Nick Saban strongly defended former Penn State Nittany Lions football coach James Franklin on Saturday’s edition of College GameDay following his firing last week. To the point that Yahoo Sports’ Dan Wolken called it a “wet, sloppy kiss” on ESPN’s airwaves from Athens, Georgia, on UGA’s campus before the Bulldogs beat the Ole Miss Rebels 43-35.
Saban straight-up calling Franklin’s firing “unfair as hell” visibly upset Wolken, who belittled the segment as nothing more than lip service to prospective Franklin suitors this offseason.
Wolken said he “wouldn’t dare call it an interview.” And he strongly rebuked the idea that Franklin is any sort of victim.
“The redemption tour began on a truly nauseating note, with CAA/Jimmy Sexton client Nick Saban telling CAA/Sexton client Franklin on the ESPN's ‘College GameDay’ set it was ‘unfair as hell’ that he got fired from Penn State while being visibly irritated that the school did ‘not show enough appreciation … and gratitude for all the hard work you did.’ Meanwhile, the rest of the substance-free appearance (we wouldn’t dare call it an interview) never dug into the administrative tensions that led to his firing, ignored the losses to UCLA and Northwestern that unraveled his tenure and framed Penn State’s spiral this season as something that happened to him as opposed to a football calamity in which he was an active participant. Whether you agree or disagree with Penn State’s decision, it’s not necessary to go out of your way to make him a sympathetic figure here — especially given the $49 million buyout coming his way,” Wolken wrote.
The Alabama Crimson Tide coaching legend has always taken a pro-coach, pro-player, nearly-neutral stance on ESPN airwaves in his on-air role on College GameDay.
This was as anti-school establishment as he’d ever been.
Wolken thought it was store-bought bologna, though. A processed piece of propaganda that didn’t tell the whole story.
Maybe it was. The SEC is ESPN’s broadcast partner, so anti-Big Ten narratives are a good dig at FOX in the ongoing college football ratings war that the former is dominating.