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• Franklin On Coaching At New Mexico Joe Franklin enters his second year as the head track and field/cross country coach at the University of New Mexico. Franklin took over the program on June 18, 2007 after 13 years in the same role at Butler University. He replaced Matt Henry who retired after seven years at New Mexico. Franklin is the seventh men's and fifth women's head track and field coach at UNM. "I'm excited and thrilled," Franklin said. "This is a very unique opportunity, especially when you look at the great tradition and history that New Mexico has had in cross country and track and field. I think the University of New Mexico and city of Albuquerque are tremendous settings for competition and training and places that provide unique opportunities for student-athletes." Franklin said he has lofty expectations for the future of the UNM track and cross country programs. "The goals for the program are always to see where we can max out in every event," he said. "Let's see how high we can go. Let's see if we can get to be a top-10 team in cross country. Let's see if we can get to be a top-25 team in track and field. We want to have athletes in the sprints, throws, jumps, vaults and distance events qualifying for the NCAAs consistently and then see if we can build on that and start moving up in the team standings." Franklin wasted little time making his mark at New Mexico in his debut cross country season in the fall of 2007. Under his tutelage, senior Jeremy Johnson won the Mountain West Conference men's title and earned All-America honors by placing 20th in his NCAA Cross Country Championship debut. The Lobo men turned in their best ever MWC performance, finishing second with a score of 51 - the team's best at a conference meet since 1965. UNM also had a program-best four runners earn all-MWC honors on the men's side. The women then turned in one of the best cross country seasons in program history in 2008. New Mexico won its first conference title, edging BYU 31-33 in the closest Women's Championship meet in MWC history. The Lobos set program records with three first team all-conference runners and five total all-conference honorees. Franklin was named MWC Women's Coach of the Year. New Mexico went on to finish second at the NCAA Mountain Region Championships and placed a school record six women on the all-region team en route to a 70-point score - the team's lowest since 1981. A week later, junior Nicky Archer (56th) led the Lobos to an 18th place finish at NCAA Championships in their first trip to the national meet since 1985. The men's team, meanwhile, was nationally ranked throughout much of 2008 and capped the year with a fourth place finish at the Mountain Region Championships with a program record score of 93. A record four Lobos earned all-region honors. UNM finished third in the MWC - just two points out of second - and had three men earn all-conference honors (one first team, two second team). Franklin's debut season on the track in 2008 was filled with highlights. Junior Sandy Fortner became the first UNM woman to compete in the pentathlon at the NCAA Indoor Championships (12th) after winning MWC gold in the competition, along with high jumper Tiyana Peters. Five school records also fell during the indoor season. The 2008 outdoor track season saw seven athletes - four men and three women - advance to NCAA Championship meet, giving New Mexico its best representation in the modern era of the championships. Three athletes - seniors Robert Caldwell (pole vault) and Jeremy Johnson (10,000m), and junior Katie Coronado (javelin) - earned All-America honors - the most for UNM since 1989. Coronado's silver medal in the javelin was the best ever recorded by a New Mexico woman at the NCAA Championships. A program record-tying 13 individuals (in 16 events) advanced to the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships, helping the men's (32nd) and women's (34th) teams each finish among the top-40 in the national rankings. The UNM women were the second-highest MWC team in the rankings, behind No. 23 TCU. New Mexico earned 11 all-conference medals, including five golds, at the MWC Championships. The women's score of 78 was their highest at the conference meet since 1990. Caldwell and Coronado gave UNM a sweep of the men's and women's MWC Outstanding Performer awards. Four women's outdoor records were also set in 2008. During his time in Indianapolis, Franklin built the Butler program into a national force in men's and women's cross country. He led eight teams (six men's, two women's) to the NCAA Cross Country Championships between 1998-2006 with seven squads earning top-25 finishes. In 2004, Franklin was named NCAA Cross Country Coach of the Year after leading the Butler men to a program-best fourth place finish at the national meet. The Bulldogs sent a team to the NCAA Championships five of the last six years Franklin was at the helm and dominated the Horizon Conference in cross country. In 2006, the men's team won its ninth straight conference title, while the women won their fifth in a row. Franklin earned conference Coach of the Year honors 17 times in cross country and was named Men's Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year in 1998. He also earned conference Indoor Track Coach of the Year honors twice at Butler. Under Franklin, Butler athletes earned track or cross country All-America honors nine times, won 128 conference titles and earned 276 all-conference awards. The Bulldogs had three runners place among the top-5 at the NCAA Cross Country Championships with Julius Mwangi taking third in 1998, Mark Tucker placing fourth in 2002 and Victoria Mitchell finishing fourth in 2005. On the track, Butler had three outdoor All-Americans with Mitchell winning the 3,000-meter steeplechase national title in 2005, Becky Lyne finishing third in the 800 in 2003 and Fraser Thompson placing seventh in the 5,000 in 1999. Scott Overall became Butler's first indoor track All-American in 2007 when he finished sixth in the mile run. Butler athletes also fared well in the classroom under Franklin's watch. The men and women both posted team grade point averages over 3.2 in the fall of 2006 and Thompson earned a Rhodes Scholarship in 2002 - the highest academic award ever by a Butler University student. A native of Greencastle, Ind., Franklin was a four-year letterman in track at Purdue University and a two-time all-Big 10 Conference honoree in the 800 (2nd - 1989, 3rd - 1991). He received his bachelor's in Professional Writing in 1991 and his master's degree in Education Administration in 1994, both from Purdue. Franklin, 40, and his wife, Melinda, have a 16-year-old son, Elijah. THE JOE FRANKLIN FILEAge: 40 (born March 1, 1968)Birthplace: Greencastle, Ind. Alma Mater: Purdue `91 Collegiate Athletic Experience: Purdue (middle distance - 1986-91) All-Americans Coached (10): Coaching Experience: 1992-94: Asst. Men's Cross Country/Track & Field Coach, Purdue 1994-07: Head M&W Cross Country/Track & Field Coach, Butler 2007-current: Named the 7th men's and 5th women's head track and field coach at New Mexico on June 18. |
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