Back to Staff
Brad Franks
Assistant Coach
Brad Franks completed his fourth season as an assistant/associate head coach on the Denver men's soccer staff in 2023.
Year by Year:
2020: In Franks first season with the program in 2020 (delayed to 2021), the Pioneers finished 6-2 overall and 6-2 in Summit League play to claim the Summit League regular season title.
2021: Coming out of a Summit League only schedule in the delayed spring season, Franks and the Pioneers went back to their difficult scheduling ways in hopes of building an RPI good enough to get a home game in the NCAA Tournament. Denver started the season 1-1-1 with trips to Oregon State, Portland and SMU. Denver then reeled off a stretch of seven wins in eight matches, defeating Evansville, Cal State Fullerton, Air Force, Western Illinois, Eastern Illinois, St. Thomas and at Virginia in that span to get off to a nine points from nine start in the Summit League. Denver then drew with Stanford 1-1 in-front of over 1,700 fans at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium. A win at Oral Roberts gave Denver a leg-up in the Summit League table, a title the Pios would eventually clinch a couple of weeks later at Kansas City.
In the Summit League Tournament, the Pioneers needed not one but two penalty shootouts, headlined by six saves by backup goalkeeper Kobe Gray against 11 penalties faced.
Denver got its first win in the NCAA Tournament since 2016 with its victory at Grand Canyon in the NCAA First Round before losing to Clemson on a late penalty in the second period of extra time in the second round.
2022: Promoted to associate head coach. Denver put itself up against the nation's best once again in 2022, most of the time away from home, but opened the season 9-2-5 in its first 16 matches before winning five of its first six in November. Following a season-opening home win over Gonzaga, the Pioneers started a five-match road swing. Denver won its 2021 NCAA Tournament rematch at Grand Canyon before beating 9th-ranked Maryland in College Park 2-0. Denver earned a 1-1 draw at No. 19 Georgetown and defeated UC San Diego before dropping its first match of the season at San Diego State.
Denver dominated Portland in a top-15 clash at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium, but couldn't put it in the back of the net in a 0-0 draw. The Pios then lost to Oregon State, having played down a man the entire second half. Denver's defense kept four-straight cleansheets that included 1-0 Summit League wins against Oral Roberts and at Omaha before defeating No. 21 Virginia on the road 1-0.
DU drew the next three before going on a seven-match winning streak that included another Summit League Tournament title and a 1-0 overtime win over San Diego in the NCAA First Round. In the Summit League Final against Kansas City, Denver won 3-0 and outshot the visitors 20-2. No. 9 Denver and No. 4 Duke played in the NCAA Second Round in Durham, with the Blue Devils winning 3-1.
Denver finished third in the country in shutout percentage (0.591), seventh in goals against average (0.675), 15th in goal differential (+26), 16th in shot accuracy (0.479) and 24th in total goals (41).
2023: Denver’s schedule had some of the usual suspects when they once again were tested with one of the top non-conference schedules in the country in 2023, but got a fair few of them at home this time around. Denver opened with a 2-0-2 start to the season that included a 3-1 win over then-No. 11 SMU. The Pioneers went on to finish the season-opening six-match homestand unbeaten at 4-0-2.
Denver went 7-0-1 in Summit League regular season play to bring home the program’s ninth regular season title since joining the league in 2013.
Kansas City came from behind to beat the Pios in penalties in the Summit League Tournament, but the Pioneers rebounded with a 2-1 win against LIU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium before being asked to return to No. 6 SMU in the second round. The Pios comeback fell just short, falling 2-1 despite peppering the goal in the final minutes.
Denver put 10 student-athletes on the All-Summit League teams, including Sam Bassett earning Midfielder of the Year, Jason Belloli being named the Defensive Player of the Year and Isaac Nehme being named the Goalkeeper of the Year.
The Pioneers put three student-athletes on the USC All-Region Team, and Sam Bassett was named a Second Team All-America pick, Denver’s first honoree since 2018. Bassett was the third different honoree under Franks, joining Reagan Dunk (2015/2016) and Andre Shinyashiki (2018). Jason Belloli was named a CSC First Team Academic All-American for his work on the field and in the classroom.
2024: Denver continued its scheduling philosophy in 2024, and by all accounts made it even harder in a year that he returned a lot of upperclassmen starters to his lineup. The Pioneers played their first six matches on the road before the start of the academic calendar, a stretch that included five matches against schools from the Power-4, and mid-western neighbors Creighton from the BIG EAST. Denver opened 3-0-3 in that stretch to earn as high as the top spot in the national rankings according to Top Drawer Soccer. The Pioneers followed that road stretch up with a 4-0-1 homestand to begin the first 11 matches unbeaten.
Following a busy slate, Denver suffered its first two losses of the season in back-to-back trips to No. 1 Pitt and Kansas City. Denver quickly moved on from the two setbacks to win its final five matches of the regular season and claim another Summit League regular season title.
