LU Moment: Nothing but net with Coach Aqua Franklin | S9 Ep. 10

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Podcast: S9 Ep. 10
Date: April 13, 2026
Title: LU Moment: Nothing but net with Coach Aqua Franklin | S9 Ep. 10
Host: John Rollins

JOHN ROLLINS: Welcome to the LU Moment, where we showcase all the great things happening with 51�Թ�Profaculty, staff, students and alumni. I'm John Rollins, Associate Director of Community Relations and Public Affairs here at LU, and I want to welcome you all to this week's show. My guest today was named the 14th women's basketball head coach for 51�Թ�Proin May of 2019 and since then, she has worked hard to lead the sport to great success, becoming the first head coach to have four straight 20-win seasons in the basketball program's history. So y'all know who we're talking about. We've got coach Aqua Franklin here in the studio. Glad to have you here today.

AQUA FRANKLIN: I'm glad to be here, honored to be here, excited to talk women's basketball.

JOHN: Well, there's lots to talk about, for sure. Y'all have been busy. You’ve been putting Lamar’s name out there in a good way, for sure. Aqua, you have in the past, been named Southland Conference Coach of the Year in 2024, you celebrated 100 wins a little over a year ago, that was March of 2025, so you know, it's clear that this is a passion for you. I normally like to ask my guests, especially when it's a coach, what made you choose Lamar? You can answer that, obviously, but I kind of want to switch it up and say, you know, you've been here almost seven years now. So what keeps you at Lamar?

COACH FRANKLIN: Choosing Lamar in my coaching career, I just finished my 17th season. I was at year 10 as an assistant when this job became available. Eight of those years, I was away from 51�Թ�Proand so wanting to get back to my home state, it was a great opportunity. But in the coaching world, I don't care if you're talking men's or women's basketball, Lamar is looked at as a gold mine, and it's looked at it as a gold mine because of the recruiting areas that you can get to, being able to recruit Houston, you know, that's an area that you can recruit a team all in itself, right? But being in Texas, bringing players from Texas, Austin, San Antonio, and then being on that border of Louisiana and being able to bring some Louisiana folks over, it's a gold mine. There's so many people that go to Lamar that you have no idea, because of, you know, a lot of people go to school online now. And so a lot of alumni that you have no idea. You know, I had a cousin. She was like, “Oh my gosh, I go to Lamar now.” And so a lot of people know about Lamar, right? I wanted to come here and make sure people knew about Lamar in the athletic facet as well. Like I said, it's a gold mine for recruiting, but when you walk on campus and the feeling that you get on campus is unbelievable, you feel like you're supposed to be here. It feels like family. Everyone's friendly. And so what has kept me here is the alignment that Dr Jaime Taylor has instilled as our president. I mean, he's done an unbelievable job when he first stepped foot on campus, you know, he was one vision, and he wanted the very, very best for Lamar University. He didn't care what that looked like, what it took, he was ready to hit the ground running to make sure this was the best university, not just only in Texas, but overall, and that our young people had a great experience. And so the reason I coach is because the orange ball is taking me a lot of places, and I've met a lot of people. I wanted to give that back to young people, and so being here allows me to do that with the resources that Dr. Taylor and our Athletics Director Jeff O'Malley have put in place for women's basketball. The facility upgrades are unbelievable. We have everything that we need to be successful here, and just the relationship and in the community of people, one that supports, one that comes around, one is the people that are willing to give to continue to uplift the experience for our student athletes. It makes it really, really hard to leave this place.

JOHN: I love all of that, from the upgrades to the alignment within leadership, especially Dr. Taylor and Jeff O'Malley, they're very aligned in progressing this university forward, for sure. Those are all really, really great points. I love to hear it, and I love what you brought up about how we're centrally located, so that when it comes to recruiting. I had never thought of it because I'm not a coach, right? So that, yeah, that makes a whole lot of sense. So I do want to, we’ll backtrack just a little bit. Let you introduce yourself. And I love that you brought up that you're from Texas, so we know that now. But where did this start for you? Was young Aqua shooting hoops every night outside. Like, where did it start? Why basketball?

