To tell the truth, college coaches spin the rhetoric

• Virginia Tech assistant Bud Foster blusters about the media
• Georgia Tech's Paul Johnson puts his problems into perspective
• Louisiana Tech's Sonny Dykes examines his place in the job market

Head coaches aren't the only ones who have mastered the art of spin.

Assistants can do it, too — especially assistants such as Bud Foster, who is nearly as big of a celebrity at Virginia Tech as head coach Frank Beamer.

Nowadays, a lot of programs don't let their assistants talk to the media during the season (it's a Nick Saban thing), but Foster has been at Virginia Tech since 1987 and is considered one of the best defensive coordinators in the business.

He can say whatever he wants. But why has he never gotten a chance to run his
own program? That's one of college football's great mysteries, and given what
happened Monday night, he's certainly qualified from a spin standpoint.

During what The Washington Post called an "expletive-laden rant," Foster called out the media for putting too many expectations on Virginia Tech's defense and "openly seethed," according to the Post, while cornerback Antone Exum was being questioned about a rough outing last weekend against Cincinnati.

"You guys were the ones who said we were gonna be a great defense," Foster said. "I said we had a chance to be a good defense. That's what I said. We got a chance. We got a whole new secondary."

So let's see if we have this right.

Virginia Tech at 3-2 isn't really one of the nation's biggest disappointments,
they were just overrated by the media? Nice try, Bud. Since coming to the ACC in 2004, Foster's defenses have been ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in the league every year but one. Foster's biography page also touts that he has "helped mold nationally ranked defenses on a yearly basis."

So where in the world did the big, bad media get the idea Virginia Tech might have a good defense?

While we ponder that, here's the Tuesday Truth Squad:

1. Paul Johnson, Georgia Tech, to the Atlanta Journal Constitution on whether friends or colleagues had reached out with calls of encouragement after a disastrous loss to Middle Tennessee:

"Not really. Last time I looked, we were 2-3, not 0-97. I would think most people
wouldn't even be thinking about it. But, clearly, you guys are. I get e-mails
every week whether we win or lose, and most of them are telling me what I need to do, whether we win or lose."

Johnson has reached a very interesting moment in his tenure at Georgia Tech. Overall, he has been quite successful, with four consecutive bowl bids and an ACC championship in 2009. But the grumbling has started in Atlanta, and perhaps it is justified.

People are beginning to notice that since the first two years, when he won with players Chan Gailey recruited, his record is just 16-15. They are talking more and more about his 0-4 record in bowl games. And because Johnson runs the triple option, there is something of a stigma about his recruiting, which on paper isn't up to par with the rest of the ACC. .

Throw in last Saturday's 49-28 loss to Middle Tennessee, and you have the makings of an full-blown situation. No, the Yellow Jackets aren't 0-97 as Johnson suggested. But they're not a good team, either, and the trend is alarming – even if he refuses to admit it.

Look, Johnson is a good football coach. He won big at Georgia Southern, won big at Navy and has done better in the ACC than many expected. Maybe at a school such as Georgia Tech, where the admission standards are higher, running Johnson's system helps level the playing field. But he's also one of those guys who carries himself like he invented the game, so when things go wrong and he gets the hard questions, it's not pleasant. Stay tuned to this one.

2. Sonny Dykes, Louisiana Tech, on his name coming up in the coaching carousel:

"That is someone posting on the internet; some 19-year-old kid smoking pot in his dorm room, you know what I am saying? That is how that stuff gets started. That is why you cannot give it too much credibility. You never know. All those guys do live on the West Coast."

Year after year, it's amazing that coaches – many of whom not only know their name is going to come up in rumors but encourage it behind the scenes – don't have a better response when they get asked about it publicly. And here's some advice for Dykes, whose team is 4-0: You might want to figure out something to say because there's a long way to go this season and the speculation isn't going to die down any time soon.

Here's the deal. Dykes has won big in a place where you're not supposed to win big, so he's going to be a candidate for practically every opening this year in a BCS automatic-qualifying conference. He knows it, his fans know it and his players know it. To say it starts with someone smoking pot in their dorm room on the West Coast is funny but ridiculous.

But this stuff doesn't have to be so difficult to address in a consistent and honest fashion, if only coaches would say something like this:

"Let me get this out of the way right now, and this is going to be my answer for the rest of this season: I am only concerned right now with Louisiana Tech. I
understand that because we've been successful here, I might be presented with opportunities at the end of the season to coach at other programs because that's how the coaching business works. If and when that time comes, I will evaluate what is best for me and my family, just like you would in your careers. Until then, it does no good for me to talk about it or any fan or player at Louisiana Tech to worry about it because my efforts are 100% focused on this season and theirs should be as well. And if you ask me about it again, I'm going to say the exact same thing."

That's a straightforward response. That's a fair response. And yet, when's the last time you heard a coach lay it out like that? It's not as difficult as you make
it, guys.

3. James Franklin, Vanderbilt, on his team's 1-3 start:

"Last year, we were able to get huge momentum plays at times, and we just haven't had that this year. It's the same with special teams. I think we're very similar in many ways to last year. I know it might not look like it, but if you take the whole picture, we're really not that far off."

A lot of the buzz around Franklin as one of the nation's hottest young coaches
dissipated after his team got thumped by Georgia, 48-3, on Sept. 22. Now the
Commodores have to travel to Missouri before playing Florida at home, which
means they're likely staring 1-5 in the face (with the only win coming against
Presbyterian).

So in other words, the Commodores are actually quite far off from where they were last year when they started 3-0, finished 6-6 and really could have/should have won four more SEC games. This Vanderbilt team just isn't as good (which isn't a huge surprise) and the SEC East is much better, which is a bad combination for the Commodores.

It is what it is. But the problem here lies with Franklin. It's odd, really. Before
last season, Franklin privately told those around the program that he was so
concerned about the team's talent level, he feared they might lose the opener to
Elon. As it turned out, Vanderbilt competed hard in every game and had some
serious defensive playmakers such as cornerback Casey Heyward (a second-round NFL draft pick), linebacker Tim Fugger (a seventh-round pick) and standout safety Sean Richardson.

Franklin took the momentum from last season's Liberty Bowl appearance and doubled down, talking all offseason about how the bar had been raised for his program. It's now clear those were expectations his roster was not capable of meeting.

Franklin is still recruiting well, but this season is not likely to further his reputation as a turnaround artist, and it will still take another couple of years for the infusion of talent to make a difference in the SEC. In the meantime, Franklin would probably be smart to tamper down on the rhetoric and admit this is a rebuilding year.