After playing a double round robin and splitting its two matches with Kansas City in the regular season, the Roos bested the Pioneers in the Summit League Final by a count of 2-1 after the Pios were reduced to 10 men in the second half.
Denver still earned its highest seed in the NCAA Tournament in program history, the No. 3 seed. After getting stuck with second-round knockouts the last several years, Denver got three matches at home in the NCAA Tournament and earned a 3-0 win over Gardner-Webb, a 1-0 win over [14] Indiana and a 3-0 win over UMass to get back to the College Cup for the first time since 2016. The Pioneers went on to fall on penalties in the semifinal after a 1-1 draw with eventual national champions Vermont.
In the Summit League postseason awards, Sam Bassett was named the Summit League Midfielder of the Year for the second-straight year, Ronan Wynne earned his second Summit League Defensive Player of the Year award and Isaac Nehme was named the Summit League Goalkeeper of the Year for the second time in his three-year career. In total eight Pioneers earned All-Summit League honors, including six first-team selections.
As a team, Denver ranked eighth in the country in goals against average (0.775) and 27th in the country in scoring offense, averaging 1.91 goals per game. Denver's goal total of 44 set a new single-season record in program history, while the 58 assists were also a program record.
Wynne and Bassett were named College Sports Communicators Second and Third Team Academic All-Americans, respectively.
Before Denver:
Franks joined his brother's staff in the Mile High City after a stint as the associate head coach at Appalachian State, where he helped lead the Mountaineers to their first winning season in six years in 2018 and the program's first win over a nationally-ranked opponent since 2009. Franks coached seven All-Sun Belt selections, the most all-conference selections for the program since 1980. He helped a program that had five wins prior to his arrival achieve 11 wins in 2019. They also ranked in the top 15 in community service hours in all Division I soccer for 2018 and 2019. Additionally, the team held the highest male GPA on campus at Appalachian State while achieving academic All-America awards in both 2018 and 2019.
Year by Year:
2020: In Franks first season with the program in 2020 (delayed to 2021), the Pioneers finished 6-2 overall and 6-2 in Summit League play to claim the Summit League regular season title.
2021: Coming out of a Summit League only schedule in the delayed spring season, Franks and the Pioneers went back to their difficult scheduling ways in hopes of building an RPI good enough to get a home game in the NCAA Tournament. Denver started the season 1-1-1 with trips to Oregon State, Portland and SMU. Denver then reeled off a stretch of seven wins in eight matches, defeating Evansville, Cal State Fullerton, Air Force, Western Illinois, Eastern Illinois, St. Thomas and at Virginia in that span to get off to a nine points from nine start in the Summit League. Denver then drew with Stanford 1-1 in-front of over 1,700 fans at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium. A win at Oral Roberts gave Denver a leg-up in the Summit League table, a title the Pios would eventually clinch a couple of weeks later at Kansas City.
In the Summit League Tournament, the Pioneers needed not one but two penalty shootouts, headlined by six saves by backup goalkeeper Kobe Gray against 11 penalties faced.
Denver got its first win in the NCAA Tournament since 2016 with its victory at Grand Canyon in the NCAA First Round before losing to Clemson on a late penalty in the second period of extra time in the second round.
2022: Promoted to associate head coach. Denver put itself up against the nation's best once again in 2022, most of the time away from home, but opened the season 9-2-5 in its first 16 matches before winning five of its first six in November. Following a season-opening home win over Gonzaga, the Pioneers started a five-match road swing. Denver won its 2021 NCAA Tournament rematch at Grand Canyon before beating 9th-ranked Maryland in College Park 2-0. Denver earned a 1-1 draw at No. 19 Georgetown and defeated UC San Diego before dropping its first match of the season at San Diego State.
Denver dominated Portland in a top-15 clash at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium, but couldn't put it in the back of the net in a 0-0 draw. The Pios then lost to Oregon State, having played down a man the entire second half. Denver's defense kept four-straight cleansheets that included 1-0 Summit League wins against Oral Roberts and at Omaha before defeating No. 21 Virginia on the road 1-0.
DU drew the next three before going on a seven-match winning streak that included another Summit League Tournament title and a 1-0 overtime win over San Diego in the NCAA First Round. In the Summit League Final against Kansas City, Denver won 3-0 and outshot the visitors 20-2. No. 9 Denver and No. 4 Duke played in the NCAA Second Round in Durham, with the Blue Devils winning 3-1.
Denver finished third in the country in shutout percentage (0.591), seventh in goals against average (0.675), 15th in goal differential (+26), 16th in shot accuracy (0.479) and 24th in total goals (41).
