Success stories are found throughout the history of The College of Wooster men’s basketball program. Ian Franks is one of the biggest, and perhaps the most surprising. The walk-on jayvee player authored one of the top careers in program history and helped lead the Fighting Scots to the national championship game as a senior.
“I probably had no business thinking I could play at Wooster given the history, all the great teams, and all the players they had at the time,” reflected Franks. “After meeting Coach Moore, Coach Cline, and a lot of the players, Wooster felt to me like the place I was supposed to go.”
Franks scored just 54 points and passed out five assists as a first-year on Wooster’s North Coast Athletic Conference championship team, and the two-time All-American’s career took off from there. As a sophomore, Franks averaged 15.5 points per night and posted a top-15 single-season scoring mark. He earned first-team All-NCAC honors, and even sweeter, began to earn national recognition as a third-team D3hoops.com All-Region selection.
“I was able to catch the attention of the coaching staff, who I think saw I had a really good understanding of the game,” summed up Franks. “As I progressed and improved, Coach Moore continued to give me more and more opportunities.”
Wooster coaching legend Steve Moore concurs, noting, “We first realized Ian could be a contributor when he played extremely well in jayvee games during the first half of his freshman year. We realized he would be a major contributor when he was forced to play major minutes as our point guard against Washington University in Saint Louis, the eventual national champion, in the NCAA Tournament due to an injury. Ian showed he could play against the best competition in the country, and we knew then he was a very special player.”
An all-around junior year saw Franks help Wooster to an unprecedented sixth straight conference title. He averaged 17.9 points, shot 52.4 percent (187-of-357) from the floor, secured 5.1 rebounds per game, and averaged 3.3 assists per game. That resulted in NCAC Player of the Year and D3hoops.com Great Lakes Player of the Year honors, awards Franks earned again as a senior. The National Association of Basketball Coaches concurred with D3hoops.com when it came to the top player in the Great Lakes Region, and both organizations selected the guard for its All-American team, with Franks earning first-team laurels from the coaching association.
A seventh consecutive NCAC title was won by Wooster during Franks’ senior year, a season in which he poured in 623 points, at the time the fourth-most in single-season history. Franks paired 6.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists to his 18.3 per-game scoring average. He was instrumental in helping Wooster overcome a 17-point second-half deficit against Williams College in the national semifinals with nine points, two assists, and a steal during the comeback stretch of the Scots’ 73-71 win. He went on to score a team-leading 22 points in the national championship game against the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota).
The first-team D3hoops.com All-American as a senior scored 1,696 points, the fifth-most in program history upon graduation. The three-year starter played on teams that went 102-21.
After graduating from Wooster with a degree in history, Franks joined the coaching staff at North Central College as a graduate assistant while working towards his master’s degree. After that, he joined Worthington Industries, where he has worked for seven years in sales.
Franks, and his wife, Laura, reside in Columbus, Ohio, with their child, Griffin.