Aqua Franklin was named the 14th women’s basketball head coach at Lamar University on May 1, 2019.
The 2024-25 campaign witnessed Franklin winning 22 games to achieve her 100th victory in her coaching career. The Cardinals finished as the second seed in the conference tournament, but would fall short in their first matchup to Stephen F. Austin. Akasha Davis and Sabria Dean were each named to the All-SLC First Team.
The 2023-24 season would see more improvement from LU as they would win 24 games, their best season to date under Coach Franklin's realm. This would not only mark the most wins since the 2018-19 season, but also lead to LU's first regular season Southland Conference title in five years. As the number one seed in the conference tournament, the Cardinals would reach the title game for the second straight season after a win over Texas A&M-Commerce. Although they fell to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the title game, the Cardinals would be part of the first ever Women's Basketball Invitational Tournament and would meet up with Washington State in the first round. Franklin would be named conference coach of the year while Akasha Davis earned conference player of the year and would share first team honors along with Sabria Dean.
Returning back to the SLC for the 2022-23 season, Lamar put together 20-12 record overall and the first 20-win season for Coach Franklin in her coaching career. LU also went 12-6 in the conference, which was the third best record. The Cardinals would reach the conference championship game winning against McNeese and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi before falling to Southeastern Louisiana in the title game. Akasha Davis would be named first team all-conference and earn four SLC players of the week honors while she and Portia Adams (also an SLC player of the week) were named to the conference's all tournament team.
In the 2021-22 season, Lamar joined the Western Athletic Conference and would finish the year with a 14-15 record overall and an 8-10 conference record. Lamar won their conference tournament opener against New Mexico State before falling in the second round. For the second year in a row, Franklin coached a conference Freshman of the Year as Akasha Davis took home the honors and was second team All-WAC averaging 12.8 points, which included four games of 20 or more points and five WAC Freshman of the Week honors.
The 2020-21 campaign saw the Cardinals match their win total from the previous year at 10-14, but improved in the Southland Conference with a 9-6 record, which was enough to qualify for the conference tournament. Some of the players she coached that year included SLC Freshman of the Year Sabria Dean, Defensive Player of the Year and two-time All-Defensive Team member Jadyn Pimental, and All-SLC First Team and All-Academic member Micaela Wilson.
In her first season at Lamar, Franklin coached the Cardinals to a 10-19 record overall and a 6-14 conference record. That season, however ended prematurely due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Despite this, Pimentel, earned a spot on the All-SLC Defensive Team, which included a career-high 10 steals against McNeese State.
Prior to being named the head coach at Lamar, Franklin was on the sidelines of Allen Fieldhouse as the associate head coach at Kansas. In her second stint with the Jayhawks, Franklin spent four seasons as the Jayhawks’ associate head coach and five overall in Lawrence. During her time at Kansas, Franklin has worked to help rebuild the KU program.
During her career, Franklin has recruited and coached eight all-conference players and three all-freshman team selections. Franklin guided yet another KU guard to All-Big 12 honors during the 2017-18 season after junior Christalah Lyons earned an honorable mention nod for her work on the hardwood. Lyons repeated honorable mention honors following the 2018-19 season as well.
During the 2016-17 season, Franklin mentored Jessica Washington to new heights in the red and blue. Under Franklin’s guidance, Washington became the first Jayhawk to garner Big 12 Newcomer of the Year honors after averaging a league-best 19.3 points per game in conference play.
Prior to returning to KU, Franklin spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Mississippi State, where she helped the Bulldogs to a historic season in 2014-15. That year Mississippi State set a school record for overall (27) and conference (11) wins and advanced to the second round of the tournament. In addition to the Bulldogs work on the court, Franklin was also instrumental in helping Mississippi State bring in one of the top recruiting classes in program history with a top 20 national ranking.
During her first stint with the Jayhawks in 2011-12, Franklin helped Kansas to one of its best seasons in recent history, highlighted by the Jayhawks’ trip to the NCAA Sweet 16. Franklin coached Angel Goodrich to a banner season after she paced KU with 23.3 points per game and shattered the single-season school record with 250 assists. Goodrich was named Honorable Mention All-America by both the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and the Associated Press, and was one of the four finalist for the Nancy Lieberman Award, given annually to the top point guard in the nation.
Franklin spent the 2010-11 season at Stephen F. Austin under current Kansas head coach, Brandon Schneider. With the Ladyjacks, she tutored Tammara Marion to All-Southland Conference accolades after Marion became the 25th SFA player to score 1,000 points and set a school mark for three-pointers made in a season.
Franklin’s coaching career got started at her alma mater serving as a graduate assistant for Texas A&M during the 2009-10 season. Her collegiate and professional experiences were a valuable asset to the Aggies as she helped guide the team to the Big 12 Championship and the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Franklin was selected with the 38th pick in the 2008 WNBA Draft by the Sacramento Monarchs. As a rookie, Franklin helped lead the Monarchs to the opening round of the 2008 WNBA playoffs. The following season she signed with the Seattle Storm before going on to begin her coaching career at her alma mater.
She concluded her four-year playing career at Texas A&M as one of the most-decorated guards in program history, ranking in the top three in assists with 627. Her final season with the Aggies was a memorable one for the program, as the team made its first run to the NCAA’s Elite Eight. Franklin capped her career by claiming honorable mention All-America accolades from the Associated Press to go along with second-team All-Big 12 honors. During her collegiate career, Franklin led the Aggies to three NCAA appearances and was twice named Honorable Mention All-America.
A 2018 Texas A&M Hall of Fame inductee, Franklin graduated from A&M with a degree in recreation park and tourism science in 2009. She was also a member of the second Tyler ISD Hall of Fame class – one that also included NFL legend Earl Campbell.