COACH FRANKLIN: Growing up, my mom, I mean, she allowed me to pretty much do anything. I was in tap and jazz. I was in soccer, baseball. I played basketball starting at the age of five. I played with boys. I'm from Tyler, Texas. There was not a girl’s league there, so I played with the guys all the way up into my ninth grade year. Actually, I would say 10th grade, because I played that ninth grade year. My mom was a softball player. I mean, I played volleyball, I did it all, and I wanted to play both basketball and softball, but my mom was like, you know, running the bases, sliding will be hard on your knees. You’ve kind of got to pick. I even tried to play football a little bit too. So I did it all. But basketball, it just came natural, right? I enjoyed it. I mean, sun up to sundown, I'm waking up, going outside, shooting hoops, you know, no concrete, just all dirt, you know, I am wanting to play. And no matter what that looked like, I was, you know, there used to be something called Hoop It Up, used to be a thing, or three on three hoop. We used to go outside, play on the concrete, all this stuff. And so wherever there was basketball going on, you probably saw Aqua somewhere around it, right? And so I just fell in love with it, because I was good at it. I wanted to be great at it. I continued to work. And then playing against guys as I grew up, it was inevitable for me to get better. And so as I got to middle school, you know, then the high school coach would come over, and it was like, yeah, she got, you know, she got something special. And so I wanted to continue to work. And my mom was like, well, you'll probably have a chance to play in college if you keep working at it. And so that then became the dream, is to go play in college. And because I was, you know, from a small town in Tyler, Texas, you know, Tyler Junior College was exciting to me. They were really good. Trinity Valley was like, I think they have the most national championships in junior college history. And so that was 30 minutes away from my house. And then, as I started traveling, playing basketball. So then I got to see, you know, recruiters come recruit you, and from different schools. Obviously, being the 51�Թ�Prokid, the 51�Թ�ProLonghorns was really special, you know, so really like that. But ultimately, I chose the right school, which is A & M. I ended up going to 51�Թ�ProA & M, and when I got there, you know, kind of was given the keys to the car, and, you know, Coach Blair allowed me to lead that program, so we had great success. But in that time, as we recruited players to come join our team each and every year, I was the host of them. And I love to get players to come to 51�Թ�ProA & M, and recruit them and be a part of, you know, their journey. And then once they get there, see them coming in as a young pup and then learning the game the right way. I really enjoyed all those aspects of coaching, of recruiting in college. I knew, like, if I'm not playing basketball, then I'm going to be coaching it.

JOHN: Then I want to be on the other end, right?

COACH FRANKLIN: Yes, then I want to be on the other end. And so as soon I was done playing, and I knew I didn't want to go overseas anymore, and all that stuff, I literally went to back to A & M, took all the pictures out of the equipment room of me and put them in the office. Put a sign on the door. I was working camp for the coaches at the time, and I just told Coach Blair was a note to him is, basically, I'm not leaving until you hire me. And so all my pictures are already in the office. I'm here to stay, you know, I just need you to sign off on it, right? And so I was a grad assistant that year. So I got my way I was grad assistant that year, and then that following year, I was able to get my first collegiate job at Stephen F Austin. And so the rest is kind of history from there.

JOHN: You bring up recruiting, so that kind of segues me into my next question, which is, what is something that you look forward to when bringing in recruits to the program? Like, what are you looking for?

COACH FRANKLIN: Well, I first start with who the person is. It's really important that we bring in people that are going to represent Lamar in the right way. And so I look at how they treat their teammates. I look at their interaction with their coaches, their interaction with their parents as we're talking on the phone. You know what really dig into a conversation. I'm a relationship person, and so really want to get to know the ins and out of who they are, because everyone can't play here. And what I mean by that is that, you know, I'm not for everyone in the way in my style of coaching, I try to do a really good job of building a relationship so that I know the best way to coach each individual player that I have on my team, because they all need something different. And so once we get to know who they are, and we get to know kind of what pushes them, then you look at the skill set, you know, obviously you’ve got to dribble, pass and shoot. You’ve got to know those things. But then we go into what is their IQ, what is their basketball IQ, what are they special at, you know, is that shooting is that defense is that, you know, and then from there, it's like, well, how can we continue to develop them? You know, have they reached their ceiling, or do they have, you know, a lot of potential? And then we need to focus on some other different things, but it's all about who they are.

JOHN: As a person first, I think as a leader, you have to know the people on your team, to know what they need from you and what you can give to them. You know what I mean? I love that you bring that up. So let's go ahead and talk about, you know, we just wrapped up the 2025-2026 basketball season. Y'all did amazing, just like last year. So how do you build on the success of this year's team?

