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Franklin was in the CFB playoff last year

many teams would like to have that problem

That's why I think they will have trouble finding a replacement of their choice. I think they will have to settle.

I'd have kept him another season

Franklin was in the CFB playoff last year

^^this^^

Yeah, the standards have changed.

Getting fired used to mean something.

Now it might mean you run a top 10 program, and the boosters are tired of the plateau.

How many coaches historically would have been fired with Franklin's resume?

^^this^^

I also believe the advent of the TWELVE team playoff put coaches like Brian Kelly and James Franklin (and Brent Venables, Lincoln Riley, Mike Norvell, Sherrone Moore, etc) on a more definitive leash. The twelve team playoff gives fan bases, boosters, and athletic directors a hard line on which to act on. Even mid-season. Notice Kelly and Franklin getting the boot once it was plainly clear they weren't playoff bound.

In previous years before the twelve team playoff, they would've coached the rest of the regular season. And going back to the BCS years, would coaches like Franklin or Kelly, who regularly posted 10 and 11 win seasons been shown the door after one down year? Had we instead had a twelve team playoff, I imagine programs like LSU and Texas would've been quicker to move on from Les Miles and Mack Brown. 

When there are only two or even four teams that can play for a Nat'l Championship at the end of the season, fans and boosters and athletic directors will learn to live with a far-and-few-between 5-7 season at time when winning five more games would not put their team any closer to the BCS Championship. Now, a 10-2 top 12 finish puts your team on the same playing field (literally) as those finishing #1 and #2 to end the season.