Tag: James Franklin

College Football Play-Off firms up future plans

After years of argument, we finally know what’s going on. College Football will have its 12-team play-off, starting in the 2024 season. This gives us one more year of arguing and raging, before we argue and rage about 50 more teams that should have made the 12. Anyhoo, the six highest-ranked conference champions in the 10 college football conferences will earn a spot, as well as six at-large bids. This means that it’s guaranteed that a Group-Of-Give team (or two, which could happen if the Sun Belt continues its upwards trajectory and the AAC continues to vastly improve) gets in, which is pleasing. SO WHAT HAPPENS ABOUT THE GAMES? The Rose, Cotton, Orange, Sugar, Fiesta and Peach Bowls will host

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Tennessee hires Josh Heupel as new head coach. What’s next?

Tennessee has hired former UCF head coach Josh Heupel as its new head coach. Danny White – who is now Tennessee’s AD – was formerly Heupel’s boss at UCF. He’ll be paid $4 million-a-year on a 6-year deal. He said on his press conference: “I believe in a very, very bright future for Tennessee football. I believe that there’s a minor speed bump that we’re going through, but the kids that are in our program right now and the kids that are being recruited are going to have a chance to play and chase championships.” First of all, we know that Tennessee fans would have loved a ‘bigger name hire’, but what self-respecting head coach would want to walk into

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Former Vandy player found guilty of rape

Former Vanderbilt player Corey Batey was found guilty of the aggravated rape of a woman late on Friday night. Batey had been convicted of the rape – which happened in 2013 – in an initial trial in 2015, but the decision was overturned and he was tried again this year. He was found guilty once again this year, and immediately taken into custody. His teammate – Brandon Vandenburg – who also had his guilty conviction turned over in 2015 – will be re-tried in June. Two others – Brandon Banks and Tip McKenzie – have all been charged but it is not known when they will be tried, the Tennessean says. All four players were booted from the Vanderbilt team when

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Who will the SEC’s bowl games?

Happy Christmas and Happy New Year! We know that bowl season is in full swing, but we’ll be honest…..none of the bowls matter until SEC teams play in them. Here’s why: When the SEC does well everyone talks about SEC bias, SEC strength, and SEC godliness, and when SEC teams do badly, people are quick to jump down our butts and tell us how bad we are (and we’re honest — we were poor as hell as last year). LSU’s going to kick off the SEC bowl season against Texas Tech, and Alabama – we hope  – will end it in the National Championship Game. Simple. So here are our previews…. THE BIG ONE (College Football Play-Off Semi-Final @ Cotton Bowl,

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Derek Mason: 2014 Was On Me

Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason isn’t shying away from responsibility for Vanderbilt’s awful 2014 season. “We weren’t a very competitive football team in 2014, and that’s on me. I take full responsibility for that,” he said at the SEC Media Days in Florida today. “We struggled to find identity,” he said. “What we’ve tried to do in the last eight months is try to right the wrong.” When asked about pressure, he said: “It’s college football. I’ve been coaching 22 years. So my understanding is that every year I coach on a one-year mentality. That’s a mindset. That’s what you do. You understand exactly what this game is and what you have to do, and it’s about production. We’re going to

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SEC Preview 2014: New coach, New Vanderbilt?

There’s a new era at Vanderbilt. Derek Mason’s replaced James Franklin as the new head coach, and he arrived at the SEC Media Days looking AWESOME in a bow tie (he won the best-dressed contest by some mile). But can Mason’s awesomeness translate into a good Vanderbilt team in 2014?  LAST SEASON Vanderbilt finished with a 9-4 (4-4 SEC) record, which includes wins over Georgia, Florida and Tennessee. They also managed to lose one of the games of the season on Opening Day against Ole Miss (by damn that was a good game!). OFF-SEASON After all the showmanship of head coach James Franklin, you wouldn’t have thought that he was just auctioning for a bigger job. Well, Bill O’Brien left Penn

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Vanderbilt replaces Tata with Utah State assistant

Vanderbilt has snagged Utah State’s defensive line coach Frank Maile, the Salt Lake Tribune has reported. The Tribune noted: “In the last two years alone, five of his linemen earned all conference honors: Al Lapuaho, Connor Williams, Jordan Nielsen, A.J. Patiali’i and B.J. Larsen.” The paper noted that Maile was well-known for his in-state recruiting, and especially his recruiting of Polynesian recruits. That could be some asset for new coach Derek Mason’s team if Maile continues that vein of form. Maile replaces Vavae Tata, who arrested for DUI earlier this month.    

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Vanderbilt suspends assistant coach

Vanderbilt has suspended defensive line coach Vavae Tata indefinitely after he was arrested for DUI, the Tennessean is reporting. According to the report, Tata was charged for being off his tatas on Saturday night, blowing a .18 on his breathalyzer test, more than twice legal blood-alcohol limit of .08%, according to an affidavit released by Davidson County. Which was quite good going, if you think about it. It’s not Tata’s first brush with the law: He was arrested for DUI in 1997 and convicted in 2000. Vandy, which underwent a new coaching regime with former Stanford defensive co-ordinator Derek Mason after James Franklin went to Penn State, had a relatively successful signing day. And Vanderbilt’s also no stranger to brushes with

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After the Franklin carnage, Vanderbilt rebounds on Signing Day

Former Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin left at the wrong time. His departure in January to Penn State led to a number of de-commitments, and worries that Vanderbilt would not be able to fill their numbers. Defensive co-ordinator Derek Mason, from Stanford (which is better than Vandy in terms of academics, but would still be twinned with them in terms of academics-before-athletics institutions), came to town. And although he had a slow start, the speed that Vandy recruited in the last few days before National Signing Day would have made Nick Saban or Les Miles happy….and they picked up a monster DE recruit from under Stanford’s nose in Nifae Lealao. He also added 4-star DB Emmanuel Smith, who had offers from Ole

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Vanderbilt Head Coach James Franklin to go to Penn State – reports

Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin is going to leave the SEC and be the next coach of Penn State, according to reports. Franklin, who had been head coach in Nashville since 2011, took the Commodores to an unprecedented two straight bowl games, going 2-0. They beat Houston 41-24 in their last one only last week. But Vanderbilt has denied the rumors. “Until I hear otherwise, he (James Franklin) is Vanderbilt’s football coach,” said Vandy AD David Williams to Jeff Lockridge at the Tennessean, who tweeted this out. Penn State site Fight On State said Franklin had signed a contract, but the deal had yet to be approved by the Penn State Board of Trustees. BOTTOM LINE: Franklin’s enthusiasm for the Vanderbilt program

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