Clemson Hires Iowa’s Michaela Franklin as New Head Volleyball Coach

Clemson University has announced Michaela Franklin as the school’s new head volleyball coach. She comes to the program from Iowa, where she has been the associate head coach since the spring of 2014.

“The minute I stepped on campus and met with the committee immediately I felt a connection with the people. As the day went on I fell more in love with Clemson because of its elite level atmosphere with a family feel,” Franklin said. “I would like to thank Dan Radakovich and the entire search committee for their due diligence and dedication to the search. I’m looking forward to hitting the ground running and getting to campus to work with my team.”

Franklin’ previous coaching stops:

• Green Bay (head coach) – 2013
• Marquette (assistant) – 2009-2012
• Northern Illinois (assistant) – 2006-2008

“The minute I stepped on campus and met with the committee immediately I felt a connection with the people. As the day went on I fell more in love with Clemson because of its elite level atmosphere with a family feel,” Franklin said. “I would like to thank Dan Radakovich and the entire search committee for their due diligence and dedication to the search. I’m looking forward to hitting the ground running and getting to campus to work with my team.”

Franklin played collegiately at Kansas State from 2002-2004 where she helped the Wildcats to a Big 12 Championships and 3 NCAA tournament appearances and a run to the Sweet 16 in 2003. The team made at least the second round of the NCAA tournament in each of her three seasons and won 73.9% of their games during her playing career.

In fact, she hasn’t lost much in her 14 seasons involved with college volleyball. In that period, she’s won 62% of her games as both a player and a coach, and has been involved in only 3 losing seasons. That includes her first two seasons at Iowa, but the Hawkeyes turned it around last fall for a 19-13 record and were one of the last teams out of NCAA tournament qualifying.

She takes over a Clemson team badly in need of rebuilding after firing head coach Hugh Hernsman earlier this spring. The team went just 6-26 this season and were 1-19 in the ACC – a conference that rated out as only the 10th-best in the country this season. The team is just 2 years removed from back-to-back winning records, however.