Coach Franklin Reflects on National Championship Run

By: Dustin Kent - NewsHerald.com

When Greg Franklin was introduced as Chipola's new women's basketball coach in May of 2012, the former Mississippi State assistant said his primary ambition was to bring the Lady Indians their first national championship.

Three years later, Franklin made good on that goal and said Wednesday that he hopes it's just the beginning of the Lady Indians' reign atop JUCO basketball.

Chipola topped Hutchinson (Kan.) 54-46 in Saturday's NJCAA championship game in Salina, Kan., capping off a 34-1 season that also included Panhandle Conference and state titles.

"It really hasn't sunk in yet," Franklin said while on the road recruiting in Detroit. "I really haven't had time to think about it, but it was a special deal and it still is. It's something that can carry on forever at Chipola College."

The Lady Indians became the third team in school history to win a national championship — joining the baseball and softball teams of 2007 — but the first to win it all in basketball.

They did so by having arguably the most dominant season any Chipola team has ever had, winning games by an average of 34.8 points per game for the season, including a 17.6 point differential in conference play, and winning all seven postseason games by an average margin of 19.6 points per game.

The only loss of the season came to state finalist and national quarterfinalist Northwest Florida St ate 67-54 in Niceville on Jan. 17.

It was a remarkable consistency for a team that rotated just seven players for much of the season, though Franklin said it was the one moment when they didn't come through that may have been the catalyst for the Lady Indians winning the title.

 "Every moment I asked them to, I felt like they rose to the occasion, except in that one loss," he said. "At that time, I felt like the team was not sharp mentally or emotionally. But I think really and truly that was something that sparked us the rest of the year. From then on, our attention to detail was very good.

"Some coaches would call it a good loss and I don't really believe in that stuff, but I think it was. It sharpened us up emotionally for those times where we got pushed a little, like against Hutch when they cut it to six and then to four. We weren't going to let what happened against Northwest happen again and we made some really big plays to answer."

While the 2014-2015 season proved to be the breakthrough for Chipola, the groundwork for the title run was laid by Franklin's first two teams, which combined to win 61 games, including five victories in two national tournament appearances.

The coach said that his first season at the school was the most challenging, but the players on that team who won 27 games and made the national quarterfinals helped set the tone for what was to follow.

"That first year we didn't really have a chance to recruit because I got in late, but the kids we brought in really helped build the culture of the program," he said. "They played unbelievably hard and unselfishly. Then the next year, we brought in the first wave of players I was actually able to recruit for a full year, and then we had the next wave after that. It usually takes a couple of recruiting classes to get it where you want it, which is why I'm on the road going to Chicago, Detroit, DC, to find kids at that level."

The most important recruiting victory for Franklin proved to be nabbing Evelyn Akhator for the 2014 class. The 6-foot-3 Nigerian center led the Lady Indians in scoring and rebounding in both of her seasons and made her sophomore campaign one for the record books.

Akhator averaged 21.2 points, 16.7 rebounds, 3.1 steals, and 2.9 blocks per game this year, and in the process broke the single season (584) and career (956) rebounding records for JUCO basketball.

"I've coached four kids in junior college that went on to be first round draft picks in the WNBA,  and at this point in time Evelyn is probably head and shoulders better than all of those guys," Franklin said. "Everyone says she's just a physical specimen and she is, but you have to look at the way she has gone about getting better. She has gotten her skill level where she finishes with her left real well. She also has worked on her footwork extremely hard and finishing with balance. When her skill and athleticism finally meet, she's going to be unreal.

"But as good of a player as she is, she's that good of a person, and that sets the tone for the whole team. I really couldn't ask for a better group. They seem to carry themselves in a way where people gravitate to them. They've got a lot of personality, but people also recognize that they do it the right way. They're a special group."

Franklin is now back on the road trying to recruit the next group of players that will have the toughest of acts to follow where every team in the toughest basketball conference in the country will be gunning for them.

The role of the hunted is one the coach seems to be embracing and hoping that his program will maintain for the foreseeable future.

"That's the goal. We want to try to compete for the national championship every year at Chipola," Franklin said. "Obviously state championships are awesome and great, but that's not our prize. That's not what we're shooting for. We're shooting for the national championship every year. When we're recruiting, we're recruiting to try to win the national championship. When we're practicing, we're practicing to win the national championship.

"We want to win back-to-back-to-back if possible. The stars have to be aligned for those things to happen and you've got to have great players. That's why I'm out here beating these bushes right now."