James Franklin: Vanderbilt Coach Is Spot on with Message About Confidence

If you have not seen the James Franklin, head coach at Vanderbilt, quotes that heated up the media, we'll do a quick rehash session for you. While Franklin was talking to Clay Travis on 104.5 The Zone he had this to say about hiring assistant coaches:

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"I've been saying it for a long time, I will not hire an assistant until I see his wife. If she looks the part and she's a D1 recruit, then you got a chance to get hired. That's part of the deal. There's a very strong correlation between having the confidence, going up and talking to a woman, and being quick on your feet and having some personality and confidence and being articulate and confident, than it is walking into a high school and recruiting a kid and selling him."

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Pretty straight forward, and as you can imagine in today's day and age of sensitivity and political correctness, this quote did not play well. Franklin would quickly apologize via his twitter account: 

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My foot doesn't taste good, I hope I did not offend any1, I love & respect ALL,have a great day, enjoy the fam & don't forget 2 #AnchorDown

— James Franklin (@jamesfranklinvu) May 31, 2012

 

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The Franklin situation was a mild media firestorm as his boss, vice chancellor of athletics David Williams, made sure to quell the complaining before it could grow from a mild storm into a full-blown ordeal. 

Here's the problem, missed in all of the sensitivity and worry about political correctness is the fact that James Franklin just gave everyone a quick lesson on a critical part of breaking into the college football coaching ranks: 

Confidence.

There's a reason you do not see a lot of mousy, squirrel-ish coaches on the sidelines leading young men. You can't even get your foot in the door if you do not come correct from day one. I'm not generally one for anecdotes, but here it only seems fair.

A friend of mine was applying for a graduate assistant position at a BCS school. Just a simple get coffee, make copies, shuttle recruits around, lead tours, hold cards up, run scout team type of job as a foot in the door to the coaching profession. Everyone does it and it is how they all start. That friend did not get the job.

Not because his football knowledge was insufficient. The kid knew his X's and O's. No, he did not get that job because of all of the things that Franklin referenced in his talk with Clay Travis; personality and confidence. Not to slam him, but he lacked a lot of both of those critical characteristics. 

While everyone got their jokes in about the looks of wives and took their time to laugh at the situation they missed the fact that James Franklin definitely dropped some knowledge.

Perhaps his bluntness and the idea that he likes to check out assistants' wives came across as crude, but the message remains. If a coach doesn't have the confidence to approach a good looking woman, why should anyone believe he has the stones to saunter up to a top-level recruit?

If the coach does not have the wares to pull a home run of a significant other for himself, why should anyone believe he has the ability to pull an elite high schooler for his employer?

Phrasing most certainly killed him, but look to the message folks, because James Franklin is spot on in his assessment of desirable qualities in a coach. Guys who know X's and O's are a dime a dozen.

Anyone can draw plays. It takes confidence and charisma to command a room; whether that's a living room during a recruiting visit or a film room during a position meeting. The same type of confidence and charisma it takes to approach the women that Franklin referenced.