I was initially disposed to dislike the idea of Franklin coaching our Vols. But sleeping on it, there's a good argument in his favor.
To use the analogy of another sport, auto racing, we need a grease monkey. We need a driver like the dude Christian Bale played in Ford v Ferrari, a guy who can jump into any ride, jalopy or super-tuned sportster, and figure her out, then get the absolute most she'll give.
We don't need the best driver in the world at the top end, the guy who has driven cars fine-tuned to perfection all his life. That guy wouldn't know the first thing about making a basket case of slapped-together parts go as fast as it can. Pruitt was like that (among other problems), never coached in a program that needed a lot of bondo and rust removal just to get going, he had no idea how to react, was flummoxed from the start. Too used to walking into programs already at or near the top.
Elliott would be the same kind of caution. Not saying Elliott wouldn't succeed for us, he absolutely might. And certainly not saying he has any of the other problems Pruitt had (temper, inflexibility, etc.). Just saying his success at Clemson may not translate into success where things need some serious work just to get out of pit row.
But Franklin, he's done that. He took Vandy (Vandy!) out of its perpetual miasma to a better place. Sure, no championships, but he got as much out of Vandy as you can get, I think. And he walked into a Penn State program still trying to recover from the Sandusky/Paterno era, and seems to (covid year aside) have it back near the top of the B10.
So yeah. He's growing on me as an option. Even as it seems possible we failed to secure his services. Heh. Timing.
But at least I think I understand now where Danny White's brain was _if_ he was going after Franklin. It makes more sense to me now.