COACH FRANKLIN: Yeah, well, you know, a lot of people think about, well, it's really hard, you know, each season trying to win a championship, that is, but what's really, really hard is sustaining what you've done over the years. And so when you think about four 20-win seasons, it's really hard to do, especially in the climate of our profession right now with the transfer portal. So you have kids leaving, you have NIL deals, so there's money being tossed around. It's really hard to do. And so in that, you know, as a staff, you know, I have an unbelievable staff. I can't take all the credit for the success that we've had here throughout the years. I've had some really successful coaches. I think I put out a graphic the other day. I have two coaches that are now coaching in the WNBA that was once here, saw that, yeah, one that's at Michigan State. One that was at A & M Auburn, and now he's his own boss, being a head coach at a prep school in Boston. And so you have, you know, people like that, and not to talk about the staff that you know, I've had here for the last, what, three, four years put together. It takes a lot of teamwork, patience, right? But it also takes a lot of, I would say, time, because we have to invest so much time into these young people, getting to know them, getting to know their ins and outs, and that's why that recruiting part is really, important, but us giving up our time. We spend a lot more time with our players than we do our own families, you know, a lot of the times. And so some people don't understand that piece of it, but I believe truly, it's staying true to who we are, right? There's a standard that we have set, and our players know that, and they teach the players that are coming in that standard, and they hold them accountable to it. I say all the great teams are player led, not coaches led. We're good if we're led by the coaches, but you're great when you are led by the players. And so being able to retain the players at the volume that we've retained players have really helped us. But I would say that's all due to our culture, and not allowing our culture or our standard to slip, that's been the one thing that has helped us. And then obviously, you know, being able to get talented players in, you know, it's not about the X's and O's, it's about the Susie’s & the Joe’s, you know, it's about the people that you bring in. And so we've done an unbelievable job as a staff, bringing in really great people that could sustain the success that we've had over the years.

JOHN: So what are some of the things that you would like to see to get Southeast 51�Թ�Proand 51�Թ�Proreally buzzing about women's basketball? You know, I feel like attendance has increased at the women's games, but, and this is something that I think all women's sports kind of combat this is that trying to show that we are competitive sports just like the men's team. Please come out and support us. And I will say that on this podcast. I'm comfortable saying that, because it is something that y'all deal with.

COACH FRANKLIN: Oh, for sure, and it’s not just a Lamar thing. It's a women's basketball thing. But what I would say is women's basketball has been buzzing for the last maybe three, four years. You talk about the WNBA, CBA. You talk about Caitlin Clark, Paige Becker's, you know, all these people coming through, it's been a huge success for women's basketball. Is the buzz some of the things that I think we should be able to or will do in the future. Hopefully this is, this is my plan. So just putting it out there is, you know, kind of start a little bit early as far as the promotion of women's basketballs right around or basketball period. Because as they come to the men, you know, we get to the point where there's double headers. So adding on to those, you know, those crowds will be awesome of getting some of the men fans to, you know, to come early, to support the women, and then same for the men. I think, you know, just sports in general. Here again, Jeff O'Malley, Dr. Taylor, have done an unbelievable job of helping us as coaches with resources to then be able to be successful. Because now we have everything that we need, we're able to provide the experiments for the players and all those things. And so now that we have that, it's now getting our players out in the community early, because I think people want to get to know the players like it's cool seeing them and what they can do on the court or the field, but once they get to know them, and then they feel that connection, they feel a lot more ownership to the sporting programs that we have here. And so I think the promotion should start a lot earlier, right, so that our communities get to know the people, but also the coaches. You know, let's go around to different restaurants and host like a radio show and talk about different programs and that kind of thing. And again, they feel ownership to know more about it, and then want to come out and support. I promise you, they come to one game, they're going to be hooked. I don't care what sport games are so fun.

JOHN: Yeah, you're right, really across the board. But I like, I like the word connection, community. Visibility. These are all important when you're an athletics program. Absolutely, I'm glad that you see that. And you know there are ways to build upon that, and maybe you and I need to connect and do some more community stuff, for sure, so we'll work on that. And I know y'all have social media pages. Is there a website that people can go to to learn more, or for tickets for next season?

COACH FRANKLIN: Well, our athletics website is lamarcardinals.com you can always log on to there. On any social media site, you can go to, I think it's LU Athletics, and that'll be for every sport. And then if you do Lamar WBB, or Lamar MBB for men's basketball, or Lamar, or whatever the sport is. That's usually the tagline in any social media to get any information on each team.

JOHN: Yep, and the socials are very active, so definitely check those out. Well, Aqua, we're running out of time here, but glad to have you on the show today. Thanks for all you do for women's basketball and basketball in general at Lamar University. Best wishes on continued success.

COACH FRANKLIN: I appreciate you having me and you guys get fired up about you know, Lamar Athletics in general, you got softball and baseball going on right now. Tennis is finishing up here. This upcoming year is going to be something really special. We have really great coaches here, you guys. We just need you in the stands, butts in seats, come out and support and look forward to seeing all of you next season.

JOHN: Yep, butts in the seats. That's what it comes down to. To catch the LU stories just like Aqua’s, be sure to search LU Moment wherever you get your podcast to keep up with the events, activities, programs and people right here at Lamar University. This is John Rollins, your host. Thank you for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.