Vanderbilt Reaches Deal on Extension, Salary Increase for James Franklin

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Vanderbilt has reached an agreement to extend first-year head coach James Franklin’s contract. The extension will also feature a salary increase for Franklin, whose team beat Wake Forest yesterday to become bowl eligible.

Reached for comment by OKTC, Vanderbilt Vice-Chancellor David Williams acknowledged that a deal was in place: “I’ve been working with Coach Franklin’s agent since the day before Thanksgiving and we have agreed in principle to an extension and modification of the contract. We’re hoping to have that signed shortly.”

Williams continued, “We’ll do everything that we can to keep him here. We have to make this a place that our coaches want to be and that they have the opportunity to be successful. We’re going to do all that we can do.”

The agreement repesents a major victory for both Vanderbilt and Franklin since OKTC has also learned that the new agreement will come with substantial facility commitments from the university. These details will all be publicly announced in the coming week to ten days.

In the meantime, Vanderbilt fans can rest easy, James Franklin is not going anywhere

OKTC has also learned that Vandy coach James Franklin is using the momentum of Vanderbilt’s bowl season to bolster an already impressive recruiting class.

Sources tell OKTC that five-star quarterback Gunner Kiel, a mid-term enrollee who made an unofficial visit to Vandy’s campus with his parents last week, will be making an official visit with his parents this coming weekend. A second visit is an impressive coup for Franklin since it means Vanderbilt will figure prominently in Kiel’s decision. Vanderbilt’s second semester begins on January 9th so Kiel will have less than a month to decide if Vanderbilt will be his college choice. If Vanderbilt got Kiel, he would become the school’s first five-star commit in football history.

Already, Vanderbilt’s seniors have achieved a first. “The seniors are all very excited,” Williams said, “because they are the first class in Vandy history to play in two bowl games.”