104 wins and 45 losses in 12 seasons were no longer good enough, and it wasn’t even good enough to allow him to finish the season, as the Nittany Lions braintrust humiliated him by kicking him to the curb after only six games of the season.
As the left side of his brain was probably screaming “are you freaking kidding me?” in response to the words being communicated to him, it probably only took a few more seconds for the other side to start saying in an equally loud way “screw them. We’re not going to rest until we’ve made these guys wish they never ever heard our name.”
That’s the moment I’m talking about. The moment when Franklin can finally answer the suggestion he wasn’t good enough to be the head coach in Happy Valley anymore, not with words, but with results on a football field.
It should be fun to watch.
If you know extremely talented and competitive people, you realize the greatest way to motivate them is not to threaten them; it’s to doubt them. That makes it personal, and sparks them to focus with an intensity that isn’t about showing how good THEY are…it’s about showing how stupid the person doubting them is.
Heaven forbid you not only doubt them…but fire them too.
It’s one of the more interesting subthemes to Franklin’s tenure so far in Blacksburg. He seems to be a bit of a control freak – as most successful people are – and he has put his fingerprints on just about ever facet of what is necessary to turn the aircraft carrier known as Virginia Tech football around as quickly as possible. There’s a discipline. A focus. A “good enough is no longer good enough” mentality.
Which to be honest has been sorely needed in Blacksburg since the beginning of time. Even in the heady days of Frank Beamer’s greatest successes, there was still a certain sense of there will be occasional inconsistencies because you just don’t understand that we’re not one of the big boys of CFB.
Franklin understands. He just doesn’t seem to accept it.
So I will confess I haven’t been this excited for a football season to begin since that year everyone was talking about some redshirt freshman from Newport News making unbelievable plays in practice. Franklin has gone out and gotten everything he lacked, from quarterbacks to offensive linemen to forward-thinking athletic directors. He’s said all the right words. Except for suggesting we wear orange bowties to the season opener, he’s done all the right things.
But now we’ve reached the part of the experiment where the only thing that matters is wins and losses. To borrow a line from the movie “Man On Fire” Franklin has spent the last 8 months as an artist gathering all the oils and colors he needs. Now, I think, he’s about to paint his masterpiece.
I have found there is nothing more dangerous – at least in business – than a motivated maniac on a mission. We’ll see if it’s true in football Saturday night, as James Franklin crosses the white chalk lines for the first time – FOR KEEPS – since that fateful day in October last year.
I’m betting on Franklin. He’s got the talent. He’s got the motivation. And much like a certain great white shark named “Jaws” back in 1987…this time it’s personal 😊
Great article, Dave. I hope you’ll come to a game. Please let Betsy know and we’ll send you the tailgate link. I so enjoy your articles!
Betsy has already told me I HAVE TO, so I’m seeing what I can work out 🙂