One local coach didn’t appear to be a big fan of Penn State firing James Franklin, and another coach made similar comments.
Last week, WVU coach Rich Rodriguez said on his radio show that, generally speaking, he doesn’t know if midseason firings “send the right message.”
“I don’t know if it sends the right message to your team that you kind of gave up on your team,” Rodriguez said. “It’s not even halfway through the season.”
Pitt boss Pat Narduzzi made similar comments the following Monday.
WHAT NARDUZZI SAID
Photo by David Hague, Pittsburgh Sports Now: Pat Narduzzi
“James Franklin’s a great guy,” Narduzzi told 93.7 The Fan’s Chris Mueller and Andrew Fillipponi, “and that’s coming from “Pat from Pittsburgh.” You know what I’m saying?”
Narduzzi was referring to the name he uses when he calls into The Fan (early in his Penn State tenure, Franklin would call in as “James from State College”).
He went onto say that he called Franklin after the firing to express well wishes, and then spoke his mind a little bit on midseason coach firing, of which there have already been a record eight.)
“It’s not a good thing for college football,” he said. “I think every year, it becomes a bigger, bigger business.
“When you lose some of the good people in the business, at least like that, it’s not good. You have to be tough enough to take it.”
“It’s sad. It’s sad. And more of them are happening in the middle of the season which, you know. Then once someone does it in the middle of the season, everyone else thinks it’s a good move and we should do it. But I think it’s really disrupting to the families and especially your teams.”
ARE THEY FRIENDS?
PSU coach James Franklin talks with Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi before last year’s game at Beaver Stadium.
People on both sides of Pitt-Penn State have wondered how Franklin and Narduzzi really feel about each other.
Narduzzi answered that question, and made another barb at Penn State not playing Pitt.
“I have a great relationship with him,” he said. “When you talk ‘in-state rivals’ you’re not ‘in-state rivals’ if you don’t play each other. So it’s really not a rivalry. We lost a great one there.
