A spokesman for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape says her agency is looking forward to a strong and mutually beneficial relationship with newly-hired Penn State football coach James Franklin in the fight against sexual violence.

Vanderbilt head coach James Franklin congratulates his players after a score against Wake Forest in the first quarter of an NCAA college football game on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2013, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

And significantly, Kristen Houser said the ugly, June 2013 gang-rape alleged against former members of Franklin's program at Vanderbilt University should not be held against him, based on the record as it exists.

Houser cited Tennessee prosecutors’ public declaration last year that there is no evidence that Franklin took steps to cover-up the crime.

“The district attorney has publicly stated he (Franklin) was not involved in a cover-up, based on their investigation… So there’s not even reason to speculate about that at this point,” Houser said.

What Deputy District Attorney General Tom Thurman said at a September hearing was this: "There’s been allegations about Coach Franklin. We just wanted to state clearly that there’s no evidence whatsoever where Coach Franklin was involved in any way in the cover-up or has done anything inappropriate. He’s cooperated with us."

Speculation about Franklin's role in that case has already led one Penn State faculty member to launch an online petition at Change.org, calling on the university to abandon its plan to hire Franklin.

That petition had drawn 622 signatures by Saturday afternoon.

But given Penn State's recent experience with the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal, Houser added, her expectation can only be that those working on the Penn State coaching search have "turned this issue inside out."

To Franklin’s credit, she said the coach appears to have dealt swiftly and decisively with the accused players once credible allegations emerged.

With that experience behind him, Houser said her expectation is Franklin will come to Penn State as a coach who is keenly sensitive to the behaviors of his players, and keenly aware of his role in setting expectations for them.

“Any coach could be in his shoes,” Houser said, referring to the Vanderbilt case, “because you can’t really screen for that (sexual violence) when you’re recruiting players or hiring coaches.

“But now he might come here especially motivated and with a real good understanding about the importance of coaches stressing appropriate behaviors with their players on the field and off… And about how as teammates, they have to be accountable to each other for what they’re doing.”

In that vein, Houser aded that she hopes that Franklin will step right into the cooperative role his predecessor, Bill O’Brien, played in using his position as a platform against sexual abuse.

As to Franklin's 2012 comments about his assistants' wives and girlfriends, Houser said she felt it was insensitive and tended toward objectifying women, but not a deal-breaker for her.

“Unfortunately, sports culture has a lot of room in it for those kinds of jokes, there’s a lot of people who make them, and everybody could do better,” the PCAR spokesman said.

Again, Houser said, it was Franklin’s response matters.

And in that case, she said, the incoming coach indicated he meant his comments as a joke, apologized for them, and appeared to do so with sincerity. Going forward, Houser said "an intolerance for those kinds of comments is exactly the sort of thing we'd like to see coaches model."

Since its founding in 1975, PCAR's mission has been to work to eliminate all forms of sexual violence and to advocate for the rights and needs of victims of sexual assault. For more information on the organization, click here.