Penn State Football: 20 Questions if There Had Been a Coaches Caravan This Year

Following the schedule of the past four years, by now we’d be in the middle of Penn State’s Coaches Caravan.

And the headlines would be about a lot more than just the recruiting updates and ticket sales that dominate the slate right now.

From 2012 to 2015, Bill O’Brien and then James Franklin hit the road every May, selling Penn State in an effort to promote the Nittany Lions and shift the spotlight from scandal to football.

Often, they had an athletic director and some other head coaches in tow. Cael made for good comedy, Russ was wry, Joyner was hardly jocular and Barbour on occasion had some cutting-edge news.

But OB and CJF were The Show.

As such, as the headliners of the caravan, over the course of four consecutive springs they made 59 stops in 32 days in seven states and D.C., and answered hundreds of questions – from barnstorming members of the media as well as from scores of fans.

Not this year. For 2016 at least, the Caravan has been quieted.

And that has taken Franklin, mostly, out of the spotlight as well.

Penn State’s head football coach last held a press conference after the April 16 Blue-White Game –  answering all of eight questions and providing an opening statement, a combo that in total amounted to 2,376 words. The next time Franklin meets the press en masse could be in August, when the Nittany Lions open summer camp. (At least meets with them on the record; O’Brien and Franklin have typically hosted beat reporters to a mid-summer BBQ that has allowed for a few interviews, but not a regular large-scale press conference.)

A 100-plus day drought would be almost Paternoesque. If you recall, when faced in part with health issues, over his final two off-seasons Joe Paterno cut out almost all of his summertime public appearances, save for an ESPN special he filmed in Eisenhower Auditorium with Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski in June 2011.

TWENTY QUESTIONS

But what if Franklin had caravanend again this spring? What would be the hot-button issues? For me, the caravan was a chance to delve into areas that were often – like the stops themselves – a bit off the beaten path. Like last year, when I asked him why goes by James instead of Jim. (The answer is here.)

So here are 20 questions I’m thinking I would have liked to ask Franklin if there had been a Coaches Caravan this spring:

1. Who will be the starting quarterback – and why?

2. To truly dominate the state, does Penn State need to beat Pitt on Sept. 10?

3. Are 38 satellite camps one too many?

4. What three things would you like to see changed about recruiting?

5. Should Joe Paterno be honored by Penn State? How and when?

6. Is it important that the Big Ten’s new TV deal still include ESPN?

7. What surprised you the most about the state of Penn State football once you settled in?

8. If you could go back and re-do your offense from 2014 and ’15, what would you do?

9. In his two years at Penn State, how well did you and Christian Hackenberg get along? And do you now?

10. What would you like to see happen with renovations to Beaver Stadium?

11. How do you feel when folks say “James Franklin – great recruiter, game-day coach…not so much”?

12. What are the remaining ramifications and lingering effects of the NCAA sanctions?

13. The Big Ten and the SEC – compare and contrast.

14. Do you read the message boards (or have someone do it for you)? Twitter?

15. Stadium renovations and facility upgrades will cost tens – hundreds, actually — of millions of dollars. What’s your role in and responsibility for raising that money?

16. Personally, how did you feel when Bob Shoop and Herb Hand told you they were leaving? Why did you fire John Donovan, with whom you worked for so long?

17. Prior to the off-season, were Joe Moorhead and Matt Limegrover on your ready list of potential hires?

18. Are you in favor of the Big Ten realigning its football divisions?

19. Who are your ideal three non-conference opponents? And why?

20. Do you want the Coaches Caravan to return in 2017 – and if so, in what fashion?