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James Franklin is young and exuberant, and his confidence is rubbing off on the Vanderbilt Commodores.
Franklin is their third coach in as many years, and at 39, he's younger than what the Commodores have been used to in recent years with first Bobby Johnson, then Robbie Caldwell last season. That age difference is helping Franklin connect with the Commodores as he pitches his plan to turn the Southeastern Conference's worst team into winners.
Senior linebacker Chris Marve said Franklin has great enthusiasm.
''It's just something about him you can trust him. From day one when I met him, he had my respect and he had my trust. ... He can relate to us at different levels as well as get in our face when we need it,'' Marve said. ''He has all the intangibles as a head coach.''
The SEC's only private school has one bowl victory since 1955 and only one winning record since 1982, and the Commodores had to win the 2008 Music City Bowl to do that. It's been a daunting challenge, and Franklin now is in charge of program that hasn't had consecutive winning seasons since 1974-75 under Steve Sloan, then Fred Pancoast.
''We know what we've signed up for,'' Franklin said. ''We know this is a challenge, a tremendous challenge. We also look at this as an unbelievable challenge.''
Franklin started off by achieving recruiting successes unseen at Vanderbilt in the first few weeks, and he's kept up the work on the trail landing enough verbal commitments this summer to set tongues wagging and message boards burning. He put the Commodores to work with strength coach Dwight Galt, and they kept it up during the summer.
The new coach said he sees a stronger and faster team. He needs it with Vanderbilt coming off consecutive 2-10 seasons that left players bruised and mentally battered.
''We're ready to turn it around,'' quarterback Jordan Rodgers said. ''We're ready to win games. Anybody that comes in, has confidence, enthusiasm and charisma that coach Franklin has, it rubs off, and it makes us more confident.''
Franklin has 21 starters back from last season, though he's promised all jobs are open to promote competition. All 11 are back on offense where quarterback will be the most-watched fight. Rodgers is healthy after shoulder surgery late last year, Larry Smith has been the starter the past two seasons and Lafonte Thourogood is one of three freshmen ready to push for the job.
Smith isn't willing to cede the job either. But the Commodores have so much room for improvement after ranking 110th in FBS in total offense and 112th in scoring offense averaging 16.9 points per game.
Franklin isn't disclosing exactly what offense Vandy will run except to say the Commodores will be multiple and able to run or pass when needed. Running will be helped by a healthy Warren Norman, the 2009 SEC freshman of the year, missed the last four games with an injured hand, and Zac Stacy missed the last three games with his own injury.
On defense, Marve also is healthy after playing through injuries last season, and senior cornerback Casey Heyward led the SEC in 2010 with 17 passes deflected.
Vanderbilt opens against Elon on Sept. 3 before hosting Connecticut and Mississippi. Franklin, a former assistant head coach at Maryland, will get a taste of the SEC with visits to South Carolina and Alabama while Georgia and Arkansas come to Nashville.
The coach has been busy selling the program, urging fans to show up early and stay late decked out in black and gold. Marve believes they will give them plenty to cheer with another bowl berth.
''We want to leave Vanderbilt with something we can hang our hats on,'' Marve said. ''We've been putting in the extra time, and I definitely feel we are going to do that.''
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Follow Teresa M. Walker on Twitter at www.twitter.com/teresamwalker
