re: James Franklin has a "Chip" on his shoulder.

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CtotheVrzrbck

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I had to unfollow him on twitter. He's so corny and tries too damn hard.

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Have you seen Bert Beilema's twitter....

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I know Vandy is the best University in the SEC. But their players look like they got off the short bus..look at the photo LOL.

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Because as it stands right now - it's not hard for an athlete to get into Vanderbilt. While this obviously doesn't apply to the whole student body for those that have reading comprehension issues.... Several lower ranked SEC schools have a harder time getting athletes in at the moment.. See UT and Florida.. Probably a couple more.

Also see John Jenkins and his brilliant essay that would be equivalent to the writing of an average 5th grader.

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They need to act like other SEC schools and ditch the "student athlete" premise. It's holding them back.

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They have under Franklin. Look at his recruiting. And see the rapists.

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They need to act like other SEC schools and ditch the "student athlete" premise. It's holding them back.

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You don't understand. Vanderbilt doesn't care. I mean their players and coaches do, but the alum and administration doesn't. They are more interested in an education than wins and losses.

It will always be difficult for VU to have sustained success, due in large part to a pretty apathetic fanbase... and to the fact that most of their students are not from TN and have no real allegance to the area... their alumni base is also more spread out across the country than most. They aren't even the most popular college in their own town... maybe not even top 2 (I see more bama stuff than Vandy stuff, tbh).

with that said, Vandy has made a commitment to being good at football... they've relaxed admission requirements for their athletes, and they're paying big time salaries to Franklin and have beeen able to hold onto their assistants. They're also building a new indoor practice facility and will eventually renovate/expande Vanderbilt Stadium.

Franklin is a good coach and motivator, IMO... but I don't know if he's got what it takes for longterm consistent success... at some point, the cute gimmicks and tweets go away and you've got to take that next step from being an 8-9 win team to competing for a Conference Championship... i have my doubts he can do that.

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Franklin is a good coach and motivator, IMO... but I don't know if he's got what it takes for longterm consistent success... at some point, the cute gimmicks and tweets go away and you've got to take that next step from being an 8-9 win team to competing for a Conference Championship... i have my doubts he can do that.

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If he manages a string of 8-9 win seasons at Vandy, a big time football school with an open checkbook for pay and football operations will come calling.

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If he manages a string of 8-9 win seasons at Vandy, a big time football school with an open checkbook for pay and football operations will come calling.

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see, I don't think anyone can out-bid Vandy... they're paying Franklin over 3 million, supposedly. He might be smart to take another opportunity regardless, but I'm not sure his style would be all that successful at a more established pogram... and some of the dumb things he does he can get away with at Vandy (cold-calling radio shows, stupid tweets, etc).

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due in large part to a pretty apathetic fanbase... and to the fact that most of their students are not from TN and have no real allegance to the area

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I somewhat agree with you, but he has done a lot in this regard to energize the fanbase. If they continue to have 7-8-9 win seasons, the fans will come. Plus, if the Titans continue to suck, you'll see more football fans choosing to go to Vandy games = Vandy sidewalk fans

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They aren't even the most popular college in their own town... maybe not even top 2 (I see more bama stuff than Vandy stuff

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You see Bama stuff everywhere bc of their recent success. I probably see as much Bama stuff in ATL as I do UGA.

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you've got to take that next step from being an 8-9 win team to competing for a Conference Championship

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See MS State.

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If he manages a string of 8-9 win seasons at Vandy, a big time football school with an open checkbook for pay and football operations will come calling.

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Not saying this won't happen, but why leave a good thing? If he continues to have the same kind of success, he will have a tremendous legacy at the school. Plus, assuming there aren't more off-field issues, he has job security.

I just think people are selling short the commitment the university has made to being competitve in football... IMO, franklin is probably getting too much credit for the turnaround when a lot of the pieces are in place for success.