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Franklin, coaches believe in PSU culture

There was very little actual gridiron talk but plenty of discussion about fundraising, facilities upgrades and football scheduling during Thursday’s Penn State Coaches Caravan stop in Altoona.

Aside from those necessary topics – the caravan is, at its core, a fundraising event – everyone on hand representing Penn State made a point of stressing what should be the most important part of college athletics but often gets overlooked.

The academic success of PSU’s athletes was mentioned frequently by football coach James Franklin, men’s hockey coach Guy Gadowsky, women’s golf coach Denise St. Pierre and athletic director Sandy Barbour.

The word “proud” was used about 30 times by the officials, each of whom rattled off impressive GPA and graduation totals for their respective sports. For football, that rate was 87 percent in the most recent NCAA study, tied for fifth nationally among public Division I schools.

It came as no surprise, then, that when Franklin finished his speech to the crowd of about 200 at The Casino at Lakemont Park, he closed with this comment:

“I believe in our culture. The culture that we have now and the culture that we have always had.”

Franklin also discussed why he’s “so proud to be at Penn State and to be your head football coach.”

“As excited as I was on day one of taking the job, I’m more excited today,” he said. “Because I believe in Penn State.”

Franklin and the PSU contingent discussed myriad topics during Thursday’s event. Here’s a breakdown of some of the more newsworthy and interesting:

n Franklin believes the PSU-Pitt rivalry would be “good for the state of Pennsylvania.” He said he has “tremendous respect for Pitt and their program” and also pointed out that former Panther coach Johnny Majors is a good friend.

The Lions will play Pitt annually from 2016-19, which will rekindle the rivalry a bit, but Franklin isn’t too caught up into making anything more out of the contests.

“We view it as another game,” he said.

n Improvements to facilities and branding require a lot of money. Franklin said that whenever the Board of Trustees approves money to be spent in those areas, such as upgrades to the Lasch Building, that the money actually has already been raised.

Raising new money is always a goal and a challenge, and Franklin said he wants to “raise it quickly to get (the improvements) done.”

Barbour said Franklin has what it takes to be an excellent fundraiser in today’s college landscape.

“He’s got the singular most important attribute you need from a fundraising standpoint, and that’s passion and belief in what you’re doing,” she said.

Franklin did point out that Penn State has lost $72 million in recent years because of the Sandusky scandal – $60 million in fines and $12 in bowl revenue.

n The prospect of Thursday night football games at PSU isn’t good.

“Thursday night would be really, really difficult in Happy Valley,” Barbour said, alluding to all the logistical problems of pulling that off with so many visitors coming to town on a weeknight.

The TV money for such a game might be enticing, but Barbour said the school needs to “be smart” with such a decision and keep in mind what elements of control it might have to give up.

n As for Saturday game times, there’s no consensus on what time most fans prefer the games. “Fans are all over the board,” Barbour said.

n Franklin pointed out, “I do feel like there’s an excitement and enthusiasm about the program that maybe hasn’t been there.” He added that ticket sales are “way up,” recruiting is going very well and winning the Pinstripe Bowl helped ramp up enthusiasm.

n Franklin said at this point he doesn’t expect any transfers out from the football program.

n Franklin gets a lot of “unique and interesting gifts” from fans on the caravan. One of them, he noted, was “the biggest block of cheese that I’eve ever seen in my life.” He said it weighed eight pounds. “I think the grandfather makes cheese or ages cheese,” he said.

n The possibility of a Pittsburgh Penguins game against the Philadelphia Flyers at Beaver Stadium is appealing to Gadowsky, but he said he doesn’t have the authority to talk much about it.

“There’s a lot of interest in it,” he said, adding that he gets asked about it frequently.

“It would be something special.”

n Gadowsky was pumped up about Johnstown being named Hockeyville USA last week, saying that’s the kind of thing that can help generate more local interest in hockey. He also had a lot of praise for Galactic Ice in Altoona, saying his kids have skated there.

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