Kent Franz
enters his 22nd season as head coach of the Lady Tigers after taking over the
duties from long-time coach Eldon Flinn in 1991.
In his 21
years as head coach, the Lady Tigers made three appearances in the NAIA
national tournament, including a school-record best 30-5 record in 1995-96. ECU
won 15 of its first 16 games that year and reached No. 5 in the national
rankings that year.
The Lady Tigers
returned to the NAIA tournament the following two seasons, compiling a 19-9
regular season in 1996-97 and a 20-11 mark in 1997-98.
The 1998-99
season was the program’s first in NCAA Division II, but Franz still managed to
guide the team to 20 wins and the co-championship of the Lone Star Conference
North Division.
During that
season, Franz became ECU’s all-time winning women’s basketball coach as he
passed Flinn. Franz’s 160 wins in 10 years moved him to first all-time past
Flinn’s 145-89 record set 1982-91.
Franz had
produced five All-Americans in his tenure; Gina Farmer (1995-97), Rebecca
Cotton (1994-96), Kaye Wilkinson (1988-90), Teresa Jones-Benson (1997-99) and
Stormy Griffith (2000-04).
Franz, who
has a career head coaching record of 286-291, was an all-conference guard for
coach Wayne Cobb’s ECU Tigers and a member of the 1984 Oklahoma Intercollegiate
Conference championship team. Franz still holds the school record for
free-throw percentage in a season at 85.8 as he converted 97-of-113 tries in
1983-84. He also still holds the school mark for career free-throw percentage
at 84.7 (160-of-189).
Prior to his
arrival at ECU as a player, Franz played two seasons at Barton County Community
College (Kan.).
Franz and
his wife, Mary, have two daughters, Shelbey and Blakeley.
