The longest standing member of the Towson University Baseball program, Eric Franc returns for his 11th season on staff, and fourth as the team’s Director of Player Development.
Summer 2017 brought a new coaching staff to Towson Baseball, and a new role on that staff for Franc, becoming the program’s first Director of Player Development. Over the past three seasons, the team has advanced in multiple facets of technology within the game, each adding to the analytical information available to players and coaches alike. Franc has been tasked with organization, analysis, and explanation in each of those realms, translating between the data driven side of baseball and the on-field application. Over that time period, the Tigers have become even more highly adept in two areas of his oversight: opponent scouting and defensive positioning.
Prior to moving into Player Development, Franc was an assistant coach for seven years under previous head coach Mike Gottlieb. Coaching first base and working mainly with the outfielders and hitters, Franc helped the Tigers experience their most successful season in recent history in 2013. Winning the Colonial Athletic Association Baseball Tournament and qualifying for the NCAA Baseball Tournament, Towson was assigned to the Chapel Hill Regional with #1 UNC, Florida Atlantic, and Canisius. During his final three years as an assistant coach, Franc was also able to introduce and incorporate date driven defensive positioning into the program. By using multiple variations of defensive alignments and shifts, the Tigers were able to improve defensive efficiency in that time. Throughout Franc’s run as an assistant coach with the Tigers, he played a part in the development of five players taken in the Major League Baseball draft, 10 others that signed to play professionally, 16 All-CAA award honorees, five of which were outfielders, and four All-CAA Rookie Team members.
Franc began his coaching at the Division I level in the summer of 2009 as an assistant coach at Coppin State University. Quickly working to spend the remainder of the summer to rebuild a program that had a record of 0-29 in the previous season, Franc helped to recruit 11 of the 18 new Eagles to the 2010 roster. Through that recruiting and quality coaching, Coppin State achieved the biggest turnaround in NCAA Division I baseball for 2010, finishing with a record of 14-33. That year, the Eagles raised their team batting average from .223 to .293 and allowed 151 less runs while playing 18 more games than in 2009. Additionally, the team secured a spot in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament, and won a tournament game for the first time since 2006.
Previous to his return to collegiate baseball, Franc spent five seasons as the first-ever Coordinator of Basketball Operations for the Towson University Women’s Basketball team. From August 2006 through May 2011, Franc had his hand in multiple facets of previous Head Coach, Joe Mathews’s program, including travel, film exchange, opponent scouting, fundraising, community service, and academic oversight. Additionally, Franc worked closely with all-time leading scorer, Shanae Baker-Brice, in her time with the program. During that time, Towson Women’s Basketball experienced their greatest level of success, winning 20 games for the first time, earning a Preseason WNIT bid, and qualifying for the program’s first ever post-season appearance, a spot in the 2010 Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament.
Franc’s collegiate baseball coaching career began in Northeast Ohio at then Division III, Lake Erie College. Arriving as an assistant coach in January of 2004, the Storm program was only beginning its 3rd year of sponsoring baseball. Three seasons of hands on coaching saw the team average rise from .227 to .280, and the record improve from 6-28 in 2004 to 16-24 in 2006. Franc played a key role in recruiting 18 new players over the 2 years, and helping 3 of those players to earn All-Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference honors. In addition to coaching at Lake Erie, Franc spent one year as the Director of Sports Marketing and one year as an Admissions Counselor for the college.
A 2003 graduate of Towson, Franc began his coaching prior to graduation, spending two summers with St. Mary’s American Legion Post 255 baseball, and one with Chaney Enterprises American Legion baseball while completing his degree in Physical Education. Additionally, he held a student coach position with Towson University Women’s Basketball during his final semester.
Along with his baseball duties, Franc works as an academic advisor in the athletic department, overseeing student-athletes within the Baseball, Men’s Lacrosse, Women’s Soccer, and Men’s & Women’s Swimming and Diving programs. Additionally, he teaches coursework as an adjunct faculty member for the Department of Kinesiology. Franc currently resides in Perry Hall with his wife Lauren (Towson ’03) and their two sons Bradley and Luke.
