It was a conversation that Sandy Barbour might like to have back right about now.
It may have meant, at least in some small way, the difference between a buyout of James Franklin’s contract that would have cost $11 million and one that now costs $32 million.
A $21 million difference.
The conversation happened nearly a year ago — not too long after 5 p.m. on Wednesday, November 27, 2019. Thanksgiving Eve.
That evening, Barbour showed up just before the front doors of Holuba Hall were opened to the local media, assembled to watch the tail end of Penn State’s football practice. She exchanged greetings with a few reporters, then went inside.
Barbour’s appearance was a bit of a rarity. Scott Sidwell, Penn State’s deputy director of athletics-external and the former AD at the University of San Francisco, is the day-to-day sport administrator for the football program.
Barbour, who is vice president of intercollegiate athletics and as such oversees 31 varsity sports and a $165 million enterprise supporting 900 athletes, is not a regular visitor to football practice — at least when the media are around. However, there are times, like during bowl week prep somewhere south or west, where she’ll show up and kibitz. And she is very visible; last week, when the team ran onto the field before the Nebraska game, she was on the sidelines giving elbows to players and coaches alike.
The week of Thanksgiving last year Penn State was still feeling the effects of two losses in 15 days, first at Minnesota, where it fell 31-26 after entering the game ranked No. 4 in the College Football Playoff rankings, Then, after a narrow 34-27 victory over Indiana, the Nittany Lions were outmanned in Columbus, losing 28-17. Penn State was set to host Rutgers in three days.
Barbour was there post-practice for a reason: To see Franklin.
When practice was over, Barbour met Franklin out in the middle of Holuba’s artificial turf field. (See accompanying photo.) No one was within 30 yards of them. I watched as they spoke. My notes from that practice indicate that Franklin did most of the speaking and there didn’t seem to be a hint of levity.
At the time, rumors were floating that Florida State was interested in hiring Franklin. There was also speculation that tied Franklin to the head coaching at Southern Cal, given that Clay Helton was under fire and Mike Bohn had just been named AD at USC just two weeks earlier. Adding to the intrigue was that PJ Fleck, a good friend of Franklin’s, had recently received a new big-ticket contract from Minnesota.
As he stood there a year ago, talking with Barbour, Franklin was riding a 29-7 streak, which included a Big Ten title and a Beaver Stadium attendance streak that was 104,000 or greater in 16 of Penn State’s last 17 home games, as well as being just a few weeks removed from that CFP slot.
Talk about leverage. Or, at least Penn State thought so. And not in its favor.
Apparently, the conversation between Barbour and Franklin was one that couldn’t happen on a cell phone or in Barbour’s office in 101 Bryce Jordan Center. It lasted a bit less than 10 minutes, and Barbour left.
Nine days later, Franklin had a new contract.
THE NEW DEAL
It was a six-year deal, negotiated between PSU and Franklin’s agent, former NFL stud Trace Armstrong, who also represents Tom Herman, Mike McCarthy and, up until a few years ago, Urban Meyer
‘The terms,’ an official Penn State release said, ‘were approved by the Compensation Committee of Penn State’s Board of Trustees’ — a five-person group. But, also according to Penn State, ‘The basic terms of the contract will be released upon execution of the agreement in the near future, in accordance with past practice.’
It took 78 days for those terms to be released publicly, which happened on February 22, 2020. At the time, the contract — which runs through December 31, 2025 season and includes a $500,000 retention bonus if he is the PSU head coach that day — guaranteed Franklin $35.4 million with a maximum of $50.25 million over six seasons.
The old deal was signed on August 18, 2017, and ran through December 31, 2022. If that was still in force on December 30, 2020, it would have cost Penn State $11 million — two times his base salary, plus monies from TV/radio and Nike, a total of $5.5 million — to terminate its deal with Franklin. The ‘two times’ was the number of years left on his contract.
That was then. This is now:
Under the new deal signed this past February (Franklin’s third contract in six-plus years), if Franklin is terminated on December 30, 2020, it will cost Penn State $32 million — five times his base salary, plus monies from TV/radio and Nike, and an $1 million annual insurance payment.
About that new contract: Exactly 19 days after it was announced, on March 12, in the nascent stages of the pandemic, Barbour shut down Penn State’s winter and spring sports seasons. Franklin’s team had yet to get in a single day of spring practice.
Timing is everything.
Since finalizing that deal, Penn State is 0-5 for the first time in its 134 seasons of football and Barbour’s athletic department is facing a $65 to $80 million deficit for fiscal year 2020-21, with some head coaches taking voluntary salary cuts, though eight months into the pandemic we do not know if Franklin is one of them.
Meanwhile, if Franklin employed on December 31, 2020, Penn State will owe Franklin a retention bonus of $300,000. Add that to his guaranteed compensation of $5.4 million this year, the ability to draw $1 million a year on an insurance agreement similar to the one in Jim Harbaugh’s contract and $10,000 in car allowance (and assuming Penn State does not go to a bowl game; worth, at minimum, another $200,000), and Franklin is slated to make $6.7 million this year. That’s $18,356 per day.
Here is how that insurance deal works.
2020 HINDSIGHT
Given the benefit of 2020 hindsight, the new contract was not a good deal, if only for the massive size of the buyout if Penn State terminates Franklin without cause. And leading a discombobulated and often uninspired team and a staff full of new coaches to an historically bad record in the midst of a pandemic is not just cause.
This is not to suggest that Franklin should be fired. He should not. He deserves consideration for all the success and 24/7 hard work he has brought to Penn State football. And his 42-11 record from 2016 to 2019 was among the very best in the business. Emphasis on business.
It is, however, a two-way street.
Franklin lost a bit of that goodwill when he re-negotiated his contract twice in three seasons, as was his right. (Keeping the buyout reasonable was Barbour’s responsibility. As it is, CJF owes PSU just $4 million if he leaves on 1/1/21.)
Franklin gained more dollars and a bigger buyout, but lost some needed wiggle room with the Penn State fan base now that tough times have arrived. He has shown that he cares intensely about both words that comprise the college ‘coaching business’ these days. Which is fine. But, those dollars demand requisite success and foment high expectations as well. That ain’t changing.
And, since we are talking turkey: At those prices, Oh and 5 — no matter what the circumstances — does not carve it.
