James Franklin (American football coach)

James Franklin (born February 2, 1972) is an American football coach. He is currently the head coach at Vanderbilt University. Prior to accepting the job at Vanderbilt, Franklin was the offensive coordinator and "head-coach-in-waiting" at the University of Maryland.

Early years
Franklin was born in Langhorne, Pennsylvania on February 2, 1972. He attended college at East Stroudsburg University where he played as a quarterback all four years. In that position, he set seven school records and was a Division II player of the year nominee in 1994. Sports Illustrated named him a National Player of the Week that season. He earned a Bachelors of Science degree in psychology in 1995.

Coaching career
He began his coaching career in 1995 as a wide receivers coach at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. The following season, he took over as the secondary coach for his alma mater, East Stroudsburg. That year, he was also the offensive coordinator for the Roskilde Kings of the Danish American Football Federation. In 1997, he became wide receivers coach at James Madison, and, the following year, became tight ends coach at Washington State.

In 1999, he served as wide receivers coach at Idaho State. That year, the Bengals recorded 29 touchdowns, 258 receptions, and in excess of 3,300 passing yards for one of the best statistical seasons in school history. Idaho State ranked ninth nationally in total offense that year.

Franklin has also held internships at several National Football League (NFL) franchises: the Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles, and Minnesota Vikings.

Maryland
Franklin first served at Maryland as the wide receivers coach starting in 2000. In November 2000, head coach Ron Vanderlinden was dismissed and replaced by Ralph Friedgen, a Maryland alum and former Georgia Tech offensive coordinator. Friedgen retained Franklin as the wide receivers coach, one of only two assistants to be kept on the new coaching staff (running backs coach Mike Locksley was the other).

In 2003, Franklin's duties expanded to include the position of recruiting coordinator. Since then, he has been considered a top recruiter. His geographic areas of concentration for recruiting were Baltimore; Prince George's County, Maryland; and public schools in Washington, D.C. In 2005, Franklin departed Maryland to serve as the wide receivers coach for the Green Bay Packers of the NFL. From 2006 to 2007, he worked at Kansas State as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.

Franklin returned to Maryland for the 2008 season as the offensive coordinator. He assumed duties from Friedgen himself, who had made offensive play calls since the departure of Charlie Taaffe in 2005. There, Franklin implemented a West Coast offense. On February 6, 2009, the University of Maryland officially designated Franklin as the head coach-in-waiting.

Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt considered Franklin a candidate for its head coaching position vacated with the forced resignation of Robbie Caldwell after the 2010 season. The Washington Post reported other candidates for the job were Al Golden of Temple and Larry Coker of UTSA (and formerly Miami), and that Franklin was not the frontrunner. After Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn turned down the job, Vanderbilt began talks to hire Franklin as its head coach. On December 17, Vanderbilt announced Franklin had been hired as head coach. Franklin is the first African American to be head coach of a major sport at Vanderbilt, and the third to be a head football coach in the Southeastern Conference (after Sylvester Croom, formerly at Mississippi State, and former Kentucky head coach Joker Phillips).

Convinced of the strength of Southeastern Conference football, Franklin in the final regular-season coaches poll for 2012 ranked three SEC teams—Alabama, Georgia, Florida—ahead of the consensus Number 1 team, Notre Dame. Interestingly enough, after a blow-out loss to Alabama in the BCS National Championship Game, Notre Dame finished the season ranked 4th in the AP Poll, providing validation for Franklin's "controversial" ballot.

Franklin led Vanderbilt to a bowl game in both of his first two seasons as head coach. Vanderbilt had never previously participated in a bowl game in consecutive seasons. In his second season (2012), the Commodores finished 9–4 and ranked in both the Associated Press and USA Today end-of-season coaches' top 25 for the first time since 1948 (and the first ranking in any week since 2008). It was just the third nine–win season in school history. Additionally, Vanderbilt's fifteen combined wins in Franklin's first two years in charge was the Commodores' highest total since 1926–1927.