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James Franklin on B1G decision: ‘We were showing that the plan worked’
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James Franklin’s frustration with the B1G was visible on Wednesday morning when he met with reporters. That disappointment stems not from the conference’s decision to call off the fall football season, but the lack of communication and transparency that occurred in the process.
Franklin met virtually with reporters on Wednesday morning to discuss the B1G’s decision to cancel the fall football season. And while the Penn State head coach understands why the league came to the conclusion it did, he’s still very discouraged by the way all of it was handled.
“I don’t necessarily have an issue with the decision. But I have an issue with the process and I’ve got an issue with the timing. It was challenging to keep getting up in front of my team and getting up in front of my parents and not having answers to their questions.
“While I appreciate the complexities and difficulties of this decision for the leaders of our conference, I’m extremely frustrated because we have very few answers to communicate to our young men.”
Part of that frustration from Franklin can be attributed to the fact that Penn State was doing everything correctly. Penn State had zero positive cases and says everyone was doing what they were supposed to in order to play football in the fall.
“We were showing that the plan worked,” Franklin said according to Dennis Dodd of CBS. “Then all the sudden it changes and you weren’t a part of the conversation and you didn’t understand why. I’m not naive to think this was going to be smooth sailing the whole time. … The thing that I was trying to have control over on our campus was working pretty good.”
Before the B1G made the decision to postpone fall sports, Franklin urged the conference to push back the start date — perhaps to Sept. 26. He thought that would give the league more time to gather information and make a reasonable decision.
Obviously, that didn’t happen.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB