James Franklin: Penn State Dealing With 'Negative Recruiting'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Penn State head coach James Franklin is unhappy with "negative recruiting" against Penn State.
Franklin, addressing the media during the Big Ten media day on Monday, was adamant about the ways other programs have been using the recent news about the Jerry Sandusky scandal against Penn State.
"Negative recruiting happens all over the country, everybody is dealing with it,'' Franklin said via PennLive.com. "Obviously, for us, there's some sensitive subjects out there. Some people choose to use it and some people don't. What we're there to do is to try to talk about Penn State, focus on all the wonderful opportunities that Penn State offers — academically, athletically, socially, spiritually, those types of things.
"But also be able to answer the tough questions," he continued. "We're probably in a position where we probably have to answer more tough questions. Fortunately, the families and the young men that have been open and said, 'Look, this is what we're hearing. Can you help us with this?' We were able to answer those questions and also provide people that can help.''
Last month, Franklin was asked to describe the challenge of being in the same division as Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State by the Reading Eagle.
"Like most things in life, there are some real positives about it," Franklin said. "We're able to tell kids they're going to compete against the very highest level week in and week out. What makes it tricky, they're not having to deal with some of the things we're dealing with and working through, which magnifies it. Those programs as well as others know that and use that against us. We have that conversation with every single prospect. We don't usually initiate it, but it's coming from somewhere."
Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio and Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer were both asked about Franklin's comments.
"I have not said anything negative about Penn State and hopefully our coaches have not have as well," Dantonio said on Tuesday.
"That's the first time I've heard of it," Meyer said. "I'll address it with coach Franklin if that is an issue. That's a pretty strong allegation that I had not heard yet. We got a great deal of respect for every school in our conference and we do just fine in recruiting to not worry about that."
