STATE COLLEGE — There is tension.
To James Franklin, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
A day after Penn State’s athletics integrity monitor wrote of a “mutual lack of trust” between the university’s athletics compliance staff and the head football coach in his annual report, Franklin said during his weekly press conference Tuesday he looks at that give-and-take as an opportunity to improve the program through communication.
“The way I look at it is, we have a healthy dialogue,” he said. “I really do. I think we have a healthy dialogue, back and forth, with the compliance staff. I look forward to continuing to strengthen those relationships, representing Penn State the right way, representing Penn State football the right way and building a program that everybody can be proud of.”
Citing “established, state-of-the art university policies and practices” that leave the athletics department well-positioned moving into the future, athletics integrity monitor Charles Scheeler recommended that oversight of the athletic department end at the end of the year, two years sooner than the agreement between Penn State, the Big Ten and the NCAA was set to expire in 2017.
But he also wrote of noticeable discord between Franklin and the compliance staff.
“I have spoken to the athletic director, head football coach, director of ethics and compliance, athletics integrity officer and athletics compliance staff members about this. All parties acknowledge the problem,” Scheeler wrote. “Equally important, all parties have expressed a commitment to improving the communications and relationships between one another. This suggests the problem is solvable if the parties honor these commitments.”
Franklin did not elaborate on his comments Tuesday, repeating only that he looked forward to strengthening his relationship with the compliance staff. He did say, though, the fact that Scheeler’s recommendation to end his oversight is a positive for the university.
“I think it’s another sign that the healing is taking place,” he said. “A lot of hard work by a lot of different people got us in that position, so I think that’s exciting news for the Penn State athletic department as a whole.”
Still confident
Former Wyoming Valley West star Eugene Lewis has struggled to hold onto passes this season, and in Saturday’s win over Rutgers, he played sparingly.
That, however, is not a sign the staff has lost faith in the junior receiver, Franklin insisted.
“We’re looking for guys to be consistent,” he said. “We love Geno. He has had a great career here, and he continues to be a great teammate.
“Consistency, I think, is the thing with a lot of our guys at a number of positions. They show flashes of doing special things. They want to be able to do it more consistently, and we want them to do it more consistently. I think Geno is in that conversation.”
Lewis has just three catches for 26 yards this season. Two of them came on the first series of the opener against Temple.
Time to convert
Even considering the offense’s resurgence over the past six quarters, one area where Penn State has continued to struggle is on third downs.
The Nittany Lions have converted just 12 of their 40 attempts on third down into first downs, but Franklin said he wasn’t concerned about the lack of production. He said Penn State has played more conservatively on third downs, which has bettered punt results and helped win field position battles for the defense.
“I think when we get more balanced and throw the ball more, that’s going to help you on third down. It always does,” he said. “I’m not as concerned about specific statistics at this point as a program. I’m more concerned about playing in a style that’s going to allow us to be successful as a team. The statistics will come later.”
He’ll always have Paris
After a strong performance against Maryland, Lackawanna College product Paris Palmer is listed atop Penn State’s depth chart at left tackle for Saturday’s game against San Diego State.
Franklin noted that’s a sign both of how far Palmer has come since his shaky season-opener against Temple and of the injury status of the man listed behind him, sophomore Andrew Nelson, who didn’t play against Rutgers after leaving the Buffalo game with an apparent leg injury.
“You want guys to take advantage of the opportunity when it comes,” Franklin said. “He learned from his first experience. He grew from it. He’s playing pretty well right now.”