Media MonsterNCAA Football

Injecting Life Into Vanderbilt Football, One Hot Wife At A Time

Under coach James Franklin, Vanderbilt football looks to be in the best shape it’s been in in some time. The Commodores improved from 2-10 in 2010 to 6-7 last season – and five of those losses were by a touchdown or less. The team returns plenty of starters this year, and welcomes in one of the school’s best recruiting classes in memory. 2013 recruiting’s not off to a bad start, either. So how’d Franklin get things rolling so smoothly in Nashville?

Well, he got started by judging the attractiveness of potential assistants’ wives.

At least that’s what Franklin told Clay Travis on Travis’ radio show yesterday. College football coaches, of course, have to recruit. And recruiting involves contacting a lot of kids, and often, to win them to your side against often-stiff competition. It’s competition that, frankly, can get creepy. But it’s part of the job description, and to do it well, you have to be bold. And that’s where Franklin saw the connection:

“I’ve been saying it for a long time, I will not hire an assistant until I see his wife. If she looks the part and she’s a D1 recruit, then you got a chance to get hired. That’s part of the deal. There’s a very strong correlation between having the confidence, going up and talking to a woman, and being quick on your feet and having some personality and confidence and being articulate and confident, than it is walking into a high school and recruiting a kid and selling him.”

Franklin’s not the first to make this kind of connection: Dennis Simmons, one of Mike Leach’s assistants at Washington State, said of recruiting earlier this year: “It’s kind of like dating. The worst [recruits] can do is say no.” And more often than not, they do… but if you talk to enough of them, you’re bound to land a great one eventually. Are we even talking about recruiting or dating anymore at this point? Goes to show the similarities, we suppose.

Of course, there are potential holes in the Franklin strategy – think of how different the definitions of a “D1 recruit” are among different people. If a given wife’s honess doesn’t measure up to his standards, who’s to say tons of others wouldn’t beg to differ? Also, there’s the whole “being a good football coach takes way more than a hot wife” thing. But Franklin knows that, of course. At least, we imagine he does. Based on those accomplishments we listed earlier, the guy must know what he’s doing.

Oh, and he also said he took lessons from Moneyball – he must have, because if “assistants’ wife hotness” isn’t an under-the-radar area rivals might be neglecting, we don’t know what is. And one final note – by revealing this bit of info, Franklin opened himself up to others judging the attractiveness of his wife. This is his wife. Franklin would have no problem hiring himself as an assistant, we’d say.

Photo via