Vandy’s Franklin Would Like A Bit More Fan Support

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James Franklin has his Vanderbilt Commodores off to a 2-0 start and now there are two things he’d like to see happen:


1.  He wants to see Vandy fans start showing up in greater numbers to support his team.


“I don’t know if I necessarily notice the empty seats, but what we want is sellouts.  I think we’re a pretty good story right now.  I think we’re showing enough signs that the people that are on the fence… I think these kids deserve it.”


2.  He wants talk of “same old Vanderbilt” to be put to rest.  On Saturday, Franklin said he heard a fan shout those words from the stands when the Dores fell behind to UConn in the fourth quarter (before coming back to win).


“I wanted to go up in the stands and let him know how I felt.  But I thought it was more important that I directed my energy toward my team.  And I’m glad he did it, because it made me recognize maybe that’s what we were thinking, too, and I needed to swing that (momentum) back in our direction.”


The fact that Franklin actually heard an individual shout from the stands during a game speaks to the fact that Vandy is averaging fewer than 30,000 fans per game. 

The fact that he was bothered by what that fan said suggests Franklin will have to toughen his skin a bit if he’s going to stick around Vandy.  ‘Cause whether he likes it or not, it’ll take more than a two-game win streak over Elon and UConn to banish the thought of “same old Vanderbilt” forever.