2023: Denver’s schedule had some of the usual suspects when they once again were tested with one of the top non-conference schedules in the country in 2023, but got a fair few of them at home this time around. Denver opened with a 2-0-2 start to the season that included a 3-1 win over then-No. 11 SMU. The Pioneers went on to finish the season-opening six-match homestand unbeaten at 4-0-2.
Denver went 7-0-1 in Summit League regular season play to bring home the program’s ninth regular season title since joining the league in 2013.
Kansas City came from behind to beat the Pios in penalties in the Summit League Tournament, but the Pioneers rebounded with a 2-1 win against LIU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the University of Denver Soccer Stadium before being asked to return to No. 6 SMU in the second round. The Pios comeback fell just short, falling 2-1 despite peppering the goal in the final minutes.
Denver put 10 student-athletes on the All-Summit League teams, including Sam Bassett earning Midfielder of the Year, Jason Belloli being named the Defensive Player of the Year and Isaac Nehme being named the Goalkeeper of the Year.
The Pioneers put three student-athletes on the USC All-Region Team, and Sam Bassett was named a Second Team All-America pick, Denver’s first honoree since 2018. Bassett was the third different honoree under Franks, joining Reagan Dunk (2015/2016) and Andre Shinyashiki (2018). Jason Belloli was named a CSC First Team Academic All-American for his work on the field and in the classroom.
2024: Denver continued its scheduling philosophy in 2024, and by all accounts made it even harder in a year that he returned a lot of upperclassmen starters to his lineup. The Pioneers played their first six matches on the road before the start of the academic calendar, a stretch that included five matches against schools from the Power-4, and mid-western neighbors Creighton from the BIG EAST. Denver opened 3-0-3 in that stretch to earn as high as the top spot in the national rankings according to Top Drawer Soccer. The Pioneers followed that road stretch up with a 4-0-1 homestand to begin the first 11 matches unbeaten.
Following a busy slate, Denver suffered its first two losses of the season in back-to-back trips to No. 1 Pitt and Kansas City. Denver quickly moved on from the two setbacks to win its final five matches of the regular season and claim another Summit League regular season title.
After playing a double round robin and splitting its two matches with Kansas City in the regular season, the Roos bested the Pioneers in the Summit League Final by a count of 2-1 after the Pios were reduced to 10 men in the second half.
Denver still earned its highest seed in the NCAA Tournament in program history, the No. 3 seed. After getting stuck with second-round knockouts the last several years, Denver got three matches at home in the NCAA Tournament and earned a 3-0 win over Gardner-Webb, a 1-0 win over [14] Indiana and a 3-0 win over UMass to get back to the College Cup for the first time since 2016. The Pioneers went on to fall on penalties in the semifinal after a 1-1 draw with eventual national champions Vermont.
In the Summit League postseason awards, Sam Bassett was named the Summit League Midfielder of the Year for the second-straight year, Ronan Wynne earned his second Summit League Defensive Player of the Year award and Isaac Nehme was named the Summit League Goalkeeper of the Year for the second time in his three-year career. In total eight Pioneers earned All-Summit League honors, including six first-team selections.
As a team, Denver ranked eighth in the country in goals against average (0.775) and 27th in the country in scoring offense, averaging 1.91 goals per game. Denver's goal total of 44 set a new single-season record in program history, while the 58 assists were also a program record.
Wynne and Bassett were named College Sports Communicators Second and Third Team Academic All-Americans, respectively.
Before Denver:
Franks joined his brother's staff in the Mile High City after a stint as the associate head coach at Appalachian State, where he helped lead the Mountaineers to their first winning season in six years in 2018 and the program's first win over a nationally-ranked opponent since 2009. Franks coached seven All-Sun Belt selections, the most all-conference selections for the program since 1980. He helped a program that had five wins prior to his arrival achieve 11 wins in 2019. They also ranked in the top 15 in community service hours in all Division I soccer for 2018 and 2019. Additionally, the team held the highest male GPA on campus at Appalachian State while achieving academic All-America awards in both 2018 and 2019.
Prior to his time at Appalachian State, Franks was an assistant coach for Elon, which went 37-23-15 during his time there, including 14 wins and a share of the CAA regular season title in 2015. The Phoenix were ranked as high as No. 8 in the country while finishing at No. 16 in the RPI, both program records, and earned the program's first NCAA Tournament win, a 3-0 victory over Winthrop.
Franks also served as an assistant at High Point for three seasons (2011-13) with a stint at Wake Forest University as a volunteer assistant in 2013.
Playing Career:
In his college playing career at Elon, Brad Franks was a four-year starter (2007-10), appearing in 77 matches and tallying 22 points on five goals and 12 assists. He earned two all-conference awards during his career, including First Team All-Southern Conference in 2010.
Brad Franks earned a bachelor of science degree from Elon in sport and event management in 2011 and his master of business administration degree from Elon in 2018. He also holds a National Diploma from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA).