Kentucky Wildcat Football: This guy is already pissing me off!

Look at that guy. He seems nice enough, right? No creepiness that would lend to him giving overly friendly hugs to coeds, no rage burning in his eyes that makes you think he would lock a player in an equipment room just to “motivate” him. He looks like a good guy that could relate to you and put you at ease…and that’s the problem. This nice looking gentleman is threatening the delicate balance of the SEC ecosystem, and he might just succeed.

The man pictured above is one James Franklin, a 39-year-old man that has landed in historic Nashville to take a perennially awful team and…get this…actually try and make them win football games. That’s not cool! Every year Vandy is supposed to take their beatings and say,”At least we have a good basketball team! Check out our craaaaazy raised floor! We’re smart, we swear!” and go quietly into the dark, cold, SEC night. Sure, they might have made it to a bowl game in 2008, but it was the Music City Bowl, and we all know how lame that is. The point is, Vanderbilt is always supposed to be the one that I look at and say “Hey, we can always win at least one game”. Now? Now I’m not so sure.

James Franklin is a 39 year old coach from Pennsylvania who played QB at East Stroudsberg University (Go Warriors!…wait, that name sucks) for four years before landing in coaching. After making his appearance at the international level coaching for the Roskilde Kings (of the Dutch-American League) he came back to the states and ended up at Maryland, where he somehow converted Torrey Smith into an All-ACC selection. But the important part is last year, when Vanderbilt coach Bobby Johnson suffered a case of the “I just realized I’m coaching at Vanderbilt’s” and retired without warning. And so Franklin became the man, bringing with him a great offensive mind and recruiting contacts from all over the east coast.

In one season with the ‘Dores he has bolstered the defense to a top-50 ranking nationally and has not lost to an SEC opponent by more than five in his last three outings. You can scoff all you want, but that’s more than we can say.

But the improvement isn’t what’s chapping my backside, any coach can shake up a team and get them to play above their abilities for a while; it’s the potential. This year alone he has locked down a top-25 recruiting class for 2012, highlighted by 4 star ATH Brian Kimbrow out of Memphis. there are several more four star recruits on the list and the list is growing for next year. And that’s not even the worst part.

The worst part? He’s a badass. After Vanderbilt’s heartbreaking 33-28 loss to Georgia, the man was so fired up he got into it with UGA’s defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, almost resulting in a brawl. You don’t get that from a guy who’s using your school as a stepping stone. The simple fact is, the new conference expansion will provide more competition but honestly, I don’t know if we need it.