Penn State head coach James Franklin met with the media to discuss his team's game with Wisconsin on Saturday night, but the end result left the local (and national) media talking about anything but the game.
The background to what you'll see below is ugly. Two former Nittany Lions, Kaveion Keys and Jameial Lyons, are both charges of rape and other felony sex crimes against a 17-year-old Penn State student. The incident allegedly occurred back on July 7. The players were suspended on July 31 and kicked off the team days later, but court dockets filed Tuesday broke the news of the charges against Keys and Lyons.
Franklin met with the media on Wednesday for the first time since the charges were revealed. Penn State released a statement following the arraignment, but the media had questions for Franklin specifically beyond the two-sentence statement.
This is how it played out.
James Franklin refused to comment on rape charges against former players. My story, with video (from @JacksonRanger1) of when Franklin was asked:https://t.co/9pbLokyZag pic.twitter.com/JUMZWhMbOR
— Jon Sauber (@JonSauber) October 24, 2024
The statement referenced by Penn State assistant AD Greg Kincaid:
“We are aware of the serious charges against Mr. Keys and Mr. Lyons, who are no longer enrolled at the University. The safety of our community is our top priority, and Penn State takes any report of sexual assault or misconduct very seriously and investigates any and all reports.”
Not commenting beyond the statement is one thing, but performatively leaving the interview area, twice, so a spokesman can scold the media for asking obvious and necessary questions is another. If Franklin had something along the lines of, "I understand the question, but we're not going to comment on the situation beyond the university's statement," you wouldn't be reading this article right now because there would have been no story.
Instead, we got this:
Face of the football program. Most recognizable person associated with Penn St. Demands athletes be held accountable. Paid millions, some of it taxpayer money.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) October 24, 2024
Yet refuses to stand up and deliver a statement or face important questions from reporters doing their jobs. 🤮 https://t.co/FDhybIV8Ku
A master class in how NOT to handle a negative story, by Franklin and Penn St's PR folks.
— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) October 24, 2024
Try to dictate what reporters can ask? Check.
Performative walk off in a huff? Check.
Create far more viral attention than if he'd just said "I can't comment on that." Check.
Well done. https://t.co/z1vsNXbs9s
Penn St really Streisand Effected the hell out of this one. The goal in these situations should be for people like me to not notice this story. Instead, they guaranteed that everyone in the media - and even beyond the sports media - is asking “What the hell is up with Penn St?”
— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) October 24, 2024
Is this event going to make a hill-of-beans difference in the team's performance Saturday night at Wisconsin? Of course not. But Penn State embarrassed itself on Wednesday and, regardless of who concocted this strategy, it begins or ends with the public face of the university displaying cowardice and callousness toward a situation involving a young woman allegedly being sexually assaulted by two young men he brought to campus.
Every college athletics program needs to have a plan in place to deal with situations like this, and that plan should start with using the clip above as teaching tape for what not to do.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.