Franklin was one of the better coaches on the market at that time. It had nothing to do with sanctions, it just wasn't a really good pool of coaches available (Charlie Strong was one of the other headliners).
He's not getting fired this year. The team isn't supposed to be good this year & that was expected. Now next year might be a different story.
I told my cousin back in May of last year that this was a terrible hire. He didnt want to hear it. After the first two series, the team didnt adjust. They had 9 months to prepare for this and they got destroyed. He is a terrible coach, the only good that can come out of this is like what happened at Florida with Zook. Get a few elite classes and than bring someone in that can coach (maybe Rhule).