Vanderbilt Football Coach James Franklin: My Assistant Coaches Must Have Hot Wives

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Was the Vandy coach being too randy?

James Franklin, the head coach of Vanderbilt University’s football team, apparently has an interesting screening process for potential assistant coach applicants. Forget a strong resume and a solid interview: He wants to meet the wives to make sure they are attractive enough to qualify as “Division 1” recruits.

As reported by multiple media sources, Franklin went on a local Nashville radio station and said the following:

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 women, 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.

According to Yahoo! Sports, Franklin got his inspiration from the film MoneyBall where a baseball scout opines that “Ugly girlfriend means no confidence.”

Franklin’s off-the-cuff comments apparently got him into hot water, however, and he tweeted an apology today:

My foot doesn’t taste good, I hope I did not offend any1, I love & respect ALL,have a great day, enjoy the fam & don’t forget 2 #AnchorDown

James Franklin, who played college ball at East Stroudsburg State (Penn.), was the the offensive coordinator and head-coach-in-waiting from 2009 to 2010 at the University of Maryland before he accepted the head coaching job at Vandy.

Do you think the comments by the former offensive coordinator were offensive?