The word "vacation" is a word that is used quite lightly in the coaching profession. With smart phones and your duties as a coach, you never really have an opportunity to "get away from everything" and enjoy a vacation like a lot of professions.
While on the coaches caravan over the weekend, James Franklin brought up some interesting talking points, including what he would do if he was on vacation with his family when the number one recruit in the country calls him from Penn State's campus.
“If the No. 1 recruit in the country calls and says, ‘I happen to be in State College,’ what am I going to do? Say I’m on vacation with my family? No, I’m flying back. If there’s an issue that comes up, you’re dealing with it. If a recruit calls, you’re answering the phone. My wife and kids know that, if my phone rings, I’m answering it. It’s not a problem, because that’s all my family knows. That’s just how it is." Franklin explained.
Would you do the same? Now granted, Franklin admits that he "isn't a big 'rest' or 'relax' guy", and every coach is built differently, but if you're one to draw a line in the sand, where exactly is it drawn there? Do you approach the situation differently when it comes to the type of recruit that could help transform your program?
Franklin went on to explain how technology has made vacationing in the coaching profession nearly impossible.
“With the way technology is, you never get away. I’ll give you an example of me being a psycho and a weirdo. These people that go away and on their e-mail, it says, ‘I’m out of the office.’ What do you mean? Nobody’s out of the office anymore. Your e-mail goes to your cell phone. You look at your e-mail on your phone and you respond. What do you mean I’m out of the office?"
"At least that’s how I am. If other people aren’t like this, don’t tell me, because I think I’m normal." Franklin noted.
“We’ll get away, but there’s never really getting away. That’s one of the differences between the NFL and college. In the NFL, at the end of the day, you'll go home to your family and they go home to their family. In college, that doesn’t really happen.”