Steve Franklin enters his 15th season as the IUPUI Head Men’s Soccer Coach and is the longest tenured mentor in The Summit League. The school’s all-time wins leader (114), Franklin has taken the men’s soccer program from the Division II ranks to a recognizable name among the elite Division I programs in the Midwest over the course of his career.
His squads have been ranked in the adidas/NSCAA Region polls at some point during three of the past six seasons and have been in the league’s postseason tournament the past three years. Two years ago, four players earned postseason accolades, including Vangel Nacovski becoming the program’s first-ever Summit League Player of the Year. In addition, the Jags led the conference in scoring and posted a program-best five Summit League wins.
Off the field, the men’s soccer program continued its trend of claiming the IUPUI Athletics program’s top community service/academic based award. Senior goalkeeper Francisco Maia was named with the department’s Michael A. Carroll Scholarship recipient, marking the fourth time in seven years one of Franklin’s student-athletes had been honored.
The trend continued into 2008 as current Jaguar Eric Weigman became the first student-athlete in the program’s history to earn multiple Academic All-Region awards. A former Academic All-American, the senior forward was named a finalist for the 2009 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award - also a program first.
While at IUPUI, Franklin has sent four players into the professional ranks, with two going in the A-League draft. Goalkeeper Armando Femia was the first goalkeeper taken in the open round of the draft in 2001 and was followed by Ben Higginbotham in 2002. In 2004, midfielder Ruben Lagunas also joined the professional ranks. Since then, Nacovski became the fourth when he was drafted by the Chicago Storm of the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL).
Collectively, Franklin’s squads have enjoyed considerable team success at the Division I level as well.
To start the 2004 season, his Jaguars jumped out to an incredible 5-0 and 7-1 record, spending four weeks in the NSCAA Great Lakes Region polls. His team gained national acclaim, thanks to a hot start from Nacovski. Nacovski was chosen to The College Soccer News Team of the Week after scoring the game-winners in IUPUI’s first five matches. He finished the year being named the Mid-Continent Conference Newcomer of the Year and earning Third Team All-Region honors. The team’s 10 wins marked the most since the 2000 campaign and the highest winning percentage since 1999. The Jags also picked up a tournament title in the Bowling Green Kelme Classic and impressive wins over a pair of Big Ten foes (Michigan State in the preseason, Wisconsin during the regular season). The team featured four All Mid-Continent Conference selections, including a pair of first teamers.
The 2003 season was highlighted by Brandon Meyer becoming just the fifth Academic All-American in school history.
In 2001, Franklin’s squad raced out to a 6-2 start and earned the No. 10 ranking in the Great Lakes Region on Oct. 1. After closing the year with a 9-10-2 mark, three Jags were named First Team All Mid-Con while Femia became just the second player in conference history to compete in the Umbro Select All-Star Classic. He was also named Honorable Mention All-America by the NSCAA.
The 2000 season officially put the IUPUI program on the soccer map as Franklin led IUPUI to the school’s first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in any sport. His squad stormed through the Mid-Con Tournament including a 2-1 victory over Oakland in the finals. From there, the Jags marched past Marist in a triple-overtime thriller to earn the school’s first-ever NCAA Division I tournament bid. The Jags threatened SMU in the NCAA’s opening round before falling, 2-0.
Prior to moving to Division I, Franklin and the 1997 team ended the season by establishing six all-time records including the school’s best record of 15-3-1 (.816). IUPUI also set records for most shutouts (11), fewest games shutout (1), most wins (15), best winning percentage (.816), most goals scored (56) and fewest goals allowed (12) in a season.
IUPUI lost only one road match in 1997 and was 19-2-1 away from home during the 1996 and 1997 seasons. The NSCAA also named six IUPUI players to its 11-member All-Mideast Team.
Franklin guided the 1996 team to a 14-5 record, which is the second-best season in school history. With 14 victories, the ‘96 squad recorded the most single-season wins by an IUPUI soccer team since 1991. IUPUI also tied a school record for fewest times shutout in a season (3). By shutting out nine opponents, IUPUI was only one away from the then school record of 10.
Franklin, who has trained 21 All-Americans, came to IUPUI from Indiana University where he spent two years as an assistant under legendary Head Coach Jerry Yeagley. He was a member of the coaching staff for the 1994 NCAA National Championship runner-up.
Franklin has also worked as a counselor at the Indiana University summer soccer camps for the past 27 years. Franklin originated and orchestrated the growth of the former Jaguars EDGE Soccer Clinics, and still hosts the soccer clinics for the IU Natatorium Summer Day Camps. He has also participated in the Major League Soccer (MLS) Combine and served as a counselor in the NCAA ‘YES’ Clinics the past five years. He also helped establish annual clinics for the Urban Soccer Development Program through Indy Parks and has served as a clinician at countless other events.
Franklin earned his B.S. in Secondary Education at Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin in 1981, while minoring in coaching. He continued his education at Indiana, earning a Master’s degree in kinesiology in 1994.
He was instrumental in bringing soccer to northern Wisconsin as he initiated and later served as a player/coach at Northland. His name is still in the record books as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 49 goals and 108 points.
While teaching and coaching volleyball and basketball at Northland, his teams captured two national championships and earned six final four berths at the NSCAA and NAIA level. During his tenure there, he coached 13 All-American and 17 All-District players.
Franklin currently holds a USSF ‘A’ coaching license and has served on the Indiana State Olympic Development (ODP) staff. He is a NSCAA and USSF state coaching instructor. In 2006, he was named the NSCAA Great Lakes Committee Chairman for the NCAA Division I All-American Awards Committee for the first time and was later named The Summit League’s representative for the Major League Soccer (MLS) Combine.
On the recruiting trail at IUPUI, Franklin has shown an innate ability to recruit both in-state and out-of-state student-athletes. Over his 15 years, Franklin has coached players from 19 different states and 10 different nations. His 2003 recruiting class boasted 11 in-state players including Indiana’s all-time leading scorer in Nacovski. His most recent recruiting class could be his most talented to date, keyed by All-Region recruits Michael Wignot and Kyle Hyland.
