During last Saturday’s game between Indiana and Michigan, FOX’s Joel Klatt took a jab at Penn State coach James Franklin.
Gus Johnson brought up Franklin’s comments about Michigan’s schedule. He talked about the Wolverines “buying out game contracts.”
That didn’t sit well with Klatt, who responded, “Pretty rich for a guy playing UMass this week.”
On Tuesday night, Klatt issued an apology for his dig at Franklin. Not only did he dislike the way he handled things, he made it known that Franklin’s comments about Michigan were taken out of context.
“There was something brought up on the broadcast, and I just don’t like the way that I handled it,” Klatt said. “It was brought up that James Franklin had talked in a press conference about scheduling. And he gave a long and thoughtful answer about scheduling, and at one point had insinuated, you know, there was one part of the quote that insinuated like ‘Hey, there’s teams in this conference that are buying out of contracts in the non-conference, buying out of a tough game to just go play not a tough game.’”
Klatt continued, “I just wanted to make sure I’m being transparent with you. I said on the game ‘That’s pretty rich for a guy playing UMass.’ Wrong way to handle it. Wish I could have had that one back. James had given a more thoughtful answer than that. And in live TV, stuff like that happens. My intent was not to take a shot at James Franklin. I’m here to tell you I wish I would have handled that differently.”
Just want to be honest and transparent pic.twitter.com/Wf2g7TCiuW
— Joel Klatt (@joelklatt) October 18, 2023
Kudos to Klatt for taking full accountability in this situation. Moments like this are why he’s a beloved figure in the college football community.
Hopefully, Franklin and Klatt can make amends in the near future.