James Franklin explains why he doesn't publicly refute USC links
Penn State Nittany Lions football coach James Franklin has been the subject of media speculation this week linking him to the head coaching vacancy at USC, which fired Clay Helton after a defeat to Stanford.
It is not the first time that Franklin has been linked with the Trojans. He was asked Wednesday why he has not elected to publicly refute the claims when given the opportunity.
"I have [refuted it]," he said. "I have. But, I've also found and tracked this over time: No matter what you say, people aren't happy with it. So, I've decided that I'm going to handle this internally and talk to our team. It happens every single year. I'm not worried about distractions in the media, and with the fans. I'm worried about my team, so, I talked to my staff about it, I talk to the players about it, the Leadership Council, in detail, but I think that's the best approach."
When he was asked about the subject at his Tuesday press conference, Franklin said that he hates distractions, and intended to talk with his players to ensure that it doesn't become one ahead of a crucial game with No. 22 Auburn this weekend.
Saturday's White Out game is a key recruiting event for the Nittany Lions too, and Franklin said he will address the speculation with recruits and their families as well.
"I'll have conversations with them, but again, having conversations with the media and having conversations with anybody else; I'm concerned about my team and my future team, and when I say my future team, I'm talking about the recruits," he said."
The aforementioned player meeting took place on Wednesday.
Veteran defensive tackle and highly respected locker room figure PJ Mustipher offered some insight into what was said.
"I don't really want to talk too much about that, but he said we got to move on," Mustipher said. "We see it. I'm not going to act like we don't see it. We definitely saw it. But he said, 'Hey, we've got a job to do, we've got to move on. It's as simple as that.' I don't want to go into it in too much detail, but I'll give you a little bit.
"We've got a job to do this week. Let them talk, we've got to go to work."
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