UPDATE: Probably the worst headline ever, but I've been corrected by Ashley Hodge, a Person Who Knows Things, that Franklin hasn't transferred. The first iteration of this post said that he was based on the tweet below, but that is apparently not true. I apologize to anyone misled by the original post; I read it Gary's tweet and took it to mean something that was not correct.
Learned a lot the little time I've been in Waco.
— Gary Franklin (@G4orceFranklin) August 3, 2012#ColdWorld lord knows my heartbut I have to change my ways to get what I need.#Business
I'll keep the rest of the original post below the jump so you can see what it was, but to say it again, Ashley Hodge of BearsTruth says that he was told tonight that Franklin is not transferring. Take everything with a grain of salt until we know more.
From the sound of it, the decision wasn't exactly his to leave. There was talk that this might happen back when the Rodney Hood was considering transferring to Baylor, but that died down when he chose Duke and we didn't take any extra high schoolers that were expected to need a spot immediately. Franklin leaving means we apparently do need that spot, leading me to believe that one of two things is happening. Addressing the least likely first, it's possible that Allex Austin, the high jumper-turned-basketball player, may see time this year. If he was taking a redshirt year or wasn't going to play, he could remain on a track scholarship. Because of the way the rules work for basketball and football, however, as soon as he sets foot on the court, he takes up a basketball scholarship. (The rules are constructed this way to keep the major programs from using others as a way to circumvent scholarship restrictions.)
It's also possible (and probably more likely) that the coaches simply informed Franklin that he wasn't really in the plans this season and wanted to give him a chance in his junior year to transfer. Though not a rotation player on a Big 12 title contender, Franklin has a place in D1 basketball. Telling him to transfer now rather than next year, when we may actually need the scholarship, gives him the opportunity to sit out the mandatory year and then play as a senior. We may never know what truly happened.
TO REITERATE: Ashley Hodge told me on twitter that Franklin hasn't transferred, so I really just don't know what the hell is going on with this tweet.