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Vanderbilt Coach Franklin Says He Only Hires Assistants With Hot Wives

(CBS) Well, this is certainly interesting hiring criteria.

Vanderbilt head football coach James Franklin said Wednesday that he makes hiring decisions based on what the wives look like.

"I've been saying it for a long time, I will not hire an assistant coach until I've seen his wife," Franklin said on 104.5 The Zone in in Nashville. "If she looks the part, and she's a D-1 recruit, then you got a chance to get hired. That's part of the deal.

"There's a very strong correlation between having the confidence, going up and talking to a woman, and being quick on your feet and having some personality and confidence and being fun and articulate, than it is walking into a high school and recruiting a kid and selling him."

Naturally, Franklin is under fire for those comments and it didn't take long for him to issue an apology on Twitter:

Vanderbilt Athletics Director David Williams addressed Franklin's comments Thursday at the SEC meetings in Destin, Fla.

"He clearly made a mistake," Williams said, according to The Tennessean. "And clearly what he said is not how he feels and not how we feel."

Williams said he talked to Franklin about the comments.

"Coach is sorry that he made that statement. He's issued an apology on Twitter. I've talked to him about how inappropriate his statements were and how offensive they could be to some people.

"He said he was really in a joking mode, if you like, and didn't mean all of that. And I explained that's a thing you don't even joke about.

"None of those things are criteria for hiring at Vanderbilt."

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