Franklin's push at Vandy is admirable

COLUMBIA - It's hard not to admire James Franklin.

The second-year Vanderbilt coach is taking on one of the most audacious tasks in college football head on: making Vandy relevant.

The Commodores are not known as a winning program. They've been to five bowl games — one of which came last year when they lost to Cincinnati in the Liberty Bowl.

VU has won six games in a season just five times since 1955.

Franklin believes he can change all that at a school that's had a hard time finding coaches who could make any dent in the attitude and persona that's surrounded the football program for decades.

He's had to be a salesman since the day he walked on campus. The former Maryland assistant has talked about his team, vision and dreams to anybody who will listen.

He's playing up Thursday's ESPN game against No. 9 South Carolina like it's the Super Bowl.

The Commodores have had the game circled for months. Tickets are nearly sold out, something that doesn't usually happen unless Vandy's hosting Tennessee and all its fans.

Steve Spurrier can relate to Franklin. The South Carolina head coach, who begins his eighth year Thursday, was once the leader at Duke, a school with similar challenges and low expectations.

Academics are the top priority at Vandy and Duke. That makes recruiting very difficult. Not only do you have to convince young men to take on the challenge of earning a top-notch education, you also have to make sure they are guys who can qualify at your institution.

That's led to both schools feeding around the bottom of their respective conferences for pretty much as long as I can remember.

Spurrier won an ACC title with the Blue Devils and took them to the All-American Bowl in 1989.

Since then, Duke's been to the postseason just once.

"They feel good about themselves and they should," Spurrier said about the Commodores. "They went to a bowl last year. At Vandy, if you go to a bowl, that's like Duke going to a bowl. That's a big deal to go to a bowl."

Achieving that honor in just his first year ever as a head coach has built expectations for Franklin. That's not something former Vandy and Furman coach Bobby Johnson was able to accomplish from 2002-10.

Even though he did lead Vandy to its first bowl win since 1955, not much came of it, and Dudley Stadium remained relatively empty.

Football has now become more of a priority because Franklin's demanding it.

"They are trying to play football at Vanderbilt, they really are," Spurrier said. "They have spent the money. When we decided we wanted to play here at South Carolina, we started spending the money, building all kinds of new facilities, and that's what they are doing."

With the Gamecocks ranked highly, it's a chance for the Commodores to garner the attention they so clearly crave.

However, it's hard to know if Vandy's sudden desire will turn into anything real.

You have to win — and not just on Thursday. VU must keep it going by improving its record and making bowl games a tradition.

Giving handouts to students, and hyping a game against South Carolina isn't going to keep people coming back.
